Weekly Fantasy Golf Preview: Truist Championship

The Truist Championship

Quail Hollow Club,
Charlotte, NC

The PGA Tour heads to North Carolina for another edition of The Truist Championship.

I mentioned this past week that the field for the Cadillac Championship would resemble more a really strong non-signature event field than a signature event field, but what I didn't expect was for the event to feel like a non-signature event.

I read a post on X, I forget who it was from, but the jist of it was that you can't force an event to be a signature event, and what he meant by that was, there are signature events that are a big deal and then there are some that aren't quite as big and the difference is not just the field, but the venue. If an event has no history, or little following before becoming a signature event, it's probably not going to capture the attention of golf fans like other, stronger events would.

Case in point, this past week at Doral, which, once upon a time had a following, but hadn't seen a PGA Tour event in about a decade. Yeah, us olds that have followed golf for decades remember Doral, but a lot of newer golf fans had no attachment to it. Throw in five of the top golfers in the world deciding to take the week off as well and what you had was a bit of a lack luster week in Miami. It didn't help matters that Cameron Young got out to a lead on Thursday and never looked back.

Speaking of Young, man has he taken the next step. A lot of us have been waiting for Young to find that next level for years and while it took longer than we thought it would, I dare say that most of us are a little shocked at how fast he's risen this season. Not only did he win the biggest non-major event this season, but he went out this past week and destroyed the entire field. There was never a moment on the weekend when it felt like it might be slipping away from Young. In a season that's been defined by final-round collapses and near collapses, Young just said nope, I got this.

Right behind Young was, you guessed it, Scottie Scheffler. The Scheffler situation has to go down as one of the strangest things I've seen in golf over the past decade. He can't quite put four rounds together, there's always a misstep somewhere, yet at the end of the week, he's right there, sitting in second place. He's having a fantastic year, just not by his standards necessarily because for Scheffler, we judge him by wins only, anything less is a failure. With that said, there are hundreds of pros on the PGA Tour would love to "fail" like Scheffler has this season.

Onto this week and the next. We've got another signature event this week, but it should have a different feel, not only because we'll have almost all of the best players back in the mix, but because the PGA Championship is on deck, so not only will we be looking at the results of this week, but we'll have one eye on next week as well.

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FAVORITES

All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook as of 9:00 AM ET Wednesday.

Rory McIlroy (+550) 

This is a rarity. We don't often get the best players in the world in one field, but without Scheffler, so we finally get a look at what the odds are without the best player in the world. It's no surprise that McIlroy is atop of the list, but perhaps a bit of a surprise that he's at +550. Between Tiger Woods and Scheffler, single digit odds were unheard of, then again, in those years, we didn't have signature events with short fields, we had WGC events, but those weren't as frequent as signature events, but I'm getting off track here. Factoring in track record, Rory is clearly the top play this week. He's won this event, at the current venue, four times! Oh yeah, his form looks to be pretty solid as well.

Cameron Young (+950)

Young was 12-1 this past week with Scheffler in the field, but with another win under his belt and Scheffler absent, he's moved into the rare single digit territory. I'm not sure that anyone outside of Scheffler deserves single digits, but if there are any two that do deserve it this year, it would be McIlroy and Young. The issue for Young this week is his track record at Quail Hollow. He's played this event twice on this course and his best showing was T34 in 2024. He finished T47 at the PGA Championship this past year, which was also held at Quail Hollow, so it's safe to say that he hasn't had a great feel for this course in three tries. With that said, he's obviously the best version of himself that he's ever been entering this week, so I would expect some improvement, but a win seems unlikely.

Xander Schauffele (10-1)

Schauffele was starting to get his form back in the month of March, which led to a pretty strong April as well, but he decided to take this past week off, so we aren't quite sure of his form heading into this week. He finished T12 at the RBC Heritage in his most recent start, that followed a top-10 at the Masters, so it would seem that he's moving in the right direction. His track record here is also pretty strong with two runner-ups in his two most recent starts at this event, at Quail Hollow. It's pretty clear that Schauffele likes this venue, but I'm not sure there's much value at his current price. I think he'll play well this week, but I'd like some better odds to place a win bet.

Visit our golf betting section for the latest PGA odds and finishing props from multiple sportsbooks.

THE NEXT TIER

Tommy Fleetwood (22-1)

Fleetwood got off to a strong start this season, but he didn't build on that momentum as the month of April was, as the kids would say, mid. Fleetwood doesn't have the best form entering this week, but like so many players I the field, he's got good memories of Quail Hollow. Fleetwood's results here aren't as strong as McIlroy or some others, but he has managed to land in the top-15 here in each of his past three starts. Like so many other players in the field, Fleetwood is hoping a return to Quail Hollow will kick start his season.

Adam Scott (33-1)

I'm going back to the well with Scott as he played as well as anyone in the final three rounds of the Cadillac Championship this past week. Sure, he had a great track record at Doral, which certainly helped him, but he's got a pretty good track record at Quail Hollow as well. Scott finished inside the top-25 in each of his first four starts here and the for reasons unknown, the wheels fell off from 2009-2015. Since then however, he's had some good showings, including a T5 in 2023. He also finished T19 at the PGA Championship here this past year.

Sepp Straka (45-1)

Straka is the defending champ this week, which usually makes things for difficult – strike one. And the event this past year wasn't at Quail Hollow – strike two. If you're looking for strike three however, you won't find it here. Okay, so his win this past year at this event doesn't carry a lot of weight because it came on a different course, fair enough. However, he did post a top-10 the last time he played this event on this course. In addition, he's coming off a very solid performance this past week in Miami. This is more a hunch pick than anything else as I feel like Straka might be ready to go on a run.

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LONG SHOTS

Jason Day (45-1)           

Wouldn't it be cool to see Jason Day win again? If he's going to pick up another win on the PGA Tour, this might be the place. Day won this event in 2018 and he finished T4 here in 2024. Day hasn't been in the best form this season, but that's why he's a longshot this week. He has posted some strong performances this season however. He was runner-up at the American Express in January and T6 at the Texas Children's Houston Open in March. He also fared pretty well at the Masters this past month where he posted a T12.

Max Homa (100-1)          

Homa has slowly worked his way back out of a long slump over the past couple years, but he's not back to his previous level quite yet. That could change this week though as he's returning to a site where he's had a lot of success. Homa won this event in 2019 and 2022 and while the win in 2022 was on another course, his overall record at Quail Hollow is pretty strong. In addition to his win in 2019, he posted top-10s in 2023 and 2024. It seems like he's still a long way from winning again, but getting back on Quail Hollow might be exactly what he needs.

ONE-AND-DONE LEAGUES

Highly-Chosen Pick: Rory McIlroy – A lot of things to consider this week with McIlroy including that this will be his first start since his win at the Masters in April. Where's his head at entering this week? Last year he struggled after picking up his first Green Jacket, will it be different this year? On the positive side, no Scheffler in the field this week and no LIV players, so will there be a better chance for a win the rest of the season? My answer is no. All things considered, including the track record, this looks like the best spot to deploy McIlroy this season.      

Moderately-Chosen Pick: Cameron Young – Young was a popular play this past week and I think for those that didn't use him this past week, the urge will be to pull the trigger in this spot. A couple reasons behind that. First, he's obviously on fire right now. He looks absolutely locked in and if he took down Scheffler this past week, he could do the same to the like of Rory and company. Second, though he's having a break out season, I'm not sure most OAD players would feel comfortable using him at the majors just yet. With Scheffler out of the mix, this might be the best spot to use Young as well.

Lightly-Chosen Pick: Sepp Straka – I like the way that Straka looked this past week and as we've seen before with him, when he gets rolling, he's tough to beat. I can't imagine there will be many OAD players on Straka this week, so if you are looking to gain some ground, Straka seems like a good option this week.      

Buyer Beware: Ludvig Aberg – You know me, I like to aim high on my fades, so why not take aim at a guy who is 14-1 this week? Honestly, there weren't a lot of good options to fade this week by my standards, so I'm reaching a bit here as Aberg has four top-5s in his past five starts, but I don't think this is a great spot for him. Aberg played this event this past year, but that was on a different course, so he's never played this event at Quail Hollow, which puts him at a disadvantage because there are a lot of players in the field with very strong track records at this event. Aberg did play Quail Hollow this past year at the PGA Championship and he missed the cut, so even though he's 14-1 and seemingly in great form, there's a lot working against him this week.

My Pick: Rory McIlroy – I'm hoping that most of my competition will save McIlroy for one of the final three majors this year, which will allow me to gain some ground this week if McIlroy happens to win. Either way, I think this is the right play because at 6-1, these are the shortest odds we'll see on him this season. The reason of course is that Scheffler is out of the mix this week, but beyond that, McIlroy has an outstanding record at this event and at Quail Hollow. The only thing that worries me about him this week is the hangover from another Masters win, but hopefully he learned something from how he handled that this past year and he'll avoid a mid-season slump this time around.

Previous Results

View the PGA earnings report to find total winnings and winnings per entry via our fantasy golf stats pages.

FANDUEL PICKS

Upper Range: Rory McIlroy ($12,600)
Middle Range: Adam Scott ($10,400)
Lower Range: Brian Harman ($8,200)

SURVIVOR LEAGUES

No Cut This Week

Previous Results