Wells Fargo Championship PGA Golf Odds and Predictions

Could Webb Simpson make a run up the leader board at the Wells Fargo Championship?

Last week’s PGA Tour stop, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, was a challenge to handicap because it was a new two-man team format in the event. The winners were Jonas Blixt and Cameron Smith as they didn’t have a single bogey in 76 holes. This week’s stop, the Wells Fargo Championship, is also going to be tough to forecast because it’s held at a new location for one year only. The clear betting favourite in this week’s golf odds is world No. 1 Dustin Johnson.

Wells Fargo Championship Odds

One key to handicapping any event is to go by “Horse for the Course” statistics – how well a player has fared at a course in the past — in addition to current form. The former will be no help here because the Wells Fargo Championship is being held at Eagle Point Golf Club in Wilmington, N.C. Since this tournament debuted in 2003, it had been held at Quail Hollow in Charlotte. It will be again next year. However, Quail Hollow is holding this year’s PGA Championship so preparations have to be made for the final major championship of 2017.

Eagle Point is a beautiful private course, a par 72 measuring 7,259 yards. Don’t be surprised if it were to get a future Tour event because the players have been singing its praises. A few have even compared Eagle Point to Augusta National. Eagle Point did host the American Junior Golf Association Wyndham Cup team event back in 2011 but no one in this field played in that. So pretty much everyone is going blind other than Webb Simpson and Carl Pettersson, who are members at Eagle Point.

Johnson is the +478 favourite as he looks to become the first PGA Tour player to win four events in a row since Tiger Woods in 2007-08. Johnson was the favourite last month at the Masters but slipped down some stairs in his rental home at Augusta the day before the first round. That likely never happens if the Par-3 Contest wasn’t rained out because DJ would have been on the course. Johnson did warm-up before his tee time on Thursday and even went to the first tee when he decided that his sore back wasn’t going to allow him to play. One of Johnson’s victories in that run was at another new Tour course this year at the WGC-Mexico.

Young Spanish player Jon Rahm was at 1300, but has since dipped to +900. He hasn’t played since a T27 at the Masters. History would seem to be against Rahm in that only three times has a non-American won this event. Twice that was Rory McIlroy, who isn’t in the field. Again, though, another course.

Kevin Kisner (+1800), Adam Scott (+1900) and Paul Casey (+1900) round out the betting favourites. Kisner and his teammate Scott Brown lost on the fourth playoff hole Monday at the Zurich Classic. Kisner had a spectacular chip in from almost 100 feet on the 72^nd hole to force the playoff. Scott and Casey are playing for the first time since Masters; the Aussie was T9 there and the Englishman sixth.

Defending champion James Hahn, who beat Roberto Castro with a par on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff last year, is +12700 to repeat at the Wells Fargo. He hasn’t contended once this year.

Canada’s Nick Taylor is +11600 to win, David Hearn is +22000, Mackenzie Hughes +26300 and Brad Fritsch +3300. Hearn and Graham DeLaet finished T22 last week at 16 under, 11 shots behind the winners. Hughes and Taylor missed the cut at 2 under.

Wells Fargo Championship Betting Predictions

Go with Top-10 finishes on Johnson and Casey. To win, I’ll go with Simpson at +4400 to win since he knows the track as well as anyone as a North Carolina native who generally played well at Quail Hollow. Simpson spent part of his childhood in Wilmington and frequents the area annually to play Eagle Point.