Welcome to our weekly PGA Tour gambling tips column, featuring picks from GOLF.com expert prognosticator Brady Kannon. A seasoned golf bettor and commentator, Kannon is a host and regular guest on SportsGrid, a syndicated audio network dedicated to sports and sports betting, and is a golf betting analyst for CBS Sportsline. You can follow Brady on Twitter at @LasVegasGolferand you can read his picks below for the 2026 Truist Championship, which begins Thursday in Charlotte.
Like a weathered autograph on an old baseball card, are some of the “signatures” fading at these two latest PGA Tour Signature Events?
As we spoke last week, Trump National Doral AND Hollow Club are two of the best golf courses — and tournaments — on the PGA Tour calendar, but we’ve crammed so many high-profile events into such a small window that it tends to absorb some of the “extraordinary” from each.
Formerly the Wells Fargo Championship and now the Truist Championship, this week’s tournament has been one of the main events on the calendar since it moved to the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, NC, in 2003. Personally, it just seems to lose a bit of luster by being sandwiched between another Signature Event and a major championship. That said, I’m looking forward to next week’s PGA Championship and we’ll have an article later this week with some of our early picks for the battle for the Wanamaker Trophy at Aronimink Golf Club. But for now, let’s embrace another star-studded field and see if we can find a winner.
George Cobb originally designed this golf course in 1961, but I believe it is now truly considered a Tom Fazio design as it has been brought back for adjustments, renovations and redesigns roughly half a dozen times since 1997. Quail Hollow hosted the 2017 and 2025 PGA Championships and the 20 Presidents Cup. It is home to four PGA Tour victories for Rory McIlroy, including his first his, and it was also home to Rickie Fowler’s first tour win in 2012, when he defeated McIlroy in a playoff.
Right up there with Trump Doral and Torrey Pines, Quail Hollow is a golf course for the big boys, stretching to nearly 7,600 yards and playing a par of 71. The fairways are on the tighter side, but the rough isn’t particularly brutal, sitting at what would be considered the average tournament height of about two inches. The greens are above average in size and are usually very strong and fast. They are a patch of Bermudagrass overlaid with Poa Trivialis, but from what we can tell, the Bermudagrass is certainly starting to come out of its dormancy and re-establish itself as the primary species with low night temperatures starting to reach near 60 degrees in the Charlotte area.
I looked at Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and Strokes Gained: Approach this week along with Driving Distance and Greens in Regulation Gained. Total Driving and Ball Striking will go a long way this week in determining a champion. I looked at Hole Proximity from 175-200 yards, Scrambling, Bogey Avoidance and scoring on Par 4s measuring 450-500 yards.
Let’s not forget, this is another limited field, with 72 players, with no 36-hole cut this week.
I’ve always relied on the connection between Quail Hollow and Torrey Pines as it feels like one of the strongest correlations we see on Tour, with Total Driving being a huge asset at both courses. Jason Day and Max Homa have each won at both properties. I have also used other Fazio models, Congolese (2022 CJ Cup) and Valley of caves (BMW Championship 2021) to give some pointers. And finally, I took a look at the aforementioned Trump National Doral, along with Los Angeles Country Club (2023 US Open) and Oakmont (2025 US Open).
Tommy Fleetwood (27-1)
I was on the Fleetwood fade train last week as it has been going in the wrong direction as of late. That concerns me here as he missed shots on the approach last week at Doral and after a hot start to the season, his last three finishes have been 33-52-23. His price has now been dragged down and combined with that he arrives at a course where he has had great success in the past with a 13th, 14th and fifth place finish. He was also fifth at Torrey Pines last year when the Genesis Invitational was played there, fifth at the US Open at LACC and was fourth at Congaree in 2022 – so the setup seems to be one that suits his eye and maybe that will be enough to get his game going once again. We really haven’t seen such a high price on Fleetwood all season, yet he’s still one of the top 10 players in the game and one of the short-priced favorites to win here this week. He ranks eighth on Tour in SG: Tee to Green, is 10th in Driving Accuracy and is 24th in Scrambling. He could also be a very strong top 20 play.
Si Woo Kim (30-1)
That number is getting harder to find, but I don’t mind anything better than 25-1. Impressively, Kim has finished in the top 10 in half of his starts this season, taking third and fourth in his last two races. Last week in South Florida, Kim was fifth in that field for SG: Approach and no. 1 for SG: Around the Green. He does it again, and will likely be right there again, in contention for the win. He finished eighth here at Quail Hollow in last year’s PGA Championship and was 16th in the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship. Earlier this season he was runner-up at Torrey Pines. I believe he is one of the best, if not the best, prices on the board this week.
Gary Woodland at the Texas Children’s Houston Open.
Getty Images
Gary Woodland (80-1)
This was another great price I found, but I’m still seeing it available in the major books. Lots of mismatches in the market as I’m seeing Woodland up to 50-1 in some shops. Remember, that was one of the stories of the year when Woodland found the winner’s circle at the Houston Open in March. He is one of the best drivers of the golf ball in the world, ranking second on the Tour in Driving Distance. He’s 31st in Ball Striking, 13th for SG: Off the Tee, and the flatstick is shooting as well, ranking 30th on Tour in SG: Putting. Woodland has two top-5 finishes at Quail Hollow and three top-12s at Torrey Pines.
Taylor Pendrith (130-1)
Pendrith is perhaps another great candidate for a last-place game, but reaching pole position is also possible, as the big Canadian has proven in the past. He has been 10th at the Wells Fargo and was fifth here last year at the PGA Championship. He has two top-10 finishes at Torrey Pines. Pendrith has been very mediocre since finishing sixth at the Sony Open to start the season, but last week at Doral, he showed some signs, shooting below par on three of the four days. He ranked eighth in the field last week for SG: Off the Tee, was ninth in Driving Distance, 18th for SG: Approach and was no. 1 for Greens in Regulation.
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