The Charles Schwab Challenge
Preview for the Charles Schwab Challenge:
This tournament dates back to 1947 when it began its journey as the Colonial National Invitational and Ben Hogan secured the win by a single stroke over Harry Todd. The record score here is held by Zach Johnson who shot a -21 in 2010 to win by 3 strokes over the rest of the competition. Winners of the Charles Schwab Challenge over the last five years include Sam Burns in 2022, Jason Kokrak in 2021, Daniel Berger in 2020, Kevin Na in 2019, and Justin Rose in 2018.
Tournament purse: The prize money for this week’s event is $8.7M, the winner collects $1.566M, and also earns himself 500 FedEx Cup points.
Course and key stats: Colonial Country Club is 7,209 yards in length, is a par 70, and the average-sized greens are bentgrass. The winning score at the Charles Schwab Challenge over the past decade ranges from -9 to -20, so the level of difficulty can really fluctuate depending on what the wind is doing in Texas at the time and how the course is set up. Some core key stats to focus on this week include strokes gained: putting, strokes gained: total, strokes gained: approach, driving accuracy percentage, and strokes gained: tee to green.
The 2023 Charles Schwab Challenge field: We have a 120-player field on tap this week, and the top 65 golfers plus ties after round 2 will advance to the weekend rounds 3 and 4. The decent-looking field includes Jordan Spieth, Scottie Scheffler, Tony Finau, Viktor Hovland, and several other solid PGA professionals, as well. On a scale ranging from A to D, I rank the field strength to be a B.
DFS PGA Tour Golf Picks
Make the most of this article’s data, predictions, and insights to help with your fantasy golf picks for the Charles Schwab Challenge. And check out our PGA Projections and Optimizer tools to make more informed player selections for your DFS DraftKings lineups. Best of luck this week!
Three questions that are relevant to the Charles Schwab Challenge this week:
- Which 10 players have gained the most strokes total over their last 24 rounds? Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth, Sungjae Im, Russell Henley, Tony Finau, Viktor Hovland, Justin Rose, Taylor Moore, Rickie Fowler, and Tommy Fleetwood.
- Which 10 players does my custom model like the most? Scottie Scheffler, Justin Rose, Sungjae Im, Emiliano Grillo, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Jordan Spieth, Tony Finau, Denny McCarthy, Russell Henley, and Adam Svensson.
- Which 10 players gained the most strokes total (minimum 6 rounds) at this event since 2018? Tony Finau, Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose, Collin Morkikawa, Brendon Todd, Viktor Hovland, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Emiliano Grillo, Andrew Putnam, and Brian Harman.
All the best in your journey to win or at least be in the money in some contests this week – here are (in no particular order) 15 DFS golf picks on DraftKings (DK), plus I also include player salaries for DK. I consistently provide recent and seasonal finishes for each of my picks, their performances at the event over the last five years, and add in some valuable data.
15 Players Who Are Either High-Potential or Solid-Value Plays This Week – Get Them Into Your DFS Lineups
Scottie Scheffler (Salary: DraftKings – $11.5K) – The stars should be aligned for this Texan beauty this week as he’s coming off a T2 last week at the PGA Championship and finished runner-up here a year ago. He’s off the charts amazing tee to green and on approach, and his putter is waking up now also, so now is the time to pounce and not get off of Scottie. Charles Schwab Challenge finishes over the last five years: 2022 – 2nd, 2021 – cut, and 2020 – T55.
Viktor Hovland (Salary: DraftKings – $10.6K) – Wasn’t he fun to watch last week trying to chase down Brooks Koepka to win the PGA Championship – what poise and compete level he possesses! He has three top 7’s in his last five stroke-play starts, and him gaining 10.66 strokes on approach last week was insane. He has been good, not great here just yet, but that could all change this week if he unleashes his virtually untouchable approach mastery. Charles Schwab Challenge finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T21 and 2020 – T23.
Jordan Spieth (Salary: DraftKings – $9.9K) – Lots of people were off of Spieth last week given his injury concerns, but he actually performed quite well with a T29 gaining 8.40 strokes ball-striking. He has two top 4’s in his last four starts and has been outstanding at this venue with four straight top 10’s, and eight top 10’s in ten starts including the win in 2016, and his putting here is near perfection so that makes him very dangerous at Colonial. Charles Schwab Challenge finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T7, 2021 – 2nd, 2020 – T10, 2019 – T8, and 2018 – T32.
Tommy Fleetwood (Salary: DraftKings – $9.2K) – Fleetwood plays a tight all-around game and it leads him to a good number of top 10, top 20’s, and top 30-somethings. He has gained strokes across the board in three straight events now and finished no worse than T18 and had a T5 two starts ago. Charles Schwab Challenge finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T35.
Denny McCarthy (Salary: DraftKings – $8.7K) – If the most important key stat this week is putting then book me some shares of McCarthy as he has been one of the very top putters over the past few years on the PGA Tour, and more recently, has gained 12.92 strokes over his last two starts. Charles Schwab Challenge finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T27, 2021 – cut, 2020 – T66, and 2019 – cut.
Cameron Davis (Salary: DraftKings – $8.6K) – Davis is healthy and happy again and the results are showing up for him with three top 7’s in his last six starts , and he was one of the best ball-strikers last week gaining 9.87 strokes in the stat category. He had a solid top 10 here last year as he was sound in every part of his game and gained strokes across the board. Charles Schwab Challenge finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T7, 2021 – T45, 2020 – cut.
Brendon Todd (Salary: DraftKings – $7.8K) – Todd has putted the lights out here over the last two years with 11.86 strokes gained on the greens and two top 10’s being the result, and he also had a top 5 in 2014. He had a top 10 two starts ago at the Wells Fargo Championship and puts up consistent results with the odd pop here and there when his putter goes off. Charles Schwab Challenge finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T3, 2021 – T8, and 2020 – cut.
Patrick Rodgers (Salary: DraftKings – $7.5K) – Rodgers has four top 29’s in his last five starts, two of them were top 10’s including a 5th at the Texas Open. He has two top 35’s here since 2020 and got it done via strong ball-striking and putting. Not a bad option for balanced and hybrid lineups. Charles Schwab Challenge finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T35, 2021 – cut, 2020 – T14, and 2018 – cut.
Beau Hossler (Salary: DraftKings – $7.3K) – He had a T10 three starts ago at the Mexico Open where he gained strokes everywhere possible, had a 3rd at the Zurich Classic with his partner, and has finished no worse than T47 over his last six starts. His near top 20 finish here last year was with a 1.02 loss on putting. Charles Schwab Challenge finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T21, 2020 – cut, 2019 – T40, and 2018 – T64.
Hayden Buckley (Salary: DraftKings – $7.3K) – I really love this kid’s ball-striking abilities and it has propelled him to two top 10’s and two other top 26’s over his last five starts. He can get hot on greens as well, so I like his ability to do well here despite missing the cut last year. Charles Schwab Challenge finishes over the last five years: 2022 – cut.
Eric Cole (Salary: DraftKings – $7.2K) – Cole certainly has got game as he’s a good ball-striker, a great around-the-green golfer, and can pop with his putter every few starts. He has three top 23’s in his last four starts, and he will look to top last week’s top 15 at the PGA Championship. Charles Schwab Challenge finishes over the last five years: none.
Matthew NeSmith (Salary: DraftKings – $7.1K) – Two 30-something finishes for NeSmith over his last two starts and has almost gained 10 strokes ball-striking. He hasn’t excelled at this track just yet, but another top 35 wouldn’t be so bad given his low $7K price tag. Charles Schwab Challenge finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T57, 2021 – cut, and 2020 – T49.
Vincent Norrman (Salary: DraftKings – $7.0K) – He flat out has talent with three straight top 18’s and two of those went for top 9’s if you include the Zurich Classic. He’s coming off a T8 at the Byron Nelson in his most recent start gaining 6.56 ball-striking and another 3.08 with his short game. He’s my favorite $7K player this week, lock me in some Norrman lineups this week, please. Charles Schwab Challenge finishes over the last five years: none.
Michael Block (Salary: DraftKings – $6.9K) – What a story he was last week at the PGA Championship after missing 14 cut lines in a row, and finishing T15 – incredible! He was super hot on the greens, of course, but did gain 3.46 strokes ball-striking with 3.02 of those being approach related. We will see if his magic can continue or if he’s destined for another tough stretch – I sure hope it’s the former versus the latter. Charles Schwab Challenge finishes over the last five years: none.
Nate Lashley (Salary: DraftKings – $6.9K) – Lashley is on a fairly good run right now with four straight top 39’s and the last two were top 27’s thanks to burning things up on approach with 6+ strokes gained in both events. He narrowly missed a top 30 here two years ago, and that was with a cold putter that lost him 2.19 strokes. Charles Schwab Challenge finishes over the last five years: 2022 – cut, 2021 – T32, 2020 – cut, 2019 – T69.
