Wells Fargo Championship: Players tee off as first round underway

[LINK: Tournament information: Schedule, tickets, transportation, parking]

Fans can take a shuttle from the Charlotte Convention Center or park at Carowinds and take a shuttle from there as well.

Ride-sharing services are another option and fans can also take the Blue Line to the Sharon Road West station where more shuttles will be available.

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[RELATED: Tiger Woods return to Quail Hollow brings excitement to Wells Fargo Championship]

Woods ready to return to work at Quail Hollow

Tiger Woods spent three months working toward one week in April.

The Masters has come and gone.

Woods took a small step back at Augusta National when he misfired with his iron play, didn't break par until the final round and tied for 32nd. He finished 16 shots back, his widest distance from the lead in 19 appearances at the Masters.

It was a big step forward for Patrick Reed, who slept three hours after winning his first major, woke up at 5 a.m. because he couldn't sleep and responded to 155 text messages and about 180 emails.

"Every one," he said with a big smile.

This is no time to rest. Golf shifts into overdrive starting Thursday with the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow, a course that hosted the PGA Championship last summer and boasts enough star players to make it feel like the next best thing to a major.

The Players Championship is the following week. Three major championships, starting with the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, are played in a nine-week span.

"Building toward next week," Woods said. "Hopefully, I can have everything peak for this week and next week, but mainly next week. And after that, it's getting ready for Shinnecock."

Woods put a new set of irons in his bag for Quail Hollow, and in some respects, the course feels new. He hasn't played the Wells Fargo Championship since 2012, and while he won in 2007, he has missed the cut the last two times he played. It's the only golf course where he has missed the 36-hole cut twice.

Since then, and mainly for the PGA Championship, Quail Hollow combined the opening two holes into one long par 4 and built two new holes on the front nine. Since the last time he played, the 16th hole has been overhauled so that the green sits by the water.

"The golf course is much harder than it used to be, that's for sure," Woods said after his pro-am round Wednesday. "It's longer, but it's also more difficult."

Woods wasn't sure what to make of the Masters except that his irons were off. He had been building toward April, a phrase he used on more than one occasion from the onset of his return following a fourth back surgery. He was in the hunt on the front nine of the final round at the Honda Classic and came within one shot of a playoff at the Valspar Championship. He was one shot out of the lead with three holes to play at Bay Hill until hitting his tee shot out-of-bounds.

And then he never featured at Augusta National.

"I didn't hit my irons very good," Woods said. "If I did hit a green, I hit it above the hole, I hit it in the wrong spot. I had defensive putts for most of the days. I needed to be more precise and I wasn't. Still need to continue to work on it and try to get sharp, and hopefully this will be a good week."

Woods said he put his golf clubs in the closet for 10 days after the Masters, did some moderate weightlifting while staying flexible and then went back to work on his golf muscles and the speed of his swing.

"And I got them all back," he said.

Reed returned last week at the Zurich Classic, a team event he played with Patrick Cantlay, and tied for seventh. He was in awe of the green jacket, which he wore during a media tour in New York, to a Houston Astros game and even to fast-food restaurant.

Just don't get the idea that he is satisfied with his year.

Reed won't even buy into the notion that no matter what happens the rest of the year, this will be his best year. He won twice in 2014. He only has one trophy this year. That's how he measures success.

"I'm never going to settle," Reed said. "I'm not the type that just because I won one major means I'm done. I want to go out, compete and get that feeling more and more and try to win as many golf tournaments as I possibly can."

This would be a big one, because of the quality of the golf course and the field.

Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler all are playing for the first time since the Masters. Justin Thomas has a chance to go to No. 1 in the world, and Quail Hollow is where he won the PGA Championship last August.

Woods is coming off a three-week break, his longest since he returned to the PGA Tour in January, and it was a welcome respite.

"I played a lot of golf heading into Augusta, more golf than I thought I would be able to play," he said. "It was nice to shut it down, reflect, analyze, sit back and try and figure out what's the best course of action going forward so I can win events."

A hole-by-hole look at Quail Hollow Club

No. 1 - 524 yards, par 4: The hole was lengthened so that it essentially combines what had been the opening two holes. A big left-to-right tee shots leaves players atop an elevated landing zone beyond the dogleg. The approach is mid or long iron to a small, undulated green guarded by three big bunkers.

No. 2 - 452 yards, par 4: The second hole used to be No. 3. A 280-yard drive reaches a slight turn in the fairway, leaving about 170 yards to an elevated green that slopes from back to front.

No. 3 - 483 yards, par 4: The tee shot must be long and straight, leading to an elevated green that is surrounded by three bunkers and divided by a small ridge that separates the back from the front.

No. 4 - 184 yards, par 3: What used to be the par-5 fifth hole has been converted into a par 3 that is framed by pine trees and features a large, undulating green guarded by three bunkers in the front. Anything long will end up below the green and leave a tough par save.

No. 5 - 449 yards, par 4: This is another new hole because of changes to the old par 5. It will go down, and then back up a shallow valley to a green that is situated on a hillside behind the sixth tee. The fairway has bunkers on both sides, the green is narrow with a front right bunker.

No. 6 - 249 yards, par 3: The long par 3 plays downhill and asks a player to be accurate with a hybrid or a long iron. The green slopes back to front, and is guarded by a front right bunker.

No. 7 - 546 yards, par 5: The shortest and most exciting of the par 5s, this is easily reachable in two provided the tee shot avoids bunkers on the left and water on the right that runs long the fairway and cuts in front of the green. The green is surrounded by bunkers. It should be a birdie, but can lead to a big number.

No. 8 - 346 yards, par 4: Depending on the tees and the wind, players can try to drive the green or lay up and attack with a wedge. Two bunkers were added to the left side of the fairway, and the green was rebuilt to soften the contours and expand the landing area.

No. 9 - 505 yards, par 4: Typically among the toughest par 4s, the drive should avoid a bunker on the right for a player to have a clear shot with a long iron up the hill toward the green. Two front bunkers guard the green, which has a lot of movement to it.

No. 10 - 592 yards, par 5: Players can reach this in two provided they avoid the bunker on the left and trees on the right. The green is sloped from back to front and right to left, so position is everything to convert birdie chances. Bunkers are situated on both sides of the green.

No. 11 - 462 yards, par 4: This hole was lengthened 40 yards. A large oak at the corner of the dogleg left has been replaced by two large bunkers. The green is slightly elevated and guarded by deep bunkers on the left.

No. 12 - 456 yards, par 4: The fairway is narrow with trees tightly guarding both sides. From the fairway, players face a short iron to an elevated green that slopes severely from back to front. It's crucial to keep the ball below the cup to have a chance at birdie or avoid potential three-putts.

No. 13 - 208 yards, par 3: The green is situated between two large bunkers. The putting surface has two levels with a collection area on the right middle portion, along with a severe slope from back to front. Par shouldn't be a problem. Birdies figure to be difficult.

No. 14 - 344 yards, par 4: Players can go for the green or lay up with an iron. The water down the left side presents the risk with driver off the tee. From the fairway, the green is long and narrow and can be difficult to get it close to the pin. Birdies are as common as bogeys.

No. 15 - 577 yards, par 5: The final par 5 is deceptively challenging with water on the left and trees to the right. It plays uphill, and anything in the fairway should leave a fairway metal into the green, which has a ridge down the middle that can feed the ball close or repel it further away. This is the last easy birdie opportunity.

No. 16 - 506 yards, par 4: The hole was modified in 2013 to move the green some 80 yards to the left so that it sits on the edge of the water. The tee shot to a slight dogleg right should avoid a bunker on the right side, and a mid-iron to a green with a bunker on the right and water on the left.

No. 17 - 223 yards, par 3: The signature hole at Quail Hollow is a peninsula green that requires a carry of 195 yards from the back tees. With a firm green, players have to be careful with back pin positions so the ball doesn't run off the back into the water. The popular miss is to the right, which leaves a tough up-and-down.

No. 18 - 494 yards, par 4: One of the strongest closing holes, players must avoid a bunker on the right and a creek that meanders down the left side of the hole, with a steep slope to the left of the creek. The second shot is uphill with bunkers right and the creek to the left.

McIlroy looks to bury Masters memories, bounce back at Quail

Rory McIlroy tried everything he could to forget about golf in the days following the Masters.

He binge-watched "Billions." He read a couple of books: "The Chimp Paradox" and "Essentialism." And he knocked back a few bottles of wine - "that sounds really bad; it wasn't that bad," McIlroy said with a sheepish grin - before his wife Erica finally had enough and dragged him out of the house.

She told him they needed to go do something - anything. All of that other stuff wasn't working.

McIlroy was upset after a final round 74 at Augusta National last month kept him from winning the one major that has eluded the 28-year-old during his exceptional professional career.

"The Masters has become the biggest golf tournament in the world and I'm comfortable saying that," McIlroy said. "I don't care about the U.S. Open or The Open Championship. It is the biggest tournament in the world. It has the most amount of eyeballs, the most amount of hype. The most amount of everything is at Augusta."

So not winning affected McIlroy a little more than your average tournament.

He played in the final pairing alongside Patrick Reed, but could never muster a charge. The three-shot deficit he started with that day stretched to six by the time he walked off the course. He finished tied for fifth at 9 under, six strokes behind Reed.

McIlroy said in the days that followed he spent time replaying bad shots in his head.

"It was just the quiet moments when you're staring off into the distance and you're thinking about a certain shot or a certain putt and you're just like. ... Yeah, it got to the point where I needed to see a bit of daylight and get outside and go for walks and start to do my usual thing," McIlroy said.

But he said he's focused on moving on.

If McIlroy is in need of an elixir for his Masters memories, a trip to one of his favorite courses, the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, might just do the trick.

He has won the Wells Fargo Championship here twice, setting a tournament record with a dominating seven-shot win in 2015. He also won in 2010, and has five top-10 finishes here in the last five years. Oddsmakers have listed him as the favorite to become the first player to win this event three times.

The need for strong long iron shots plays to McIlroy's strengths.

"It's one of those golf courses that sets up well for me," McIlroy said. "It fits my eye. I feel like I can play my game around here and that served me pretty well over the years. Hopefully, this week's another good week."

But bouncing back with a win won't be easy by any stretch.

This week he faces a star-studded field that includes Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler, Justin Thomas, Jason Day, Hideki Matsuyama and Reed, among others.

McIlroy didn't play well here last year at Quail Hollow when it hosted the PGA Championship, but back spasms played a role. Now he's healthy and eager to find the top of the leaderboard.

If he plays like he did in 2015, it won't be close.

McIlroy shot a course-record 61 in the third round to take control, then added a 69 on the final day to finish 21 under. He had 27 birdies in all and hit some of the most memorable shots of his career, several of which he recalls in an instant.

"It was one of those times where you get in the zone and you're very aware of everything," McIlroy said. "Your senses, all of your senses are just a little more heightened."