The Biggest Storylines Ahead of the 2015 Wells Fargo Championship
The 2015 Wells Fargo Championship is here. True, The Players Championship—the "fifth major" and one of the most high-profile events on the PGA Tour calendar—still looms large. And with Rickie Fowler's thrilling triumph just a couple of days old, it rightfully continues to dominate PGA Tour-related conversations.
However, in the eternal "on to the next one" spirit of the tour: There's another high-quality golf tournament on the calendar this week, and it's going on in the seat of Mecklenburg County: Charlotte, North Carolina.
World No. 1 Rory McIlroy will be in the field for the Wells Fargo Championship, returning to the site of his first PGA Tour win. Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson, Henrik Stenson and Patrick Reed will also be walking Quail Hollow's fairways this week, each with their own thoughts, concerns and game-related storylines.
Also in the field: several golfers who we're eager to see if their games travel from Florida to North Carolina, such as Bill Haas and the emerging Kevin Kisner.
Read on for the biggest storylines on tour heading into the Wells Fargo Championship.
Golf World Still Buzzing About Rickie Fowler's Players Championship Win
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Legendary golf scribe, Dan Jenkins tweeted: "Anybody else noticed that pro golf suddenly has a new Big Three on its hands? Rory, Jordan and Rickie. Even I'm excited about it." And while the statement may be premature (just look at the replies to the tweet if you're in doubt), it does speak to the collective magnetism of the trio.
It also speaks to the excitement of Fowler's final round and the resulting playoff that the famously crotchety octogenarian would take to Twitter to express his enthusiasm.
It appears he wasn't alone in his excitement. As a Golf Channel press release stated: "Golf Channel on NBC’s Coverage of THE PLAYERS Championship posted golf’s third highest-rated Sunday over the past year with a 3.9 overnight rating (2-8 p.m. ET), a 60% increase over 2014."
The huge ratings bump, one of golf's most compelling and popular young stars pulling off a thrilling victory in the wake of being anonymously named as the tour's most overrated player by his peers? Great stuff for the game: both its casual fans and more attuned base. And the resulting near-perceptible energy was over this week like a wave and into the Wells Fargo.
Rory McIlroy Returns to the Site of His First PGA Tour Victory
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Rory McIlroy nabbed his first win on the PGA at 20 at the Wells Fargo Championship in 2010. His torrid final-round 62 remains the course record some five years later.
To put it another way: The Ulsterman knows how to handle his business at Quail Hollow.
McIlroy struggled on TPC Sawgrass' frustrating greens in his last start, losing .518 strokes to the field with the putter, which was his worst strokes-gained: putting tally on tour this season.
He told SkySports:
"I feel like I again gave myself enough opportunities out there to make some putts, and I just couldn't. The putter really let me down this week. Right from the first day I couldn't come to terms with the greens and that was the story of the week.
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Still, McIlroy finished tied for eighth in Ponte Vedra Beach and had a quality ball-striking week. He's returning to a venue where he's historically played well (tied for eighth last year) and will surely be looking to offer a rebuttal to Rickie Fowler's brilliant effort in Florida.
Phil Mickelson, Ryan Moore, Webb Simpson Looking to Rebound
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Neither Phil Mickelson, Ryan Moore nor Webb Simpson had the week he was hoping for at TPC Sawgrass.
Mickelson carded rounds of 73, 76 to miss the cut by five strokes. He hit just 52.7 percent of greens in regulation for his two rounds. Moore, who is currently 14th in the FedEx Cup standings, missed the cut by a stroke. And Webb Simpson did little better: finishing tied for 66th.
All three of these top-tier players will be looking to do better this week at Quail Hollow, and all three golfers have decent records at the track. Incidentally, PGATour.com's fantasy guru Rob Bolton situated all three players the top 15 of his power ranking entering the tournament.
The trio's play will be a point of interest in North Carolina this week.
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A Unique Challenge Awaits
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Out of 48 courses, Quail Hollow was the 13th-most difficult course on the PGA Tour last year (per the Tour's media guide). Thus, the North Carolina track is no pushover.
And it's long: 7,562 yards. Forced to go all out on drives, players often struggle to find fairways at the track. The course's large, slow undulating greens will add a degree of difficulty to the putting this week.
Interestingly, the course has also produced a spate of young winners recently: Anthony Kim (22): 2008; Rory McIlroy (20): 2010; Rickie Fowler (23): 2012; Derek Ernst (22): 2013.
It will be interesting to see who can handle the distinct challenge that is Quail Hollow.
Hot Players from the Players Championship in the Field
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A few players who finished on the first page of the leaderboard at TPC Sawgrass will be teeing it up at Quail Hollow. Whether they will be able to stay hot is a point of intrigue entering the tournament.
Justin Thomas will be competing for the first time at the Wells Fargo Championship, and he's coming into North Carolina hot. He was undone by a final-round 75 at The Players, but his third-round tournament birdie record (10) has to be kept in mind. Thomas finished in the top 15 at the Zurich Classic and tied for 11th at the RBC Heritage prior to playing Sawgrass.
Bill Haas missed The Players playoff by one stroke, so he put in a good week's work at TPC Sawgrass. Really, only a few missed short putts kept Haas from winning The Players trophy outright. He's finished fourth at Quail Hollow twice, so Haas is capable on this course as well.
Unlike Bill Haas, Kevin Kisner did make it into the playoff at Sawgrass and came up just short. The native South Carolinian has been on a tear lately, finishing second in a playoff at the RBC Heritage and tied for 28th at the Zurich Classic before The Players. In addition, he finished tied for fourth at the Wells Fargo Championship last year. We should expect a big week.
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