Golf Bets

Wells Fargo Championship First-Round Leader Tips: Picks from 16/1 to 80/1

Northern Irish golfer Rory McIlroy
Rory McIlroy can thrive on day one

The PGA Tour moves to North Carolina and Dave Tindall has three each-way bets to top the leaderboard come the end of round one at Quail Hollow...

  • 16/117.00 Rory McIlroy has twice led after 18 holes here

  • 50/151.00 Shane Lowry will also be on a high after recent win

  • 80/181.00 Adam Svensson is a regular fast starter


Weather forecast for Thursday

There's a chance of rain throughtout most of Thursday while wind speeds are around 10-14mph for most of the golfing day and possibly gusting around 25mph.

Temperatures could tip into the 80s so it's not all bad.

With players in three-balls and going off the 1st and 10th simultaneously, tee-times are bunched, running from 11.00 to 1.01pm.

That rules out any draw bias so we can pick freely.

Rory McIlroy @ 16/117.00

I don't think I've ever put up a player this short in a first-round leader preview.

But Rory McIlroy leading after day one of this week's Wells Fargo Championship seems the most obvious thing in the world. And when the most obvious thing in the world is 16/117.00, it's worth a go.

He better have some good credentials to justify such a punt but it's fair to say he does.

McIlroy has won this event three times, also making the top 10 on five other occasions.

He's twice been the first-round leader in his 12 starts at Quail Hollow while in his latest 15 individual worldwide starts Rory has topped the Thursday standings three times.

Finally, McIlroy arrives on a karaoke-celebrating high after winning the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with Shane Lowry last time out. And, yep, the Irish duo were leading after round one.

All the clues are there and I'm not missing out. Rory tees off at 12.39pm local.

Back Rory McIlroy E/W @ 16/117.00

Bet here

Shane Lowry @ 50/151.00

What the heck, I'm going to throw in Shane Lowry too.

Here's the Irishman speaking in the aftermath of his New Orleans win with Rory.

"We met up on Wednesday night. We drank some nice stuff and had a good time and we celebrated our win, which you should do. I've been playing (professionally) 16 years and I've only won seven times. You've got to celebrate the good times, too.

"I feel like we played golf with a lot more freedom that week and I feel like it's a lesson for the two of us for the rest of the season, to go and play golf how we played that week in New Orleans.

"I feel like if we can do that we both can be dangerous in the big tournaments. I just think the whole week of playing golf with a smile on your face, playing golf with a little bit of freedom goes a long way in this game. I think we both learned a lot."

There are stats to go alongside Lowry's words.

As noted, he set the pace with McIlroy in New Orleans while just five starts earlier Lowry was the first-round leader at the Arnold Palmer Invitational via a 66.

That followed on from sitting fourth after day one at Torrey Pines and eighth after 18 holes in Phoenix.

True, Lowry doesn't have much course form to recommend him bar a couple of 69s - one in the 2017 USPGA when it played as a par 71 as it does this week - but there's no reason why he can't throw in a low one.

The 50s (1/4 Odds 5 Places) is certainly enough to tempt me in and follow Lowry's progress from his 11.22 start.

Back Shane Lowry E/W @ 50/151.00

Bet here

Adam Svensson @ 80/181.00

It's been a good week for Canadian golf with Taylor Pendrith winning the CJ Cup Byron Nelson and there's one of his fellow Canucks I like this week.

Adam Svensson has a welcome habit of going low early and in his last four starts he's had 18-hole positions of third (Valspar), sixth (Houston) and eighth (Texas).

Two of those came via 66s and he also shot that number on day two of the RBC Heritage so Svensson is routinely peppering his pre-cut cards with birdies.

That was also the case in this event last year.

Svensson was making just his second appearance at Quail Hollow but opened 68-67 to lie fourth at halfway.

Also fifth after 18 and leader after 36 in last year's Players Championship, he looks a good bet at 80s in this limited 69-man field. Svensson starts out at 12.50.

Back Adam Svensson E/W @ 80/181.00

Bet here

Now read Dave's outright Wells Fargo preview here


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