This Week on the PGA Tour – 2023 Wells Fargo Championship
Wyndham Clark lost his overnight two-shot lead two holes into the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina, falling into a tie with Xander Schauffele. From there, Wyndham carded 5 birdies and all pars until a meaningless bogey on the 18th hole, for a four-shot victory over runner-up Xander. It was Wyndham’s first professional victory of any kind, and his first PGA Tour win in 134 starts.
The Wells Fargo Championship was first played in 2003. The Champions for Education foundation was founded to operate the tournament and be its charitable arm. The foundation has raised over $27 million for charities making a positive impact on education. Please consider volunteering at the Wells Fargo Championship in 2024 if you are near the Charlotte, North Carolina area.
Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte has hosted the tournament every year except 2017, 2020, and 2022. The tournament was played at Eagle Point Golf Club in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 2017 as Quail Hollow hosted the PGA Championship that year. The tournament was canceled in 2020 due to Covid. Quail Hollow had the privilege of hosting the President’s Cup in 2002, so the Wells Fargo Championship was played at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm in Potomac, Maryland.
The 16th through 18th holes at Quail Hollow Club are referred to as The Green Mile. Sunday’s CBS telecast stated that the 17th hole was playing the hardest on the course, the 18th hole the 2nd hardest, and the 16th hole the 6th hardest.
The Green Mile is in reference to the Stephen King book and subsequent movie starring Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan. It takes place in the death row of a Louisiana prison in 1935. The Green Mile refers to an inmate’s last walk to their execution. As Tom Hanks’ character Paul Edgecomb, a supervisor of the prison’s death row cell block E, puts it, “They usually call Death Row the Last Mile, but we called ours the Green Mile because the floor was the color of faded limes.”
I do not read Stephen King and I’m not a big movie watcher, so I never watched The Green Mile until this Sunday night after the Wells Fargo Championship. I had of course heard of the film but didn’t realize its supernatural aspect. Michael Clarke Duncan’s character John Coffey is a gentle giant on death row after being charged with the rape and murder of two girls. He has Christlike abilities such as healing and knowing what is in people’s hearts.
There are many memorable lines in the film, including John Coffey telling Paul Edgecomb that “You can’t hide what’s in your heart.”
John Coffey is a Hollywood Jesus. Our true redeemer, our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ, tells us in the gospel of Luke that there is nothing hidden that is not known.
God knows what is in our hearts. Live your life with a pure heart.