Quail Hollow – a great Wells Fargo test

BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2011 Wells Fargo Championship | Preview | 03 May 2011

The Wells Fargo Championship is this week’s event on the PGA Tour, the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte in North Carolina – one of the most popular and highly regarded layouts amongst PGA Tour venues – again playing host.

Quail Hollow has a long history in tournament golf in the USA but became a venue again in 2003 when the Wachovia Championship was introduced to the PGA Tour. Prior to that the venue had played host to the Kemper Open during the 1970’s.

After six years as the Wachovia Championship the tournament was played without a title sponsor in 2009 although that was more of a political move by the new owners of Wachovia, Wells Fargo, as to be seen to be sponsoring a golf tournament during the Global Financial Crisis might have been a little provocative. Wells Fargo have committed to the event until 2014.

The course was originally designed by George Cobb in 1961, underwent some changes by Arnold Palmer in the mid-80’s and then a major redesign under North Carolina resident Tom Fazio in the late nineties.

The tournament’s defending champion is Rory McIlroy whose final round of 62 to win his first PGA Tour event last year has become almost folklore. McIlroy won by four over Phil Mickelson after playing the last five holes in 5 under.

Other recent winners at Quail Hollow are Sean O’Hair, Anthony Kim and Tiger Woods although Woods has been forced to withdraw from the event.

This year five of the world’s top ten players are in the field, headed by Martin Kaymer. The others are McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Paul Casey and Bubba Watson, whose win last week in New Orleans has moved him inside the top ten in the world for the first time.

Both Kaymer and McIlroy play their first events in the US since their rather contrasting but disappointing performances at the Masters. Both recovered with good weeks in Malaysia and both have done well in their one and only start in this event.

Kaymer finished 11th in this event two years ago and if he is to continue to be considered a genuine contender for the world number one title he will need to dispel the perceptions of Augusta National.

McIlroy did, of course, win last year and at his last start finished third in Malaysia after his horror Sunday at the Masters. Like Kaymer he will be keen to put that behind him.

Three players in recent years have great records at Quail Hollow. Phil Mickelson has been inside the top ten in five of his last eleven starts in an event here and two starts ago he won the Houston Open. He deserves to be the favourite.

Another player with a very good record here is Anthony Kim who not only won in 2009 he finished 5th in 2007 and 7th in 2010. Kim has not played well in recent times however taking some time to recover from a thumb injury.

Jim Furyk has four top tens in his last six starts at Quail Hollow including when winning in 2006 and when runner-up in 2005. While not at the top of his game at present Furyk has been solid enough and his chances of continuing his very good record at this venue appear good.

Nick Watney is a good enough player to have won the World Golf Championship event at Doral just over two months ago and has developed into a very consistent player on the PGA Tour. Watney has not finished better than 11th in six starts in this event but he has made the cut on each occasion and been generally very solid. He appears to be a good chance this week.

The Australian contingent is headed by Geoff Ogilvy who will be joined by Robert Allenby, Stuart Appleby and John Senden, Mathew Goggin, Greg Chalmers, Steven Bowditch, Marc Leishman, Jarrod Lyle, Matt Jones, Geoff Ogilvy and Nathan Green.

Ogilvy has yet to miss a cut in seven starts in the event and has been solid enough in recent starts. His 4th place finish at the Masters two starts ago was very impressive.

Allenby’s recent 6th place finish in Houston indicates he is playing well enough to improve on his previous best of 4th at Quail Hollow in 2008.

Mathew Goggin is an interesting entry. He currently leads the Nationwide Tour money list by a huge margin and plays this event courtesy of a sponsor’s invitation. His win in Panama and his runner-up finish last week in Georgia indicates that he could surprise against this stronger company.
Matt Jones finished 7th in this event last year and in last week’s Zurich Classic finished as the leading Australian in 6th position.

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