Sports

PGA Tour

PGA - Wells Fargo Championship Preview

From The Sports Network

DATES: Thursday, May 3rd through Sunday, May 6th

SITE: Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte, North Carolina

COURSE ARCHITECT: George Cobb (1961), Arnold Palmer (1986),

Tom Fazio (redesign - 1997, 2003)

PAR: 72

YARDAGE: 7,469

Hole-By-Hole:	1 - Par 4 410 Yds	10 - Par 5 591 Yds
	2 - Par 3 178 Yds	11 - Par 4 421 Yds
	3 - Par 4 452 Yds	12 - Par 4 456 Yds
	4 - Par 4 489 Yds	13 - Par 3 201 Yds
	5 - Par 5 570 Yds	14 - Par 4 346 Yds
	6 - Par 3 250 Yds	15 - Par 5 566 Yds
	7 - Par 5 532 Yds	16 - Par 4 478 Yds
	8 - Par 4 343 Yds	17 - Par 3 217 Yds
	9 - Par 4 491 Yds	18 - Par 4 478 Yds
	-------------	-------------
	36 3,715 Yds	36 3,754 Yds

Annual:	10th
	Television - Golf Channel - Thursday/Friday -- 3-7 p.m. (et),
	- Saturday/Sunday -- 1-2:30 p.m. (et),
	CBS - Saturday/Sunday -- 3-6 p.m. (et)
Defending Champion:	Lucas Glover
Runner-Up:	Jonathan Byrd
Tournament Record:	272 (Anthony Kim, 2008)
54-Hole Record:	201 (Jonathan Byrd, 2011)
36-Hole Record:	132 (Pat Perez, 2011)
Course Record:	62 (Rory McIlroy, 2010)
Total Purse:	$6,500,000
Shares:	1st Place - $1,170,000; 2nd Place - $702,000; 3rd Place - $442,000

2011 Finish
Player	Score	Player	Score
Lucas Glover *	273	Bobby Gates	277
Jonathan Byrd	273	Zach Johnson	277
Rory Sabbatini	274	Pat Perez	277
Bill Haas	275	Seven players at	278
Kevin Na	276

* - Won in Playoff

Past Wells Fargo Championship Winners
Year	Winner (Score) -- Runners-Up
2011	*Lucas Glover (273) -- Jonathan Byrd
2010	Rory McIlroy (273) -- Phil Mickelson
2009	Sean O'Hair (277) -- Lucas Glover, Bubba Watson
2008	Anthony Kim (272) -- Ben Curtis
2007	Tiger Woods (275) -- Steve Stricker
2006	*Jim Furyk (276) -- Trevor Immelman
2005	*Vijay Singh (276) -- Jim Furyk, Sergio Garcia
2004	*Joey Sindelar (277) -- Arron Oberholser
2003	David Toms (278) -- Vijay Singh, Robert Gamez, Brent Geiberger

* - Won in Playoff

Note:Formerly called Wachovia Championship (2003-08),

Quail Hollow Championship (2009-10).

Top Contenders in the Field
Player	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Lucas Glover	---	T-10	mc	T-4	T-34	69th	T-2	T-22	Won
Jonathan Byrd	mc	mc	mc	---	mc	mc	T-5	mc	2nd
Bill Haas	mc	---	T-22	T-4	mc	mc	T-22	T-29	4th
Zach Johnson	---	mc	mc	mc	84th	T-25	T-11	T-51	T-6
Phil Mickelson	---	T-5	T-7	T-35	T-3	T-12	T-5	2nd	T-9
Vijay Singh	T-2	T-10	Won	T-38	T-7	T-17	mc	mc	T-9
Hunter Mahan	---	mc	mc	wd	mc	T-12	T-22	T-17	T-16
Davis Love III	T-29	T-21	mc	T-14	T-24	---	T-22	T-17	T-16
Webb Simpson	---	---	---	---	---	---	mc	mc	T-21
Jim Furyk	mc	---	T-2	Won	mc	7th	T-11	T-7	T-24
Trevor Immelman	mc	---	---	2nd	T-14	mc	T-65	T-22	T-24
David Toms	Won	mc	mc	---	---	T-17	T-18	mc	T-24
Robert Allenby	---	T-50	mc	---	T-34	4th	T-47	T-17	T-48
Anthony Kim	---	---	---	---	T-5	Won	T-47	T-7	T-82
Rory McIlroy	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	Won	mc
Nick Watney	---	---	T-11	21st	T-24	T-40	T-22	T-22	mc
Keegan Bradley	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	mc
Jason Day	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-22	---
Lee Westwood	---	---	---	mc	T-61	---	---	T-38	---
Sean O'Hair	---	---	T-64	mc	wd	---	Won	mc	---
Tiger Woods	---	T-3	T-11	---	Won	---	4th	mc	---

Sports Network Selections

Pick to Win - Phil Mickelson
Darkhorse - Ben Curtis

Last Week's Pick to Win (Bubba Watson) - Finished tied for 18th
Last Week's Darkhorse (Matt Every) - Missed the cut

NOTES:

Quite a stellar field is assembled this week, as the PGA Tour returns to North Carolina for the 10th straight year and the Wells Fargo Championship, the final tune-up before next week's PLAYERS Championship. Five of the top-10 players in the world rankings are expected to compete this week - 2010 champion Rory McIlroy (2), Lee Westwood (3), Hunter Mahan (5), 2007 champion Tiger Woods (7) and Phil Mickelson (10).

McIlroy, Mahan, Woods and Mickelson are playing for the first time since The Masters four weeks ago. Mickelson and Westwood finished tied for third at The Masters. Mickelson has three straight top-10 finishes at this event and has finished in the top-10 in six of his eight appearances, having never missed the cut.

Six of the nine winners of this event have won major championships: David Toms, Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk, Woods, McIlroy and Lucas Glover. Only Joey Sindelar, Anthony Kim and Sean O'Hair have not captured a major. Glover is the all-time money leader with $2,249,340 in career earnings. Furyk is second with $2,236,848 and Singh is third with $2,087,881.

The final three holes at Quail Hollow Club represents one of the toughest finishing stretches on tour. Last year, the par-four 16th played to a scoring average of 4.159; the par-three 17th played to a 3.238; and the par-four 18th hole played to a stroke average of 4.380.

Last year, Glover two-putted for par on the first playoff hole to defeat Jonathan Byrd and win. Glover carded rounds of 67-68-69-69 to get in at 15- under-par 273. Glover became the first player in tournament history to record all four rounds in the 60s. Glover and Byrd played collegiate golf together at Clemson University.

In 2010, Northern Ireland's McIlroy fired a course-record, 10-under 62 in the final round to cruise to a four-stroke win over Mickelson. McIlroy ended at 15-under-par 273. He made the cut on the number at plus-one and posted 16- under on the weekend to earn his first PGA Tour title. The 20-year-old McIlroy became the youngest winner on the PGA Tour since Woods earned his second title in 1996, also at the age of 20.

McIlroy's final-round 62 was the lowest finishing score by a winner since Brad Faxon fired a 61 at the 2005 Buick Championship. It was also the lowest in relation to par since Ryan Palmer shot the same score at the 2004 FUNAI Classic at Walt Disney World Resort. McIlroy became the first player to win after making the cut on the number since Chris Couch at the 2006 Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

In 2008, Kim never let up in the final round. He closed with a three-under 69 to roll to a five-shot win over Ben Curtis, finishing his first PGA Tour victory at 16-under-par 272. Kim set the tournament records for margin of victory (five) and total score (272).

In 2004, Sindelar defeated Arron Oberholser in a playoff to win on the PGA Tour for the first time since the 1990 Hardee's Golf Classic. Sindelar's winless streak was 13 years and eight months. With his winners check of $1,008,000, Sindelar surpassed the $1 million mark in single-season earnings for the first time in his 21-year career.

The PGA Tour travels to Florida next week for the "fifth major," THE PLAYERS Championship, where K.J. Choi will defend his title against the best field in golf.

05/01 15:30:37 ET

As of May 1, 2012, at 03:30 PM ET