This article is part of our FanDuel PGA DFS Picks series.
Charles Schwab Challenge
Course: Colonial Country Club (7,289 yards, par 70)
Purse: $9,500,000
Winner: $1,710,000 and 500 FedExCup points
Tournament Preview
Scottie Scheffler proved why he is still the best player in the world by winning the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow by five shots. After a slow start to the season for his standards coming off the hand injury on Christmas, Scheffler has now won his last two starts and will go for three in a row this week at the Charles Schwab Challenge. The first of this run also came in the state of Texas a few weeks ago at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson where he prevailed by eight strokes. Scheffler has been very close to winning three straight over this dominant run in the last four years, but this would be a first for him on Sunday at Colonial Country Club, where he has also never won but has finished 2nd-T3-T2 the last three years.
Colonial is a true throwback and has been a staple on the PGA Tour calendar since 1946. It is the longest running non-major tour event to be held at the same venue. Just a year ago this course completed a massive $25 million restoration led by Gil Hanse. It was a huge undertaking for his crew, but they completed the work just in time for last year's Charles Schwab Challenge. The scoring overall wasn't drastically affected, but the course has a much more rugged look that fit what Perry Maxwell was going for in his original 1936 design. There were a number of greens that got relocated and lowered, some bunkers and trees were removed, and the sight lines all over the course seemed to improve.
Last year it was Davis Riley who got the job done by five strokes to win at 14-under-par. He held a four-stroke lead going into the final round over Scheffler who ended up shooting himself out of it early. Riley is coming off a T2 finish at the PGA Championship as well, finally showing some good form in time for his first title defense in an individual tournament. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley also had a strong week at the PGA Championship and finished in a runner-up with Scheffler last year at Colonial. Collin Morikawa, who fell in a playoff here back in 2020, finished a shot back in fourth place last year and was the lone player to shoot in the 60s all four rounds.
The 2025 field for the Charles Schwab Challenge is about what you'd expect the week after a major. A handful of higher ranked players mixed in with the usual grinders of the PGA Tour. Hideki Matsuyama, Maverick McNealy, Tommy Fleetwood and Harris Enlgish round out the other top-20 players in the OWGR. There's also another hometown favorite in Jordan Spieth looking to bounce back after a missed cut in his bid to complete the career grand slam last week at the PGA. You could make a strong case that Colonial is Spieth's best course on Tour with a win in 2016 among nine top-15 finishes. Finally, there is a fun list of sponsor exemptions including Blades Brown, Neal Shipley, Michael Block and David Ford, who is currently ranked No. 1 in the PGA Tour University rankings.
The Charles Schwab Challenge is also the last qualifying tournament for the next signature event the following week at the Memorial Tournament. The top five point earners not otherwise exempt from the Myrtle Beach Classic and the Charles Schwab Challenge will gain entry into the Memorial via the Aon Swing 5. Ryan Fox, Harry Higgs and Mackenzie Hughes top that list after all three were involved a playoff at Myrtle Beach won in dramatic fashion by Fox. Nick Taylor holds the final spot in the Aon Next 10 over Lucas Glover.
Spring time in the South can see the weather shift dramatically in a very short period of time, but the early forecast for the tournament is pretty solid. It's going to be a hot one and dip up into the 90s on the weekend, but there doesn't appear to be any major threat of storms during the four tournament rounds. If that does end up coming to fruition, given the sustained winds being 12-18 mph throughout the week, we could see a very firm and fast championship take place. New greens are also naturally very firm, and it wouldn't surprise me if the winning score fails to hit double digits.
Recent Champions
2024 - Davis Riley (-14)
2023 - Emiliano Grillo (-8)
2022 - Sam Burns (-9)
2021 - Jason Kokrak (-14)
2020 - Daniel Berger (-15)
2019 - Kevin Na (-13)
2018 - Justin Rose (-20)
2017 - Kevin Kisner (-10)
2016 - Jordan Spieth (-17)
2015 - Chris Kirk (-12)
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Approach/GIR Percentage
- SG: Off-the-Tee/Driving Accuracy
- SG: Around-the-Green/Scrambling
- Bogey Avoidance/Par 4 Scoring
Champion's Profile
Colonial has always been a course of precision and ball-striking, but it should be even more so this week with the firm conditions and new greens. These are on average the fourth-narrowest fairways on Tour, so accuracy will take precedent over distance. While the rough is not overly long, it is bermuda which makes judging the shots into the greens very difficult. The putting surfaces are also the fifth-smallest on Tour at just 5,000 square feet. The traditional Texas breezes will only enhance the gap from the best and worst ball-strikers this week.
All that said, short game also deserves a bump because of the expected low GIR percentage from the field. Players will need to be missing it in the right spot to have the best chance to save par. While the putting surfaces aren't as elevated as in the past, it will still be tough to get spin off these tight bermuda fairways and in some of the bunkers around the greens. There are not a lot of great scoring chances around this course with just two par-5s, one of which is rarely reachable. Par-4 scoring will likely tell a lot of the story as to which players are playing the best. We had the "Green Mile" last week on the final three holes at Quail Hollow, and this week players will take on the "Horrible Horseshoe" which is the par-4 3rd, par-3 4th and par-4 5th holes.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Scottie Scheffler ($14,000)
Scheffler is $1,400 more than the second option of Jordan Spieth, and you could make a case that isn't enough. His ball-striking is miles better than the next closest player in the field and his ranks third in scrambling and 15th in SG: Putting this season. Scheffler has proven in the past he can win the week after winning a major, as he did that last year at the RBC Heritage following his win at The Masters, and that was a much better field than what he'll face this week. Scheffler has done everything but win the last three years at Colonial and you know he wants to put his name on that Wall of Champions.
Daniel Berger ($11,600)
Berger brings a lot of value at his price this week. His T33 finish at the PGA Championship was his worst in his last 10 starts, which has been a remarkable run of consistency. The ball-striking has been at an elite level this season ranking 17th in SG: Off-the-Tee, 11th in total driving, 15th in SG: Approach, and 15th in proximity. He is also 13th in scrambling, 17th in bogey avoidance and sixth in par-4 scoring. Berger checks all the boxes on a course where he has won on in the past (2020).
Harris English ($11,100)
English is coming off one of the best approach weeks of his career en route to a T2 finish at the PGA Championship. It was his fourth top-20 finish in his last five starts. English seems to always thrive when the course plays more difficult, and that should bode well for him this week at Colonial where he has good history with two top-5s and six top-30s over his career. He has gained strokes off the tee in six of his last seven starts and has been one of the best putters on Tour over the last few seasons.
The Middle Tier
Davis Riley ($10,400)
Riley has played his best golf on difficult courses. He posted an extremely impressive T2 finish at the PGA Championship after rebounding from a triple-bogey earlier in the round. He won on the first year of the restoration at Colonial last season by a whopping five strokes, and was also T4 here in 2022. Riley has missed just one cut over his last ten starts and has been strong on and around the greens over that stretch.
Ryan Gerard ($9,800)
Gerard is coming off a strong T8 showing at the PGA Championship where he ranked eighth in SG: Off-the-Tee and seventh in SG: Approach. He's really starting to put it all together at 14th in SG: Total and eighth in scoring average this season. Expect the North Carolina native to get out of the gates strong like he did at the PGA as he ranks fourth in first round scoring average. This will be Gerard's first start at Colonial, but he's been strong in Texas this season with a ninth in Houston and a runner-up in San Antonio.
Alex Smalley ($9,500)
There's a lot to like about Smalley's stat profile this week. He ranks 16th in SG: Off-the-Tee, second in total driving, 35th in GIR percentage, 12th in SG: Around-the-Green, 20th in scrambling and 42nd in SG: Putting. That all adds up to sitting sixth in SG: Total, fifth in adjusted scoring average, 14th in bogey avoidance and third in par-4 scoring average this season. Roll Smalley out with confidence at a place like Colonial that offers a complete test.
The Long Shots
Ryo Hisatsune ($8,500)
Hisatsune was in the mix at one point on the weekend at the PGA Championship, but ended up fading with a three-over 74 in the final round. That was still his seventh made cut in his last eight starts, a stretch where he has a pair of top-5s and four top-20s. There's really nothing to be critical about Hisatsune's game as he sits 38th in SG: Tee-to-Green, 55th in GIR percentage, 31st in scrambling and 18th in bogey avoidance.
Henrik Norlander ($8,200)
On a course like Colonial with small greens that demands precision iron play, Norlander is certainly worth a look, especially given his price. The Swede ranks second to Scheffler this season in SG: Approach and has been very strong in a number of key proximity buckets. Norlander isn't long, which is fine at Colonial, but does rank 25th in driving accuracy. He also is 13th in bogey avoidance and 26th in scrambling this season.
Ricky Castillo ($8,200)
Castillo is one of the best value plays in the field thanks to his great tee-to-green numbers. He ranks 32nd in SG: Off-the-Tee, 22nd in total driving, eighth in GIR percentage, 12th in proximity and 25th in scrambling. Castillo is also fifth in bogey avoidance and third in par-4 scoring average. The rookie seems to have settled into a groove making his last four cuts, including a T5 at the Byron Nelson.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
The question you have to ask yourself to start is whether or not you want to roster Scheffler. If you do that leaves you an average of $9,200 for your final five golfers, which I think is quite doable considering the strength of the $8K range. The $9K range is usually one of my favorite on a weekly basis, but this week I struggled to pull many quality options for Colonial from there. For those reasons I do lean towards more of a stars and scrubs build this week. Two top options I am avoiding, however, are Jordan Spieth ($12,600) and Hideki Matsuyama ($11,500). Spieth does have a great history here, but I think he's priced way too high considering the inconsistency of his iron play, while Matsuyama amazingly is still looking for his first top-10 since his win at The Sentry.
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