2024 Wells Fargo Championship: Power Rankings, Defending Champion, Prize Money, and Major Details

The sixth signature event on the PGA Tour calendar will soon be upon us. The 2024 Wells Fargo Championship will kick off on May 6 and will see its finale played out on Sunday, May 12, at the Quail Hollow Golf & Country Club. Although the current No. 1 in the OWGR, Scottie Scheffler, won’t be gracing the field, it’s not as if the field is any worse.

Because it is a signature event, the tournament’s champion will take home the biggest cut of the whopping $20 million purse. Aside from the $3.6 million check and the trophy, he will also receive a total of 700 FedEx Cup points. So who then has the best shot at taking home these perks?

Top contenders for the Wells Fargo Championship

The limited-field, no-cut event will have a total of 69 golfers duking it out with each other on the course. From this season’s Tour winners to athletes in the Aon Swing 5 and the Aon Next 10 categories, the tournament will showcase a lot of talents, out of which the community is sure to have some favorites.

1. Wyndham Clark: The 30-year-old won the 2023 edition of the event with a score of 19 under 265. This year, he will hope to defend his title as well as rake in his fourth victory on the men’s circuit. Besides, the American Pro sure is a player to be wary of, owing to the recent finishes he has garnered this season. From a win at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am to finishing a total of three times inside the top 10 excluding the victory, the golfer sure is a top contender for the title.

2. Rory McIlroy: The Northern Irishman is just fresh off a win at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with his teammate and friend Shane Lowry. He will look to keep the momentum that he regained moving forward and clinch his fourth Wells Fargo Championship title, the former of which he managed to win back in 2010 when it was known as the Quail Hollow Championship, 2015, and 2021. Aside from the recent triumph, the 35-year-old has finished three times in the top-10 in 2024, with two of them on the DP World Tour, making him a player to watch out for in the field.

3. Xander Schauffele: The current No. 4 in the OWGR has been having a fine run at the Jay Monahan-led circuit. He has garnered a total of seven top-10 finishes in the ten starts he made, the best of which came at the PLAYERS Championship, where he placed T2, followed by the American Express, where he found himself at T3. The American Pro will be hoping to grab his eighth win on the men’s circuit, almost two years after his last victory, at the 2022 Genesis Scottish Open. Regardless of the gap, underestimating him would surely be unwise.

4. Sahith Theegala: From a T2 at the Sentry when the 2024 PGA Tour Calendar kicked off to a T2 at the recently ended RBC Heritage, the 26-year-old has proven himself to be more than capable of coming out triumphant in a talented field. Interestingly, winning the Wells Fargo Championship will increase his tally of wins on the Tour to two, the first of which came at the 2023 Fortinet Championship. Moreover, having five top-10 finishes in the season does make him a worrisome figure for the other athletes.

5. Hideki Matsuyama: If the current No. 15 on the OWGR was able to win the 3rd signature event on the Tour, the Genesis Invitational, over a field of talented golfers, who’s to say he won’t do it again? While it is true that he had a slow start to the year, the Japanese professional managed to gain back his momentum after the victory with two more top-10 finishes at the PLAYERS Championship and the Valero Texas Open, at T6 and T7, respectively. He is undoubtedly a fan favorite to win the Wells Fargo Championship.

Quail Hollow Club will test the players

Dubbed ‘one of the finest golf courses in the United States,’ the layout at Quail Hollow Club was designed by the famous architect George Cobb in 1961. In the following years, it underwent multiple improvements and modifications at the hands of Arnold Palmer in 1986, and Tom Fazio in 1997 and the summer of 2016, the former of which was a redesign while the latter included changes to several holes.

The 7600-yard, par-71 layout will surely pose a challenge to many golfers at the Wells Fargo Championship. This is particularly true when it comes to the par-4, 14th, as well as the 221-yard par-3, 17th hole. At any rate, with such a test awaiting the golfers, the community will, no doubt, bear witness to a scintillating weekend of golf!