Wells Fargo Championship 2023: Course and current form stats

• Ninth event in 2023 with 'elevated' prize pot

• Rory a three-time winner at Quail

• Hovland in good shape for title challenge

Following a brace of 'low-key' events in New Orleans and Mexico, the stakes are raised once again with this week's $20m Wells Fargo Championship in North Carolina.

Staged at the highly-respected Quail Hollow Country Club, this will be the ninth tournament on this year's PGA Tour calendar to offer an 'elevated' prize pot in excess of $15m.

And with two weeks to go, until this year's second major championship takes place at Oak Hill (New York State), golf's biggest stars will be sharpening their games over the coming few days.

Quail Hollow has been a PGA Tour regular - off and on - since 1969.

Opening for business on June 3rd, 1961, this parkland course has hosted 30 top-tier professional tournaments during the past five decades, including one major championship.

For 11 straight seasons (1969-79), Quail Hollow was the venue for the Kemper Open, with the course returning to the PGA Tour calendar in May 2003, following an absence of 24 years.

Course Characteristics

Famous architect Tom Fazio has been involved in a number of Quail renovations, most recently in 2016.

This latest upgrade prepared the course for the 2017 PGA Championship which was won by Justin Thomas who tees-up this week. And Quail Hollow will stage the PGA Championship for a second time in 2025.

However, the biggest structural change occurred nine years ago, when all 18 putting surfaces were upgraded from Bentgrass to Bermuda ahead of the Wells Fargo event in 2014.

Quail Hollow, which was built 600 feet above sea level and six miles south of Charlotte city centre, is a testing tree-lined layout which has water in play on six holes - mainly on the back nine.

The course did not host this event last year, as it was being prepared to stage the Presidents Cup during September.

Although Quail has generally favoured the bigger hitters, good course management remains an important attribute at a venue which has plenty of sand.

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Stroke Averages

Lowest 12 At Quail Hollow (2015-21)
Average .... (Rounds)
69.67: Joel Dahmen (12)
69.75: Keith Mitchell (12)
69.90: Rory McIlroy (20)
70.00: Jason Day (14)
70.22: Rickie Fowler (18)
70.71: Justin Thomas (14)
70.75: Seamus Power (12)
70.79: Francesco Molinari (14)
71.06: Jason Dufner (16)
71.20: Rory Sabbatini (10)
71.21: Webb Simpson (14)
71.33: James Hahn (12)
Min. No. of Rounds = 10
Only those entered this week are included in table

Latest betting for this month's PGA Championship

Four To Watch

Jason Day: Champion in 2018, the former world No 1 has enjoyed an encouraging start to the year. Has posted five top-10s in his most recent seven starts. Tends to play his best golf on tough layouts.

Viktor Hovland: The world No 12 tied-for-third here two years ago and has enjoyed a solid opening four months to 2023. The Norwegian was a podium finisher at Sawgrass, and tied-seventh at Augusta.

Rory McIlroy: A three-time champion (2010-15-21) at Quail. Will be looking to bounce back from his disappointing display at Augusta National where he missed the cut with rounds of 72-77.

Collin Morikawa: Makes his Quail debut this week. Hasn't quite found top gear yet, but the next win can't be too far away.

Betfair Sportsbook

MC* - Missed Additional 54-Hole Cut

Note: List Contains Leading Reserves

Note: Quail Hollow did not host PGA Tour events in either 2020 or 2022. In 2017, it staged the PGA Championship.