Steve Palmer's Wells Fargo Championship first-round leader tips and best bets

Golf tips, best bets and player analysis for first round of the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow on the PGA Tour.

Where to watch

Sky Sports Golf, midday Thursday

Best bets

Justin Thomas to beat Jon Rahm
3pts 19-20 Hills (draw no bet)

Charl Schwartzel to beat Ian Poulter
2pts 10-11 bet365

Rickie Fowler first-round leader
1pt each-way 66-1 bet365, Betfred

Viktor Hovland-Will Zalatoris dual forecast
0.5pt 225-1 Coral, Ladbrokes

First-round preview

The best tournament since the Masters starts at Quail Hollow, Charlotte, North Carolina on Thursday and the Wells Fargo Championship first-round threeball card oozes quality.

Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay and Viktor Hovland comprise the 12.34pm (UK and Ireland time) group, while the late attractions are Bryson DeChambeau, Xander Schauffele and Joaquin Niemann (5.43pm), and Patrick Reed, Rory McIlroy and Stewart Cink (5.54pm).

Thomas to defeat Jon Rahm is the most appealing 72-hole match-bet option, particularly given Hills are offering the top price as well as draw-no-bet security. Thomas won the 2017 US PGA Championship at this track - Quail Hollow made him a Major champion - while Rahm is making his Wells Fargo debut.

Thomas struck his ball with supreme authority throughout last week's Valspar Championship, struggling with his putting on his way to 13th place, and if he brings that long-game form to Quail Hollow, the longest par-71 course on the circuit, he seems a certain title contender.

Quail Hollow, playing soft after recent rain, is a slog for Ian Poulter. Charl Schwartzel, 26th in the Masters, second in the Zurich Classic alongside Louis Oosthuizen, then 21st in the Valspar, has found enough form to defeat Poulter this week.

Rickie Fowler, who made his PGA Tour breakthrough in the 2012 Quail Hollow gathering, showed enough in the final three rounds of the Texas Open last time out to suggest he could get among the Wells Fargo birdies. A 72-hole title tilt may still be beyond Fowler as he works through swing changes, but at 66-1 for first-round leader from an early tee-off time, the former world number four is worth chancing.

A small outright dual-forecast dart on greens-in-regulation machines Hovland and Will Zalatoris is also advised at enormous odds.

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