After a thrilling week in Charlotte that saw Scottie Scheffler capture his third major victory at the 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, the PGA Tour heads to Texas this week for the Charles Schwab Challenge. This has been one of the longest-held events on the PGA Tour schedule, and Colonial has been a staple of the tour since the 1950s. Last year, the golf course received a much-needed restoration from the hands of Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner, who oversaw extensive tree removal and the re-building and re-positioning of greens and bunkers. Surprisingly, Hanse did not lengthen the golf course at all, and Colonial will still play just a hair over 7,200 yards. Despite being one of the shortest golf courses on the PGA Tour, Colonial stilled played as one of the top 10 of most difficult golf courses on the PGA Tour.
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Colonial’s rare mix of narrow fairways, non-over-seeded Bermuda rough, small, firm greens, and windy conditions are a rare combination seldom found at other PGA Tour courses. These contributing factors allow Colonial to remain one of the most challenging golf courses on Tour despite featuring a large plurality of short iron approach shots. Scottie Scheffler will look to carry his momentum forward from Quail Hollow and capture another victory in his home state of Texas, while Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood and Hideki Matsuyama headline an intriguing crop of challengers.
Let’s dive into the DraftKings slate for the Charles Schwab Challenge.
$10,000 range Play: Scottie Scheffler, $13,700:
There’s no need to overthink this one. Scottie Scheffler won the RBC Heritage the week after he won the Masters, and he will have the additional benefit of sleeping in his own bed for Colonial this week. The name of the game at the Maxwell design is controlling short irons into small, firm targets, and nobody has better distance control on the PGA Tour than Scottie Scheffler.
$9,000 range Play: Aaron Rai, $9,100:
Aaron Rai is coming off a quiet top-20 finish at the PGA Championship, where he finished top five in approach play. The Englishman’s elite iron upside should pay dividends at Colonial as well, which feature some of the smallest and most firm putting surfaces on the PGA Tour.
Fade: Robert MacIntyre, $9,300: 
Andrew Redington
The claustrophobic, narrow driving corridors at Colonial may be a troubling fit for Bob MacIntyre and his driver-heavy approach. Unsurprisingly, he missed the cut last year at Colonial, and I did not see enough in his T-47 finish at Quail Hollow to believe we will see a more competitive finish from the Scotsman.
$8,000 range Play: Brian Harman, $8,500:
Brian Harman’s accuracy off the tee and strong short to middle iron play make him an excellent fit at Colonial, and it should not be a surprise that he has already recorded seven top-25 finishes in 12 appearances at the Maxwell design. Harman also ranks top 15 in this field in strokes-gained/total on short courses, SG/total in Texas, and SG/ball-striking in windy conditions. I would expect his comfortability at Colonial to deliver another strong finish.
Fade: Michael Kim, $8,000:
While Michael Kim put together some excellent finishes at the beginning of the season, he continues to trend in the wrong direction. Kim has failed to finish top-20 in his last seven stroke play starts, and he has now lost strokes on approach in back-to-back starts.
$7,000 range Play: Bud Cauley, $7,800: 
Andrew Redington
Now that Bud Cauley is back on a short, positional golf course, he is once again a dangerous threat to spike on approach. Cauley put together three top-10 finishes in a row at the Valspar, Heritage, and Valero, all golf courses that at least somewhat test accuracy and do not require an over-whelming carry distance. I expect Cauley to rebound from a poor PGA Championship at a golf course that is far more up his alley.
Fade: Thorbjorn Olesen, $7,700:
Thorbjørn Olesen continues to be an easy pass for me for all DFS purposes, as his general PGA Tour performance has not remotely caught up with his DP World Tour accolades. This will be Olsen’s first appearance at Colonial, which is generally a difficult track for pros to figure out on their first appearance.
Flier: Emiliano Grillo, $7,400: 
Jonathan Bachman
Emiliano Grillo is obviously a former winner of this event, and he is quietly playing better than his results would suggest. Grillo is coming off a 20th-place finish at the Myrtle Beach Classic, and prior to that, he gained over three strokes on approach in his last stroke play event.
$6,000 range Play: Charley Hoffman, $6,900:
Charley Hoffman is a crafty veteran with tons of ball-striking chops who still has the approach upside to spike on any golf course, particularly one in Texas that highly emphasizes precision ball-striking. Hoffman has six top-25 finishes at Colonial over the course of his career, and is plenty comfortable on the Maxwell design.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
