DraftKings PGA DFS Picks: Charles Schwab Challenge Cash and GPP Strategy

This article is part of our DraftKings PGA DFS Picks series.

CHARLES SCHWAB CHALLENGE

Purse: $9.5M
Winner's Share: $1.71M
FedEx Cup Points: 500 to the Winner
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Course: Colonial Country Club
Yardage: 7,289
Par: 70
2024 champion: Davis Riley

Tournament Preview

Now that Earth is back on its axis, and Scottie Scheffler is again firmly entrenched atop the golf universe, what does the rest of the season hold for the world No. 1? First of all, there's not much time for him to celebrate winning the PGA Championship on Sunday.

Scheffler will be back at it on Thursday for the fourth and final Tour stop of the season in his native Texas. Then he'll likely play next week at the seventh of eight signature events this season, the Memorial. After that, well, that's when things can get very interesting. Two weeks after the Memorial comes the U.S. Open and, a month later, the Open Championship.

With two Masters titles already in tow, could Scheffler actually complete the career grand slam THIS season? And therefore, equal Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka at five career majors?

Highly unlikely, for sure, but there's also far more than a zero percent chance.

But first things first. As we all know by now, Scheffler will be ready to go at Colonial. No major hangover for him -- ever. And with a lukewarm field of 135, he is the overwhelming favorite to win for the third time this season, which also would match McIlroy. Scheffler is priced at $13,700 -- a whopping $3,700 more than Tommy Fleetwood -- with odds of +240. Jordan Spieth was closest at +2200.

Not to get ahead of ourselves, but playing Scheffler would allot you an average of $7,260 for your remaining five guys. But, with about half the field or more making the cut, that could be a very shrewd and profitable play.

Who else could give Scheffler a run for it? As mentioned, Fleetwood and Spieth, the 2016 Colonial winner. Hideki Matsuyama is the only other top-10 player in the field. After that? Maverick McNealy, 2020 winner Daniel Berger, Brian Harman, Harris English (coming off a shared runner-up at the PGA), Rickie Fowler and defending champion Davis Riley, who also was a runner-up at Quail Hollow.

The field is the odd number of 135 because three pre-2000 Colonial champions are entered -- Olin Browne (1999), David Frost (1997) and Corey Pavin (1985, '96), each of whom is 65 years old.

Yes, the Charles Schwab has some unconventional ways of filling out its field. The tournament also invites members of the most recent Ryder and Presidents Cup teams. And it has two spots reserved for what they call the Champion's Choice invitation. Each year, former Colonial champions pick two young players they deem deserving. This year, those two are Korn Ferry player and third-season Netflix "Full Swing" star Neal Shipley and 17-year-old Blades Brown.

There are also a boatload of sponsor invites -- 12 of them across three different categories. One of them is back for the third year in a row -- none other than good ol' Blockie himself, Michael Block.

Okay, on to the course. There was a 2023 restoration by Gil Hanse and his team. Most changes are not visible to casual golf fans, such as the installation of a new cooling and drainage system under the greens.

The biggest changes came at the three of the four par-3s, Nos. 8, 13 and 16, where greens were shifted and moved slightly. Throughout the course, some elevated greens were lowered and barrancas are now more prominently snaking through the course. A lot of bunkers were removed.

But all in all Colonial is still Colonial (or, if you prefer, Hogan's Alley). It was the fifth hardest course on Tour last season, with Riley the only player reaching double figures at 14-under in a five-stroke victory. For a course built in 1936 by John Bredemus and Perry Maxwell, who couldn't possibly fathom how far today's golfers would hit the ball, it still does a great job choking off the long hitters with narrow fairways, trees, dog legs and 60-something bunkers. The greens are bentgrass and small, averaging 5,000 square feet.

The course's length is the big reason why Annika Sorenstam famously chose this track back in 2003 for her one and only venture onto the PGA Tour (she missed the cut). It's also why experience matters at Colonial more than at most tracks. All of this adds up to accuracy off the tee counting more than in most weeks.

Colonial features the three-hole Horrible Horseshoe, a cutesy little nickname that sounds more like a character in children's book than one of the most treacherous stretches on Tour. Unlike at other courses that have rugged three-hole sequences that can decide a tournament, it's a bit of a letdown that this one comes so early in the round. Still, Nos. 3-5 are brutal, with two par-4s of about 475 yards sandwiching a nearly 250-yard par-3. There are only two par-5s on the par-70 track, including the must-birdie opening hole at 581 yards. The other is the mammoth 639-yard 11th. Aside from the Horrible Horseshoe, there are only two par-4s over 450 yards. There are five under 415 yards.

As for the weather, things should be fine now, but on Monday night, this is what weather.com had to say about Forth Worth: "There is a likely risk of severe weather tonight. Wind, tornadoes and hail are possible. Look out for large hail and powerful tornadoes. Have a plan and be prepared." But for the tournament itself, it will be hot, mostly dry and windy, with highs in the upper-80s, a small chance of rain and double-digit wind.

Fun Colonial factoids: Colonial is the only course that has played host to a U.S. Open (1941), the Tour Championship (1975) and a regular PGA Tour event. The 1991 U.S. Women's Open was also played there. ... 1975 was one of only two years that the regular Tour event was not contested since its first year in 1946. The other was 1949 because of incredible flooding (really!). ... CBS announcer Ian Baker-Finch won two PGA Tour events in his career: the 1991 Open Championship and the 1989 Southwestern Bell Colonial. 

Key Stats to Winning at Colonial

The most important indicators every week are current form and course history. "Key Stats" follow in importance.

•  Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee/Driving accuracy
• Strokes Gained: Approach/Greens in regulation 
• Strokes Gained: Putting
• Par-4 Efficiency 400-450 yards
• Bogey Avoidance

Past Champions

2024 - Davis Riley
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

Champion's Profile

As noted, Riley won a 14-under last year. He was five clear of second place and only four players in the field bettered 5-under.

Riley ranked sixth in the field in SG: Off-the-Tee, second in Approach, 39th in Around-the-Green and fourth in Putting. He also was third in greens in regulation and 16th in scrambling. Riley was semi-accurate off the tee, ranking 38th in the field at just over 57 percent. He also ranked 18th in driving distance at an average of 312 yards, if you can imagine that.

Scheffler and Keegan Bradley shared second place. If it's not hard enough to believe that Riley beat Scheffler by five shots, it becomes harder when seeing Scheffler's stats: seventh in Off-the-Tee, 18th in Approach, 12th in Around-the-Green and 16th in Putting. Not bad at all. He ranked fourth in driving distance and 30th in accuracy. Granted, this came a week after Scheffler's arrest at the PGA in Louisville, and we can't discount that his head was perhaps still a bit off (though he did win the Memorial the following week).

Bradley stats: first Off-the-Tee, 54th Approach, 13th Around-the-Green, ninth Putting, second in driving accuracy at nearly 70 percent and 10th in driving distance.

Experience matters at Colonial. Only four of the past 23 winners -- Riley, Burns, Berger and Spieth -- have been under 30 years old. But as we se, they are all fairly recent winners. With the importance of placing the ball in the right spots, the more a golfer has played Colonial, the better he'll be prepared.

Golfodds.com put the over/under on the winning score at 266.5 -- 13.5 under par.

DRAFTKINGS VALUE PICKS

Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap

$10,000 and up

Scottie Scheffler - $13,700 (Winning odds at the DraftKings Sportsbook: +240)
Do we really need to say anything here to convince you? Okay, Scheffler was runner-up twice here, including last year a week after he was arrested, and third the year before that.

$9,000-$9,900

Daniel Berger - $9,900 (+2200) 
Berger is the second-best golfer in the field right now. He has the third-highest price and third-shortest odds. He won here in 2020, and he's again approaching that level of play after some injury-lost seasons.

Maverick McNealy - $9,500 (+3000) 
McNealy was a respectable T33 at the PGA, a month after a respectable T32 at the Masters. He also has a pair of T3s recently, including at another short course in Harbour Town. He has a couple of career top-20s at Colonial, including last year. McNealy is ranked fourth in his field in bogey avoidance over his past 24 rounds, which is especially impressive since he hasn't been putting great of late.

Aaron Rai - $9,100 (+3000) 
Rai leads the Tour in driving accuracy. He's top-25 in SG: Approach and Tee-to-Green. He's coming off consecutive top-25s at the Truist signature event (on a short track) and the PGA Championship (on a long track). Rai tied for 12th here two years ago.

$8,000-$8.900

Davis Riley - $8,600 (+5000) 
We normally don't like to go with defending champions (we're not talking the Schefflers and McIlroys of the world). But Riley has been playing so well lately, even before he shared second place behind Scheffler last week at Quail Hollow. He is ranked eighth in this field in bogey avoidance over his past 24 rounds. He also tied for fourth here in 2022.

J.J. Spaun - $8,400 (+4500) 
Spaun is fourth on Tour in SG: Approach, a stat that plays well everywhere. It's true he's never played well at Colonial, yet it's impossible to compare Spaun in previous years to what he's doing now. He tied for 37th at the PGA and was T17 the week before at the Truist.

Andrew Novak - $8,200 (+6000) 
Novak has had a roller-coaster season, to say the least. He's made only nine cuts in 16 starts, yet seven of those were top-25s, with four being top-10s. Sure, one of them was his win at the Zurich, but he also was a playoff runner-up to Justin Thomas at Harbour Town, plus he had two other third-place showings. It's been all-or-nothing with Novak in 2025.

$7,000-$7,900

Alex Smalley - $7,700 (+8000) 
After a fast start to the season, Smalley hit a rough patch with a bunch of missed cuts. But he has seemingly reversed course again, making his past three, including a near top-25 at the PGA (T28). He is one of the longest, straightest drivers on Tour -- length is not needed at Colonial but it won't hurt if you're in the fairway. He's also ranked top-10 in SG: Tee-to-Green.

Tom Hoge - $7,400 (+9000) 
Hoge let us down last week, missing the cut at Quail Hollow by a stroke. Before that, he had nine straight cashes. He should find Colonial more suitable to his game -- he tied for 17th there last year. Hoge had a top-5 at another low-scoring Texas track in TPC San Antonio for the Valero. He starts many holes at a disadvantage with a ranking of about 150th in driving distance. That won't be an issue this week.

Ryo Hisatsune - $7,100 (+11000) 
Hisatsune's two best finishes this season, both top-5s, came at stingy tracks for the Valspar and the Valero Texas Open. Beginning at the Valspar, he's made seven of his past eight cuts, including last week at the PGA (T37). Still only 22, Hisatsune is in the upper half on Tour in every strokes-gained stat and every key stat for this week.

$6,000-$6,900

Charley Hoffman - $6,900 (+17000) 
This will be Hoffman's 10th try at Colonial and he's missed the cut only once. A high finish is unlikely since he's ranked about 175th in SG: Putting. Yet somehow he also 35th in bogey avoidance. Hoffman is ranked top-25 on Tour in both SG: Approach and Tee-to-Green, which should be enough to get him to Saturday.

Max McGreevy - $6,700 (+15000) 
McGreevy's stats are not half bad. He's top-50 on Tour in SG: Off-the-Tee, Approach and Tee-to-Green, and he's just a slightly below average putter. He's also top-20 on Tour in driving accuracy. Actually, all that is a lot better than "not half bad." Yet his results haven't matched, for some reason. McGreevy made the cut in his lone trip to Colonial three years ago.

Brian Campbell - $6,400 (+20000) 
The Mexico Open winner back in February, Campbell has been playing very well of late. He made the cut at both the Masters and PGA. He finished in the 30s in two signature events, the RBC Heritage and the Truist, both played on shorter tracks. Campbell is one of the very shortest hitters on Tour, but he's also among the most accurate, ranking top-20 in fairways hit and top-25 in SG: Approach. He's also 40th in SG: Putting. He's never played Colonial before.

Agree with these recommendations? See how they stack up alongside other golfers in RotoWire's PGA DFS Lineup Optimizer.