The PGA Tour makes its fourth and final stop in Texas this season for the Charles Schwab Challenge, which begins Thursday at the historical Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth.
In addition to featuring world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, there is additional intrigue with players attempting to qualify for the next signature event at the Memorial Tournament in two weeks.
Our golf experts preview the event and provide their favorite prop picks along with best bets to win this week.
CHARLES SCHWAB CHALLENGE
Location: Fort Worth, Texas, May 23-26
Course: Colonial Country Club (Par 70, 7,289 Yards)
Purse: $9.1M (Winner: $1.638M)
Defending Champion: Emiliano Grillo
FedEx Cup Leader: Scottie Scheffler
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday, 4-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 1-3 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS)
Streaming (ESPN+): Thursday-Friday, 8:15 a.m.-7 p.m. ET; Saturday-Sunday, 8 a.m.-7 p.m.
X: @CSChallengeFW
PROP PICKS
–Austin Eckroat to Beat Akshay Bhatia (-110 at DraftKings): Bhatia won earlier this year but is coming off a missed cut at Valhalla following a 42nd at the Wells Fargo Championship. Eckroat was in contention at the PGA Championship before settling for a T18. He’s also a winner already this season, claiming his maiden tour victory at the Cognizant Classic, and is up to a career-best 48th in the world ranking.
–Tom Kim to Finish Top 20 (+188 at BetMGM): Now a Dallas resident, Kim is making his event debut. He hasn’t been in great form much of this season, but did put together four solid rounds en route to a T26 last week. Kim’s most recent top 20 came four starts ago at the RBC Heritage, but he should fare well against a relatively modest field.
–Alejandro Tosti the Top South American (+250 at DraftKings): Grillo of Argentina is the defending champ and has the shortest odds in this prop at +150. However, he has missed a pair of cuts while failing to finish better than T54 in his past five starts. Tosti of Argentina made the weekend at Valhalla, and while his results have been sporadic, he did have a T2 at the Texas Children’s Houston Open. The other two in this prop are Colombians Nico Echavarria (+275) and Camilo Villegas (+600).
2024 Prop Picks Record: 27-30-1
BEST BETS
–Scottie Scheffler (+275 at BetMGM) remained in the field despite last week’s arrest at the PGA Championship. He has won four of his past six starts, and the Texas resident has finished in the top three at Colonial each of the past two years. Scheffler is the heavy pre-tournament favorite and leads the field with 30.0 percent of the money backing him to win, making him the book’s biggest liability this week.
–Collin Morikawa (+1200) is fresh off a T4 at Valhalla, where he shared the 54-hole lead. He opened at +1400 but has seen his odds shorten a bit with 9.9 percent of the money backing him at BetMGM. Morikawa has also been backed by 8 percent of the money at the same odds at DraftKings.
–Jordan Spieth (+2200) makes his 12th event start. He missed the cut last year but has one title and three runners-up among his eight top-10 finishes. Spieth is the book’s third biggest liability, having drawn 6.7 percent of the money.
–Tom Kim (+5000) is another Dallas resident. He makes his event debut coming off a T26 at the PGA Championship.
–Justin Rose (+5500) won the event in 2018 and is coming off a T6 at Valhalla. He opened at +6000.
NOTES
–Colonial is playing host to an event for the 78th time, making it the longest-running venue for a non-major on tour. The course underwent a $25 million renovation since last year’s event, led by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner. The goal was to return the course to a more natural and classic presentation while upholding the original design and vision. Hole Nos. 3-5 were nicknamed the “Horrible Horseshoe” by former golf writer Dan Jenkins.
–The field includes 23 of the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking.
–Sixty-six players in the field competed in last week’s PGA Championship.
–The winner will earn a tartan jacket along with invitations to next month’s Memorial Tournament along with next year’s The Sentry and The Players Championship if not otherwise exempt.
–This is the second event for the Aon Next 10 and Aon Swing 5 for players to earn spots into the Wells Fargo, which will also include points earned in the Myrtle Beach Classic and next week’s RBC Canadian Open.
–Ben Hogan won the inaugural event at the Colonial and still holds the event record with five victories. He is also the most recent player to successfully defend at Colonial.
–Field Level Media