5 players to watch at the Wells Fargo Championship

The Wells Fargo Championship is back at its familiar home of Quail Hollow after a one-year hiatus as the venue hosted the US PGA Championship.

After three weeks off, Rory McIlroy returns to action at a venue that’s been incredibly kind to him over the years. Quail Hollow was the site of his first PGA Tour victory victory back in 2010 and he also triumphed at the event in 2016. He also has four other top tens in his other five starts, including a runner-up finish in 2012.

A final round 77 for Kevin Kisner and his playing partner Scott Brown saw them fall down the leaderboard at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans but a T15 continues Kisner’s good form, following a T7 finish at the RBC Heritage, T28 at the Masters and runner-up finish at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. He was the 54-hole leader at last year’s US PGA Championship and finished T6 at the Wells Fargo in 2014.

Phil Mickelson’s record at the Wells Fargo Championship over the years is frighteningly good. The 47-year-old has played in every staging of the tournament since 2004 and, of those staged at Quail Hollow – all bar last year – he has nine top tens in 13 starts, with a worst finish of T35 in 2006. The only thing missing in this event is a win – and he got that winning feeling back two months ago in Mexico…

Big-hitting American Tony Finau continues to knock… and knock… and knock on the door in the quest to add to his sole PGA Tour victory at the 2016 Puerto Rico Open. He already has two runner-up finishes to his name this season – at the Safeway Open and Genesis Open – and, after returning to full fitness last week in partnering Daniel Summerhays to a sixth-placed finish at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, he’s in form and ready to win big.

Webb Simpson is a member at Quail Hollow and he finished runner-up to McIlroy in 2015 and fourth in 2012. As well as his familiarity with the course, he also has seven top 20s in 12 PGA Tour starts this season, with a T5 finish last time out at the RBC Heritage with rounds of 69-68-69-68.