Geoff Ulrich runs through the Charles Schwab Challenge course info, player history, and noteworthy betting trends to help DraftKings Fantasy Golf roster selections.
The Cheat Sheet provides DraftKings fantasy golf players with course info, player history, and the most noteworthy trends of the week to help them with their roster selections.
Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $700K Sand Trap [$200K to 1st]
The Charles Schwab Challenge will run this year as an Invitational event, but without Signature field status. That means we’ll get a field of 120+ golfers with a regular cut line after Friday, where the top 65 players and ties will make the weekend. The Charles Schwab is one of the older events on the PGA TOUR (first held in 1946). The venue is a classic in its own right and stands out from some of the more modern designs. It did undergo some extensive renovations for 2024, but is likely to play somewhat similarly to how it has in the past.
The field this week still includes some of the top names on the PGA TOUR, with seven top-10 players in the OWGR in attendance. World No. 9 J.J. Spaun and No. 13 Ludvig Aberg headline the field, with Aberg currently leading the betting at +990 on DraftKings Sportsbook. Past champions, including Ben Griffin (last year’s winner) and Davis Riley, who won here in 2024, are both playing as well. Despite this being an Invitational, there is still a bit of “dead money” at the bottom of the field with names like Kevin Kisner and Ryan Palmer getting spots.
Par 70, 7,289 yards; Greens: Bentgrass, Fairways and rough: Bermuda
The event this week will be the fourth time that the PGA has played in Texas this season, with past Texas winners including Min Woo Lee – Houston, Brian Harman – Valero, Scottie Scheffler – CJ Cup.
Colonial Country Club plays as a traditional par 70 that lands just under 7,300 yards in length. The course features tight fairways with several old trees that are very much in play and often block approaches on off-center tee shots. That, along with a couple of severe doglegs and smaller greens, means there is a big premium on accuracy. Driving accuracy numbers at Colonial are usually quite below PGA TOUR averages and players will often club down quite a bit off the tee simply due to the setup.
To make things even tougher, there’s a plethora of bunkers throughout the course. Play from the sand is something to keep note of this week — there are some great bunker players in the list of past winners (Na, Kisner, and Jordan Spieth, to name a few). The bentgrass greens are also smaller than average and water is surprisingly in play on this parkland course on six holes to keep things interesting. As a result, a pure-power game often doesn’t play that well here. Accuracy with mid-irons and strong bentgrass putting has been the key to success for many past winners.
As for the layout, the first couple of holes at Colonial play rather easily, with the leadoff par-5 being a near-must birdie — it’s the easiest hole players face all week. The other par 5 (11th hole) plays very long at a maximum of 635 yards, but still plays as one of the easiest holes overall. The par 3s are a mixed bag, but play quite tough in general mainly due to the small greens and the fact that water and sand are in play for wayward tee shots. Only one of the par 3s plays well over 200 yards, but the smaller greens put a big premium on accuracy.
The par 4s do vary a little, but of the 12 par 4s on the course, seven of them fall in the 400-450 yard range, making that a good distance to target when looking up par 4 efficiency stats. From an approach perspective, proximity stats between 150-175 yards should be leaned on as that is typically the distance most of the players will come from on a lot of these holes.
The venue did undergo extensive renovations for 2024, led by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner, that began right after the 2023 event and were aimed at restoring the course to its original design. New Bentgrass greens were installed and some hole locations were moved, including the par 3 8th and par 3 13th. These holes should now play tougher as the water and penalty areas will present a bigger challenge than they did previously. Barrancas (small gulleys with natural vegetation) were added around many holes to give the course a more natural flavor and feel.
The venue didn’t play that much differently in 2024 than it has in recent years, but tougher tee shots on multiple par 3s undoubtedly put a bigger emphasis on ball striking, and only one player (winner Davis Riley) managed to end the week at double digits under par. Last season, the venue played equally tough, with Griffin winning at just 12-under par.
However, if the greens do play more receptive (in the past they have often dried out as the week went on), we could see scoring be somewhat easier than it has been the past couple of seasons.
2026 Weather Outlook: The weather this year looks to be hot and potentially humid, with thunderstorms likely early in the week on Tuesday and Wednesday. That could soften up the course a bit and potentially make things easy on Days 1 and 2. The highs will be in the 90F range most days and there is some chance we get stoppages during the event for local lightning or thunderstorms. Overall, I don’t see much wind in the forecast or reason to favor one wave or another, but the early morning risers on Thursday may have the softest conditions of the week if the rain comes down hard on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Ben Griffin — 2025 (-12 over Mattias Schmid -11)
Davis Riley — 2024 (-14 over Scottie Scheffler and Keegan Bradley -9)
Emiliano Grillo — 2023 (-8 over Adam Schenk playoff)
Sam Burns — 2022 (-9 over Scottie Scheffler playoff)
Jason Kokrak — 2021 (-14 over Jordan Spieth -12)
**TPC Craig Ranch changed to a par 71.
2025 lead-in form (T8-T46-MC-win-T40)
SG: OTT — 2.2
SG: APP — 2.1
SG: Total — 13.3
SG: ATG — 2.4
SG: PUTT — 6.4
Top players at Colonial have tended to rank well in the Strokes Gained: Approach category, with both Justin Rose (2018) and Na (2019) leading the field for the week in SG: APP during their win. Kokrak gained +5.2 strokes on approach in 2021 but lost -2.0 strokes ATG. Burns wasn’t quite as prolific but still gained 3.9 strokes for the week. Riley dominated with his irons in 2024, gaining 7.9 strokes on approach.
Griffin’s stats were more akin to what we saw from a winner before the remodel with a balanced approach tee to green and a hot putter that gained him 6.4 strokes.
Putting tends to be weighted almost as heavily in past winners’ stat profiles. Burns gained +5.0 strokes putting, and 2023’s winner (Grillo) gained 7.4 strokes on the greens (second most in the field). Griffin also spiked with the putter last season, gaining 6.4 strokes.
Nine of the last 10 winners at Colonial have now gained over +5.0 strokes putting for the week on these greens. Some of the most elite spike putters in the sport (Spieth, Kisner, and Na) have all grabbed wins at this event over the past decade. Spike putters like Riley and Griffin are noteworthy additions to this list as well.
It’s also worth noting that five of the last six winners all gained strokes putting in the start before their win at Colonial as well, with Davis Riley gaining 2.5 strokes putting two starts before Colonial in 2024.
Odds to win are one factor to think about when picking players (but not the only thing, so be careful putting too much weight on them). This section is going to detail a few of the players who have the best fantasy value comparative to their DraftKings Sportsbook odds of winning this week.
Comparables:
Comparables:
All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook are subject to change.
Harry Hall ($8,700; best finishes: T3-2023, T6-2025): Hall nearly won this event in 2023 when his tee ball on 18 found the water, relegating him to T3. He again found success at Colonial last season, finishing T6. Overall, his course history ranks among the strongest in the field and the top contenders.
Rickie Fowler ($9,600; best finishes: T6 – 2025, T9 – 2024): Fowler has found some solid success at Colonial of late, posting top-10 finishes here last season and in 2024. He’s coming off a nice stretch of golf and looks like a player who could be on the verge of a potential breakthrough week soon.
Emiliano Grillo ($7,400; best finishes: win-2023, 3rd-2018, T8-2021): Grillo won this event in 2023 and posted top-10 finishes at this event in 2018 and 2021. The Argentine’s ball-striking typically allows him to excel on more technical tracks, but he’s found a ton of success on these greens as well. His history is more up and down compared to the top pros, but still very positive and worth noting.
David Lipsky ($6,500; best finishes: T3-2022, T8-2021): Lipsky’s form is always hot or cold, but he’s managed to spike at Colonial numerous times over the last few seasons. He finished T16 here in 2023 and improved on that in 2024 with a T9 finish. With course history being somewhat important this week, thanks to the larger sample, Lipsky makes sense as a big field GPP target at 6.5K.
Justin Thomas ($9,800; T4-T13): Coming in off a T4, Thomas has regained top form quickly after his injury-delayed start. He’ll be a name to watch this week with a seven-event made-cut streak on the line.
Ludvig Aberg ($10,500; T4-T8-T4): Aberg has now posted six top-10 finishes over his last eight starts, an incredible record but also somewhat disappointing given he’s yet to win in 2026. He’s the deserved favorite and a breakthrough week would hardly be surprising.
Alex Smalley ($9,100; T2-T17-T7): Smalley gave it a real go at the PGA two weeks ago but had to settle for a career-best T2 finish. The American has been in great form of late with a top-10 finish at the Cadillac as well.
Ryo Hisatune ($8,500; T19-T35): Hisatune is coming off a T19 at the Byron, a decent performance and one that marked his 14th made cut in a row. It’s quite the feat given how competitive the TOUR is, and one that deserves him a shoutout for DFS players this week.
Beau Hossler ($7,000): Not a player I’d want to trust in core lineups but for big field GPPs, he could be a shock top finisher. T3 a couple of weeks ago at Myrtle Beach, and is a Texas native who co-led in 2022 after two rounds.
David Lipsky ($6,500): Lipsky is so up and down with his form that I almost like the fact he missed the cut his last time out. Course history means a lot at this week’s venue, and he has a nice history of success at Colonial and comparable venues like TPC Deere Run.
Adam Svensson ($6,300): His type of course, close to a decent week in Myrtle Beach just a few weeks back.
SungJae Im ($8,300): Im has had a couple of nice weeks since coming back from injury now and looks to be approaching top form. His putter has really been working great lately and he’s had plenty of success on this venue with multiple top-10 finishes (‘20, ‘24).
Harry Hall ($8,700): Course history means a lot for an old course like Colonial and Hall has proven he can handle the technicality quite well. He’s struggled at the majors, but with this sort of major, I’d be bullish on him at this price.
Thomas looks like a player ready to step back in the winner’s circle soon. Even before his top-five at the PGA Championship, he was starting to play better and posting decent results, including a T13 at Quail Hollow in back-to-back signature events. Now he comes to a course in Colonial that lines up well with his skillset and premium short-iron game, where he’s had success in the past as well. Overall, Thomas has played this event five times since 2020 and finished in the top 10 here in 2024 and 2025 (T6).
He’ll be up against some stiff competition with the likes of Aberg and last year’s champion Ben Griffin in the field, but Thomas is a former top-five player in the OWGR who, many years ago, would come in and easily be the highest-priced golfer in a field like this. At under 10k, he makes sense as a core target for me in DFS lineups and cash games, and for betting, the +2600 odds available on DraftKings seems more than fair given how well he putted in his last outing, and his course history.
Hoge was my sleeper pick last week and ended up being a huge DFS play, finishing T6 at just $7,000. This week, he’s somehow $100 cheaper despite the great start and comes in with a putter that has gained him over 2.0 strokes putting in each of his last two starts.
My thinking with Hoge mirrors last week’s, as we have a player who was a bit of a shock at the second major, managing a T26 finish after solid rounds of 68-70 on the weekend, and who excels with short irons. Hoge hasn’t had a ton of success at Colonial yet, but he did break through in 2024 with a T17 finish and should be able to limit any around-the-green issues if his putter keeps rolling.
I’m sure we’ll see a little regression soon, but with this weaker field and Hoge still at such a low price, he’s a perfect low-owned name to be overweight on in GPP lineups. For betting, he paid off as the top-10 play from last week I mentioned at +1300 for a top 10 (and ties), and this week sits at +970, still plenty big enough for another play.
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