Golf tips: Your top picks for Wells Fargo and the British Masters this week

*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change

We’re joined by SportingLife’s golfing encyclopedia Ben Coley who runs through this weekend’s action at the Wells Fargo Championship and the British Masters. Our go-to man has a bunch of main selections and outside picks to wet your appetite.

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2022 Wells Fargo Championship

Thursday 5 May – Sunday 8 May
TV: Sky Sports Golf Red Button, Sky Sports Golf & Sky Sports Main Event

They’re keeping Quail Hollow fresh for the President’s Cup later in the year so this year’s championship is at TPC Potomac.

The key difference is that this is a Par 70 rather than a 72, so whereas usually there’d be four par 5s to go, this time there’s only two. That could be a problem for defending champion Rory McIlroy because that’s where he does a lot of his damage.

If you look at the leaderboards at this course in previous years you’ll see that steadier, more accurate players dominate. It’s not beyond McIlroy to cope with that course switch but it’s a definite negative and that’s reflected in his price.

Main selections: Abraham Ancer & Gary Woodland

I like ABRAHAM ANCER. He placed at this course in a different tournament four years ago when he was well down the world rankings and hadn’t won on the PGA tour. Now he is a winner at a very high level and he’s one of just three members of the world’s top 20 in this field.

He seems to be all systems go after his back injury which held him up in the spring and he played nicely like week, a lot better than his finishing position would suggest.

GARY WOODLAND is in really good shape now, too. It feels to me as if a first win since the 2019 US Open is coming and he’s very much worth persevering with. He hit the ball to a very high standard last week and if he keeps doing that then we just need the putts to drop.

Abraham Ancer (R)

Outside picks: Joel Dahmen & Brandon Wu

Firstly, I’ll take JOEL DAHMEN. A winner on the PGA tour last year, he’s playing really nicely this season. He’s not always been rewarded but he did finish sixth at Pebble Beach and he’s not been far away.

He’s hitting the ball really well, we saw that when he was 12th at The Heritage and this is going to be a similar sort of test. Accuracy counts massively here and he is one of the most accurate drivers on the tour, hitting a lot of greens.

The other is a more risky one because he’s younger and a little less reliable but BRANDON WU has a huge future. He’s also a very accurate driver. He was runner-up in Mexico on Sunday and he could go one better here. This is a really good course for him and full of confidence having found his feet on the PGA Tour. At a really big price I think he could go well.

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British Masters

Thursday 5 May – Sunday 8 May
TV: Sky Sports Golf Red Button, Sky Sports Golf & Sky Sports Main Event

Main Selections: Robert MacIntyre & Victor Perez

For me Robert MacIntyre should definitely be the favourite. He was favourite for this a year ago, and he says he’s playing better now. His results don’t necessarily confirm that but he’s been playing on the PGA Tour where the waters are a lot deeper. If you’re finishing 15th at Rivieira and 23rd in the Masters, you’re playing to a very high standard.

He finished 8th here last year and he can definitely improve on that. I think he’s very much the man to beat. In fact, he’s one of my best bets this year on the European Tour.

The other selection is Victor Perez, a class act. He was eighth two starts ago and would have been disappointed to miss the cut last week but it was very narrow. He finished bogey-bogey on Friday but for which he would have made the cut.

Given that Adri Arnaus won from a mile back, that shows that if you do make the cut all of a sudden anything can happen at the weekend. This is a good course for him, he’s back on the way up now after a difficult year last year. And unlike a few at the head of this market who have yet to show they win on the DP world tour, Perez and MacIntyre don’t have that question mark.

Outside picks: Eddie Pepperell & Jorge Campillo

I’ll take a chance on Eddie Pepperell. He’s got great form in Britain, he always raises his game coming back home. He’ll need to because he’s had a quiet year but he was 15th two starts ago.

In this tournament last year, he was the 54-hole leader. He had a tough Sunday but was he was right in the mix going into the final round.

He’s a considerably bigger price this time around and his profile looks pretty similar so I’ll roll the dice with him.

Another one who’s lowkey is Jorge Campillo, not the flashiest of the Spaniards on the tour but clearly they’re going well at the moment as we’ve had back-to-back Spanish winners. Campillo was 7th here in 2020 and he’s a neat and tidy player.

As we saw with Richard Bland last year that’s the formula for the Belfry, you don’t need to hit it a mile but you do need to keep mistakes off the scorecard and I think Compillo can do that.