This article is part of our Yahoo PGA DFS Picks series.
Charles Schwab Challenge
Fort Worth, Texas
Colonial Country Club - Par 70 - 7,289 yards
Field - 132 entrants
Purse - $9.1M
The Preview
It's never an easy task to follow up a major championship, but especially one that commanded so many compelling storylines, from legal troubles for World No. 1 to a deserving first-time major champion hoisting the Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday night. Nonetheless, the PGA Tour returns this week to the prestigious Colonial Country Club, where a redesign of the historic layout should have these puny bentgrass greens playing firm and fast. The course still features narrow tree-lined fairways, many of which are carved into doglegs, emphasizing accuracy off the tee and precision with full wedges/short irons as nine of the venue's par-4s measure 457 yards or less. In addition to small green complexes, tricky bermuda rough limits GIR percentages despite the shorter length of these par-4s, while all four of Colonial's par-3s measure at least 194 yards. As for the weather forecast, scattered storms are possible during much of Thursday's first round before temps heat up throughout the weekend.
Recent Champions
2023 - Emiliano Grillo
2022 - Sam Burns
2021 - Jason Kokrak
2020 - Daniel Berger
2019 - Kevin Na
2018 - Justin Rose
2017 - Kevin Kisner
2016 - Jordan Spieth
2015 - Chris Kirk
2014 - Adam Scott
Key Stats to Victory
SG: Approach
Driving accuracy
Proximity: 125-175 yards
Scrambling
Yahoo Value Picks
Based on $200 salary cap
Cream of the Crop
Scottie Scheffler - $45
A $45 salary isn't inflated nearly enough to worry about Scheffler's probable fatigue after his T8 effort at the PGA Championship was overshadowed by an infamous arrest and consequent trip to jail, but the market currently dictates odds shorter than 3-1 for the best player in the world to win outright this week in Fort Worth. The Dallas resident has placed top-3 in back-to-back years here at Colonial, notably gaining a collective 26.9 strokes from tee to green across these two outings.
Collin Morikawa - $41
Morikawa's hot run with the flat stick from the Masters through the Wells Fargo Championship came to an end last week at Valhalla, but he gained the fourth-most strokes from tee to green en route to a fourth-place finish in Louisville. Morikawa earned runner-up honors during his Charles Schwab Challenge debut back in 2020 when he lost to Daniel Berger in a playoff, and Morikawa's elite driving accuracy remains a major advantage at Colonial.
Glue Guys
Si Woo Kim - $35
A stretch of seven consecutive top-30s from the Arnold Palmer Invitational to the Wells Fargo Championship concluded with a missed cut for Kim at the PGA last week, but this feels like a good spot to jump back on the Kim bandwagon at potentially reduced ownership, especially given his lousy course history at Colonial, which I'm not as worried about. His struggles primarily came on the greens this past week at Valhalla, losing 3.1 strokes putting in just 36 holes, so it'd be difficult to avoid positive regression at that rate. He's still top-12 in both SG: Off-the-tee and SG: Approach over his last 24 measured rounds.
Tom Hoge - $33
Hoge managed to post a top-25 at the PGA Championship despite finishing on the negative side of SG: OTT, and he's much better suited for a less-than-driver track like Colonial, despite what his somewhat disappointing CSC record says. The former Texas Christian University standout has gained strokes with his irons in every single one of his 14 measured starts this season, while he's also first in Prox: 125-150, second in Prox: 100-125 and fifth in Opportunities Gained over his last 24 rounds.
Aaron Rai - $31
Not only is Rai one of the most accurate players off the tee, but he's also sixth in SG: APP and 15th in scrambling over his last 24 rounds. The Englishman followed his T4 at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson with a top-40 at the PGA Championship, and he tied for 12th here at Colonial last year when he ranked second among the CSC field in SG: APP while also finishing top-3 in both GIR and FIR percentage.
Bargain Bin
Doug Ghim - $26
Ghim notched the second-best tee-to-green performance of his 2024 campaign against high-quality competition last week at Valhalla, where he hit 43 of 56 fairways in regulation on the way to a T35 finish, rebounding from his missed cut at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson. He's missed the cut in three of four career CSC appearances, but the former Texas Longhorn tied for 14th here in 2021 when he gained four strokes with his irons.
Justin Lower - $25
A concoction of key metrics has Lower positioned in the No. 11 spot of my custom model this week, landing fourth in Par-4 Efficiency, seventh in SG: Putting, eighth in Prox: 150-175 and eighth in Opps Gained over his past 24 rounds. Since a missed cut at THE PLAYERS Championship in mid-March, he's rattled off four straight top-30s from the Texas Children's Houston Open through THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson, most notably placing fourth at the Corales Puntacana Championship.
Daniel Berger - $20
Yahoo's salary algorithm continues to disrespect Berger, who's now made four consecutive cuts from the Houston Open through the Myrtle Beach Classic while rising to second in Prox: 150-175, fourth in FIR Gained and eighth in SG: T2G across his last 24 measured rounds. The aforementioned past champion here at Colonial posted a pair of additional top-25s in his two CSC showings after the 2020 victory.
Looking over wagers for the Charles Schwab Challenge? Look through the best Sports Betting Apps!
