After a brief stint at a cricket club, the tournament you almost certainly still refer to as “The Wells Fargo” is back at Quail Hollow. Scottie Scheffler has decided to give it a miss, despite winning the PGA Championship by five here this time last year, but Rory McIlroy returns to action at a venue where he’s won three times and holds the course record after skipping Trump’s place last week. Do I fancy him to win? Keep scrolling for my 2026 Truist Championship betting tips, but first…
2026 Truist Championship key details
Dates: May 7-10
Venue: Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte, North Carolina
Course: Par-71; 7,538 yards
Format: 72-hole stroke play with no halfway cut
Purse: $20,000,000
FedEx Cup: 700 points
Defending champion: Sepp Straka
Truist Championship tee times
The full field and tee times from the 2026 Truist Championship can be found on the PGA Tour website.
Truist Championship TV schedule
US viewers can catch the action on the Golf Channel and CBS.
Thursday: Golf Channel from 3pm
Friday: Golf Channel from 3pm
Saturday: Golf Channel from 12pm and CBS from 3pm
Sunday: Golf Channel from 12pm and CBS from 3pm
All times EDT.
If you’re in the UK, you can catch the action on Sky Sports.
Thursday: Sky Sports+ from 12.30pm and Sky Sports Golf from 5.30pm
Friday: Sky Sports+ from 12.30pm and Sky Sports Golf from 5.30pm
Saturday: Sky Sports Golf from 5pm
Sunday: Sky Sports Golf from 5pm and Sky Sports Main Event from 7pm
All times BST.
Truist Championship prize money
The full Truist Championship purse breakdown can be found here.
2026 Truist Championship betting tips
Right, let’s get into my picks. Remember, all prices are correct at the time of publishing and subject to change. And please gamble responsibly.
The Banker: Ludvig Aberg
14/1 e/w (Bet365 8 Places 1/5 Odds)
Ludvig Aberg has never played the Wells Fargo, and he missed the cut at last year’s PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. However, I do think this course is ideal for him, and suspect he will continue his form here.
Four top-5 finishes in his last five starts could have easily been better, as he should have won at TPC Sawgrass, and while we were disappointed he let us down there at 28/1, he still appeals at half the price to me here.
That’s because he’s added another two more top-5 finishes, where he was in contention at both, going into the final round in 2nd place in Texas, and leading after round 1 last time out at the Heritage.
This form has, as you’d expect, been driven by excellent ball striking, ranking inside the top-5 in SG Approach in three of his last five starts, and inside the top-7 in SG Tee to Green three times and no worse than 16th in those five starts as well.
Aberg’s win at Torrey Pines correlates nicely, and we know at a course that rewards great ball striking, he has to come to the fore.
It might be a steep price to pay, but he’s so close to winning again, and the form is so good, I feel compelled to bet him here.
The Outsider: Alex Smalley
60/1 e/w (Bet365 8 Places 1/5 Odds)
Alex Smalley is playing some very consistent golf this season, making 11 of his 12 cuts, and approaching $2 million in prize money already in 2026.
His two best finishes have no doubt been in the last fortnight, first when finishing runner-up to the Fitzpatrick brothers at the Zurich Classic, and he followed that up with his own T7 finish at Doral this past weekend.
Smalley may not immediately come to mind as one of the PGA Tour’s most prominent drivers of the ball, but he ranked 14th in Total Driving last season, and 9th in the same category the year before. And while he only just sits inside the top 60 in that category this season, his play off the tee is certainly a strength.
What has improved this season though is his approach play, as he ranks 16th in SG Approach at this point of the season, with his previous career best being 32nd at the end of the 2022-23 season. There’s still some time to go, so he may well settle around that number again, but it’s certainly a better year than he’s enjoyed with his irons the past two seasons.
When you look at where Smalley has impressed so far in his career, the North Carolina resident, who attended Wake Forest High School and Duke University, has perhaps unsurprisingly enjoyed Quail Hollow.
In his only previous start at this event he finished 18th three years ago, and in the 2025 PGA Championship he finished T28, a second top-30 finish in that event in three years, while missing the cut on his other two major starts. In addition to a solid T28 finish last week, he was 4th after round 1 and 7th at the halfway stage, so he was on his way to better things at halfway. Given his current form, if he found himself in that same position on this course this weekend, I think he’d kick on, especially in a lesser event.
When you look at where Smalley has played well, you will see Memorial Park (T4 2022 Houston Open) and Vidanta (T6 2022 Mexico Open, T10 2025) chief among his results, two events that reward strong driving. Add to that the 18th in the event, 28th in the PGA here, and a 5th in Myrtle Beach this time last year and he’s played well in Carolina when given the chance, which suggests being closer to home helps, even when it’s South Carolina versus North.
After ranking 4th in SG Approach and 10th in SG Tee to Green this past weekend, I am confident Smalley can carry on his good form this week closer to home.
The Long Shot: Michael Kim
125/1 e/w (Bet365 8 Places 1/5 Odds)
With three top 25 finishes in his last four starts, Michael Kim is clearly finding some form, and now he returns to Quail Hollow where he finished 7th and broke 70 on all four days the last time he played here.
In addition to form on the course, he’s also played well at Bay Hill (4th), Golf Club of Houston (12th) and Riviera (13th) all courses that offer some correlation and reward strong ball striking.
His 18th last week was the latest in a recent run of good results, finishing T2 at the Valero Texas Open, T25 at the RBC Heritage, and then T18 last week, and I think he can put together a big week here, while some of the other top players have half an eye on next week’s PGA Championship.
The Bonus Bet: Kurt Kitayama
55/1 e/w (BetMGM 6 Places 1/5 Odds)
Kurt Kitayama has now posted three top 10 finishes in his last seven starts, with back-to-back top 10 finishes adding to his 2nd at the Genesis Invitational.
That result at Riviera is certainly of interest, as there has been plenty of correlation between there and Quail Hollow, and despite him missing two of his last three cuts at this course, his 34th in the Wells Fargo a couple of years ago gives some hope, and it’s a course that really should suit his game.
Back-to-back top 10 finishes have him in a good spot and to finish 9th last week, after opening with a 76 and sitting in 66th after round 1 shows he’s in a good spot with his game, despite the odd blip.
A winner at Bay Hill and a runner-up in Mexico show he turns up on big driving ball parks and a 2nd at the CJ Cup in South Carolina is not only further evidence he can compete in these big fields, but also that he might be comfortable in this part of the country.
Kitayama feels like one of those players that goes under the radar, despite a very clear skillset that is rewarded regularly on this Tour. with two wins, three more runner-up finishes and a long list of other top 5 finishes on the PGA Tour, including at a major in the 2023 PGA Championship, so Kitayama offers plenty of upside. He has made a strong impression at this level, despite not playing regularly here until 2022 and I think that’s will continue.
There’s a clear weakness in his game which is the putter, something a lot of elite ball strikers struggle with, but we also know he’s streaky with that club, and when it’s right it can lead to top, top finishes, and you really cannot underestimate how important winning and contending form is at this level, which Kitayama has in abundance in the past five years.
Ranking top 10 this season in SG Approach (8th), Greens in Regulation (9th) and Total Driving (9th), this should be an absolutely ideal test for the American, who will have designs on making the Presidents Cup team, even if it seems a little farfetched at the moment.
I rate Kitayama very highly, with four wins split evenly across the DP World Tour and PGA Tour, and it might not be long before he wins again. I hope it might come this week, off the back of two top 10s, which signals his intent, as he comes to what looks to be a suitable test, despite what the form lines say.