Out of the Rough: Charles Schwab Challenge (2026)

The PGA Tour will make the hour trip from TPC Craig Ranch for last week’s THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson to Colonial Country Club for this week’s Charles Schwab Challenge.

Golfers will compete for the coveted plaid tartan jacket and for the chance of their name being etched on the Wall of Championships that is adjacent to the first tee.

Colonial Country Club is the longest-running host course on the PGA TOUR schedule with the Masters Tournament at Augusta National being the only course that has been on the Tour’s schedule longer.

From the Fort Worth Invitational, to the Deal & Deluca, the Crowne Plaza, the Bank of America, the MasterCard, the Southwestern Bell and now the Charles Schwab, we’ve seen Colonial Country Club in each of the last 80 years, dating back to 1946.

Notably, this event and venue was the host of the ‘return of golf’ in 2020 following the pandemic shutdown of the Tour.

Although not one of the Tour’s Signature Events, the long-standing venue and event is one of the more notable and prestigious events the tour has to offer.

Colonial Country Club is also often referred to as ‘Hogan’s Alley’ as Ben Hogan won this event five-times.

The Field

With a Signature Event next week and the U.S. Open in three weeks time, the Charles Schwab Challenge has drawn a depleted field this week.

Defending U.S. Open Champion and World No. 9 J.J. Spaun headlines this week’s field as the highest ranked golfer within the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR.)

He’ll be joined by Russell Henley (No. 12,) Ludvig Aberg (No. 13,) Robert MacIntyre (No. 15,) Justin Thomas (No. 16,) Ben Griffin (No. 17) and Hideki Matsuyama (No. 20.) as those ranked within the top 20 of the OWRG to be playing this week.

Griffin comes in as the defending champion as he held off Matti Schmid by a stroke a season ago.

Other former Charles Schwab Challenge winners playing this week include Davis Riley (2024,) Emiliano Grillo (2023,) Kevin Kisner (2017) and Chris Kirk (2015.)

The Course

Colonial Country Club is best described as a quintessential tree-lined positional course that does not require distance off-the-tee to be competitive.

It plays as a par-70 at just over 7,200 yards and offers some of the deepest history of any PGA Tour track.

Immediately following the 2023 playing of the Charles Schwab Challenge, Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner began work on an extensive renovation project with the goal of restoring Colonial Country Club back to its roots.

The goal was to return the course to that of the 1941 playing of the U.S. Open. In doing so, the duo of Hanse and Wagner developed a more sustainable agronomy to withstand North Texas’ harsh climate changes.

The entire course was ripped up in order to route new irrigation systems throughout the property. The course was then re-sodded using the same bentgrass base. 

Through all of this, the layout of the course was largely unchanged with the exception of holes No. 13 and 18 which saw brand new greens constructed. The changes also saw the introduction of new barranca and riveted bunkers - two classic staples of Hanse’s design. 

In all, the renovation was largely put into place to introduce a new irrigation system and the play of the course has not changed drastically. 

Colonial Country Club was designed by Perry Maxwell and John Bredemus. It borders the nearby Trinity River and features 12 doglegs and smaller Bentgrass greens.

In years past, the event has offered a diverse cast of winners due to its design but historically speaking, those with strong iron play and a hot putter will be competitive.

We’ve seen the likes of Sam Burns and Jason Kokrak use an aggressive, driver-heavy approach en route to a victory, which is far from the normal here.

There of course will be an added premium on mid-iron play and accuracy off-the-tee. Being a designed positional course, ball placement off-the-tee will be key in an effort to work around the course and create the best angles to generate scoring opportunities.

Scoring is often held in check here at Colonial Country Club. The winning score has pushed beyond -15 only twice since 2011.

As previously mentioned, hitting the fairways and setting up a good approach shot is the preferred way to attack this course.

Driving accuracy is lower than the Tour average at just 57-percent of hit fairways. Along with the difficulty of hitting a fairway, average distance off-the-tee is below the Tour average at just 277 yards.

The lack of distance can be attributed to oftentimes players taking irons off-the-tees to mitigate any potential miss shots.

Strong approach play too is key this week, specifically from distances of 125-200 and mainly 150-175 yards, which makes up 25-percent of all approach shots.

In a continued line of defenses this course has to offer, Colonial also offers smaller greens on Tour which in turn, offers a below average greens-in-regulation-percentage of 65-percent. Golfers will have to rely heavily on around-the-green work and scrambling to often get up-and-down for par due to this.

These greens too run at around a 12 on the Stimpmeter.

Water is in play on six of the holes and the course is littered with strategically placed fairway bunkers

Of course the infamous Texas winds will also be in play this week, adding another line of defense to an already challenging track.

Most of this track’s yardage is made up from the 635 yard par-five 11th hole and a 247 yard par-three fourth.

Golfers will begin their rounds on the par-five first which annually plays as the easiest hole on the entire course. From there, the second hole, 390 yard par-four, plays as the second easiest hole on the course. That, however, is where the ease ends.

If we’re looking for a trend of holes to focus on this week, it is par-fours measuring 400-450 yards which makes up 40-percent of all of the holes played this week.

Colonial’s ‘Horrible Horseshoe’ features holes three, four and five that are played at half-a-stroke over -par annually.

In all, this is a rather challenging course that favors those who can hit clean and accurate shots off-the-tee and with their irons.

Colonial Country Club is also one of the courses on Tour that requires course history for success. Of the last 11 Charles Schwab Challenge winners, seven posted a T10 or better finish within three years prior.

Justin Rose is the only player within the past decade to have won in his debut. 

The Weather

As of the time of writing this, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday each call for a 25-percent chance of precipitation. Temperatures will begin the week at 85-degrees on Thursday before peaking at 86-degrees on Friday. Temperatures will return to 84-degrees on Saturday and finish the week at 85-degrees on Sunday. Winds will be the lowest on Thursday at seven miles-per-hour before reaching eight miles-per-hour for both Friday and Saturday. Winds will be the strongest on Sunday at nine miles-per-hour. In all, it looks to be a perfect four days of golf.

Key Stats

• Strokes Gained: Putting on Bentgrass (SG: PUTT Bentgrass)

• Strokes Gained: Approach (SG: APP)

• Strokes Gained: Tee to Green (SG: TTG)

• Driving Accuracy Percentage

• Proximity to the Hole From 125-200 / Proximity to the Hole from 150-175

• Greens in Regulation Percentage (GIR%)

• Par Four Performance

• Scrambling

• Strokes Gained: Around the Green (SG: ATG)

Betting Card

Rickie Fowler (+2400)

I cannot believe I’m doing this, but here we are. The year is 2026 and I’m betting Fowler to win a golf tournament at 24/1. Insane. Either way, there’s a reason for that. He is currently fifth on Tour in par-four performance, tenth in scrambling, 13th in proximity to the hole from 125-200 yards, 38th in SG: TTG, 39th in SG: PUTT Bentgrass, 39th in driving accuracy percentage, 44th in SG: APP, 51st in GIR%, 52nd in proximity to the hole from 150-175 yards and 112th in SG: ATG. He last played the PGA Championship where he placed 60th. Prior to that he was the runner-up at the Truist Championship, placed ninth at the Cadillac Championship and eighth at the RBC Heritage. In other terms, he’s in some insane form. He’s also played this event each of the past four seasons. He placed 16th here a season ago, 37th in 2024, sixth in 2023 and 57th in 2022. 

J.J. Spaun (+3200)

This was my first click this week. Although he missed the cut at the PGA Championship, he placed fifth at the Truist Championship, 14th at the Cadillac Championship, 25th at the RBC Heritage, missed the cut at the Masters Tournament and won the Valero Texas Open. He also placed sixth at this event a season ago. He missed the cut here in 2024 and placed 63rd in 2023 as well. Spaun is currently eighth on Tour in SG: APP, 14th in SG: TTG, 16th in proximity to the hole from 125-200 yards, 20th in driving accuracy, 45th in proximity to the hole from 150-175 yards, 49th in GIR%, 61st in SG: ATG, 101st in par-four performance, 111th in SG: PUTT Bentgrass and 118th in scrambling.

Ryo Hisatsune (+5000)

Hisatsune is currently eighth on Tour in GIR%, 16th in par-four performance, 18th in SG: TTG, 27th in driving accuracy, 38th in SG: APP, 39th in proximity to the hole from 150-175 yards, 43rd in proximity to the hole from 125-200 yards, 73rd in SG: ATG, 106th in scrambling and 129th in SG: PUTT Bentgrass. Hisatsune placed 19th last week at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson, 35th at the PGA Championship, 45th at the Truist Championship, 65th at the Cadillac Championship, 60th at the RBC Heritage, eighth at the Valero Texas Open, 30th at the Valspar Championship and 13th at THE PLAYERS Championship. He placed sixth at this event a season ago and missed the cut in 2024. 

Davis Thompson (+6300)

Thompson missed the cut last week at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson but prior to that placed 13th at the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic, sixth at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and 14th at the Valero Texas Open. He missed the cut at this event a season ago and placed 17th in 2024. Thompson is currently third on Tour in proximity to the hole from 125-200 yards, ninth in scrambling, 17th in GIR%, 20th in proximity to the hole from 150-175 yards, 23rd in SG: TTG, 30th in SG: APP, 39th in par-four performance, 66th in driving accuracy percentage, 84th in SG: ATG and 140th in SG: PUTT Bentgrass. 

Tom Kim (+10000)

Kim matches up so well statistically to this golf course. He is currently 12th on Tour in proximity to the hole from 125-200 yards, 21st in proximity to the hole from 150-175 yards, 21st in scrambling, 26th in driving accuracy percentage, 28th in SG: APP, 33rd in SG: TTG, 34th in par-four performance, 35th in GIR%, 39th in SG: ATG and 63rd on SG: PUTT Bentgrass. Kim placed 54th last week at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson and sixth at the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic coming into this week. Kim placed 44th at this event a season ago and 24th in 2024. 

2025 Betting Card

• J.T. Poston (+4000) - T36th

• Aaron Rai (+4500) - MC

• Michael Kim (+6000) - T16th

• Harry Hall (+7500) - T6th

• Cam Davis (+11000) - MC

• Mark Hubbard (+17000) - T28th

• Adam Schenk (+25000) - MC

2024 Betting Card

• Tony Finau (+3000) - T17th

• Brian Harman (+4500) - T24th

• Lucas Glover (+8000) - T12th

• Mark Hubbard (+11000) - T65th

2023 Betting Card

• Viktor Hovland (+1400) - T16th

• Rickie Fowler (+3000) - T6th

• Justin Rose (+3300) - T12th

• Si Woo Kim (+5500) - T29th

• Tom Hoge (+7000) - T52nd

• Robby Shelton (+22000) - T29th