A purse of almost $8 million along with 500 FedEx Cup points are up for grabs in the 2019 Wells Fargo Championship, which tees off Thursday at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte. With reigning Masters champion Tiger Woods opting to take the week off, Rory McIlroy, who owns both the 72-hole record (267) and 18-hole record (61) in this tournament, is the favorite at 6-1 in the latest 2019 Wells Fargo Championship odds. Jason Day (10-1), Rickie Fowler (12-1) and Justin Rose (12-1) are the other three golfers going off lower than 20-1 in a highly-talented 2019 Wells Fargo Championship field. With the rest of the pack going off with long odds, there are plenty of intriguing value picks to be had, so before locking in any 2019 Wells Fargo Championship picks of your own, listen to the PGA Tour predictions from SportsLine's proven golf projection model.
SportsLine's prediction model, built by DFS pro Mike McClure, has nailed four of the last eight majors entering the weekend and called Tiger Woods' deep run in the PGA Championship despite being a 25-1 long shot. The model has been spot-on early in the 2018-19 season too. It was high on champion Rory McIlroy at the 2019 Players Championship, projecting him as one of the top two contenders from the start. It also correctly predicted Brooks Koepka's (9-1) victory at the CJ Cup earlier this season. Additionally, it correctly called Bryson DeChambeau's (9-1) seven-shot victory at the 2019 Omega Dubai Desert Classic. Anyone who has followed the model is way up.
Now that the field for the Wells Fargo Championship 2019 is locked, SportsLine simulated the event 10,000 times, and the results were surprising. One huge shocker the model is calling for: Jason Day, the defending champion and one of the top Vegas favorites, doesn't even crack the top five.
Day is coming off a strong performance at the Masters where he finished in the top five after shooting 11-under par. Despite coming up short at Augusta, the 31-year-old has been playing extremely well this season. In fact, Day has already racked up five top-10 finishes overall.
Despite his success at the Masters, however, Day has struggled mightily in recent weeks. He's finished worse than 60th in three of his last four starts on the PGA Tour, which includes missing the cut at the Valspar Championship and Zurich Classic. He's not a strong pick to win it all and there are far better values in this loaded 2019 Wells Fargo Championship field.
Another surprise: Charles Howell, a 40-1 long shot, makes a strong run at the title. He has a much better chance to win it all than his odds imply, so he's a target for anyone looking for a huge payday.
The 39-year old enters the Wells Fargo Championship 2019 in the top 10 in the FedEx Cup standings thanks to several impressive performances on the PGA Tour this season, including a win at the RSM Classic and top-10 finishes at the Sony Open and Genesis Open.
Howell's scoring average is 70.3 this season, thanks in large part to his elite greens-in-regulation percentage of 74.25, which ranks third on tour. He is also 13th in total driving at 118 and drained a 73-foot put at the WGC-Mexico Championship, the eighth-longest of any golfer this season. If he continues to put up those numbers, he has a strong chance of climbing the 2019 Well Fargo Championship leaderboard in a hurry this week despite his long odds.
Also, the model says five other golfers with odds of 20-1 or longer will make a strong run at the Wells Fargo Championship title. Anyone who backs these underdogs could hit it big.
So who will win the 2019 Wells Fargo Championship, and which long shots stun the golfing world? Check out the 2019 Wells Fargo Championship odds below and visit SportsLine now to see the full Wells Fargo Championship projected leaderboard from the model that nailed the winners of four golf majors.
Rory McIlroy 6-1
Jason Day 10-1
Rickie Fowler 12-1
Justin Rose 12-1
Sergio Garcia 20-1
Hideki Matsuyama 20-1
Webb Simpson 22-1
Tony Finau 22-1
Phil Mickelson 25-1
Paul Casey 25-1
Gary Woodland 25-1
Patrick Reed 28-1
Henrick Stenson 33-1
Jason Kokrak 33-1
Charles Howell III 40-1
Lucas Glover 40-1
