With the 2024 PGA Championship coming to a spectacular close on Sunday, the PGA Tour is back to its non-major slate this week with the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas. Colonial Country Club has claimed host to the event since 1946, serving as the PGA's longest-running non-major played at the same venue. The Charles Schwab Challenge marks the final time the PGA Tour will play in the Lone Star State this year.
Despite coming less than a week after the year's second major championship, the Charles Schwab Challenge sees yet another strong field this season. Ten of the top 30 players in the Official World Golf Ranking are teeing it up at Colonial CC, including Texas natives Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth. Scheffler finished third here last year and runner-up in 2022 after losing out to Sam Burns in a playoff, while Spieth has three second-place finishes, a victory in 2016, and only two results outside of the top 20 in 11 career starts at this event. Collin Morikawa, Max Homa, Tony Finau, Tom Kim, Keegan Bradley, Sungjae Im, Si Woo Kim, Min Woo Lee, Justin Rose, and Brian Harman are other notable players in the field.
Throughout the tournament's extensive history, the great Ben Hogan is the only player to successfully defend his title. Hogan's legend is honored annually at Colonial CC, as he won four of the first seven editions of the tournament from 1946-1953. Defending champion Emiliano Grillo looks to become the second player to don the Royal Tartan Plaid Jacket in back-to-back years.
THE FIELD/ODDS
Scottie Scheffler (+275), Collin Morikawa (+1200), Max Homa (+1800), and Jordan Spieth (+2200) enter the week as the betting favorites, according to BetRivers Sportsbook.
Tony Finau (+2800), Harris English (+3300), Brian Harman (+4000), Billy Horschel (+4000), Min Woo Lee (+4000), Si Woo Kim (+4000), Sungjae Im (+4000), Christian Bezuidenhout (+5000), Akshay Bhatia (+5000), Keegan Bradley (+5000), Thomas Detry (+5000), Tom Hoge (+5000), Denny McCarthy (+5000), Andrew Putnam (+5000), Justin Rose (+5000), Adam Scott (+5000), Sepp Straka (+5000), and Tom Kim (+5000) are the rest of the players listed under 50/1 odds.
Chris Kirk (+6000), Maverick McNealy (+6000), Daniel Berger (+6600), Austin Eckroat (+6600), Lucas Glover (+6600), Keith Mitchell (+6600), Taylor Moore (+6600), Aaron Rai (+6600), Rickie Fowler (+8000), Ben Griffin (+8000), Beau Hossler (+8000), Mark Hubbard (+8000), J.T. Poston (+8000), Adam Schenk (+8000), and Davis Thompson (+8000) fill up the middle tier of the betting board.
Cameron Davis (+10000), Ryan Fox (+1000), Doug Ghim (+10000), Ryo Hisatsune (+10000), Lee Hodges (+10000), Nicolai Hojgaard (+10000), Robert MacIntyre (+10000), Patrick Rodgers (+10000), Greyson Sigg (+10000), and Kevin Yu (+10000), are the rest of the players under 125/1.
For the complete tournament odds board, click here .
*Odds subject to change*
PAST WINNERS
2023: Emiliano Grillo (-8)
2022: Sam Burns (-9)
2021: Jason Kokrak (-14)
2020: Daniel Berger (-15)
2019: Kevin Na (-13)
KEY STATS
SG: Approach
Fairways Gained
Bogey Avoidance
Greens In Regulation
SG: Putting (Bentgrass)
Proximity 125-150 Yards
Proximity 175-200/200-225 Yards
Par-4s: 400-450 Yards
Par-3s: 200+ Yards
Course History
THE COURSE
Colonial Country Club (par 70) is a 7,289-yard classical Parkland layout featuring tight tree-lined fairways, 2.5-inch Bermudagrass rough, 64 sand bunkers, six holes with water hazards, and the sixth-smallest green complexes on the PGA Tour's schedule. The course has ranked among the 20 most difficult tracks on Tour in the past five years, with the winning score failing to reach 10-under in the past two trips.
Designed by John Bredemus and Perry Maxwell in 1936, the course underwent an extension renovation process following the conclusion of last year's tournament. Led by noted golf architect Gil Hanse, who also restored Maxwell's Southern Hills in Tulsa ahead of the 2022 PGA Championship, the $25 million renovation was intended to return the course to its' original look while also updating necessary fixtures, such as implementing a new irrigation system, adding cleaner sight lines on certain holes, and relocating green complexes. Colonial typically rewards accuracy from off the tee, players who can shape shots around severe dogleg-shaped holes, and sound Bentgrass putters, and it will be interesting to see if Hanse's restoration leads to any new-found nuances.
The signature holes at Colonial are Nos. 3-5, nicknamed 'The Horrible Horseshoe'. One of the most difficult three-hole stretches on the PGA Tour, The Horrible Horseshoe played 284 over par in 2019, which accounted for the toughest trio of holes on Tour that season.
This week's players are tasked with a par-70 layout, meaning there are 12 par-4s, four par-3s, and only two par-5s on the course. A decent chunk of the course's distance lies in the two par-5s, with the tricky 11th hole playing over 630 yards, and the 1st hole stretching over 580 yards. Those two holes account for nearly 17 percent of the track's yardage.
Among the 12 par-4s, eight range between 400-460 yards. Three of the four most difficult holes last year were par-4s (Nos. 3, 5, and 9), and they all came on the front nine. All six par-4s on the back nine are shorter than 460 yards and set up as birdie holes for all player types. The average distance of the par-4s is 432 yards.
All four par-3s stretch over 190 yards, with the average distance being 207 yards. The longest of the bunch is the 248-yard 4th hole, which will surely give players nightmarish flashbacks to Valhalla's 14th hole from last week.
While the par-5 11th will be a three-shot hole for all of the field, the 581-yard 1st hole is an opportunity for players to kickstart their rounds with a birdie or better. Coming away with a par at the 1st will feel like a bogey this week, especially on the weekend.
With firm and fast tree-lined fairways and smaller green complexes throughout the course, players MUST be accurate off the tee and with their approach shots to generate enough scoring opportunities to keep up with the pace, especially if the Texas wind gusts pick up throughout the tournament. At the same time, Colonial is one of the more challenging non-major venues on the schedule, and bogeys are made from time to time. Finding ways to limit the damage and make a timely up and down goes a long way to winning the tournament.
This week, I'll target players in proper form with their approach shots who typically shine in the Lone Star State. Even though Colonial is a short course that leads to numerous wedge shots into the greens, it's oddly been important to gain strokes on the field with long-iron shots when looking back at recent leaderboards. I'll be looking at players who've been reliable from all sorts of yardage ranges with approach shots. It's also crucial to make enough putts this week, so I'll be looking for historically sturdy Bentgrass putters.
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