This article is part of our Golf One and Done Pool Expert Picks series.
Charles Schwab Challenge
Only two players in our RotoWire One and Done pool were fortunate enough to have taken Scottie Scheffler at the PGA Championship and collect the $3.42 million that came with it. Instead 44 percent of the pool was on Bryson DeChambeau who earned a very solid $1.42 million check in his own right for his three-way tie for second place. The other half of the pool that didn't take one of those two players lost ground. There were quite a few that were pretty disappointed with the showing Rory McIlroy put in at his best course on Tour. Nevertheless, with the second major of the year in the books, we've hit the point where if you are laboring in the standings it's time to take some chances. There's still a few more big purses out there with two majors, two signature events and three playoff events remaining. A week like this at the Charles Schwab Challenge has just a $9.5 million purse and likely won't be as consequential, but the regular events tend to have a pretty wide spread of ownership, and ultimately could be the difference if you're fighting near the top of the standings and are able to grab a high finish from someone a bit unexpected.
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Course Tidbits
- Course: Colonial Country Club (7,289 yards, par 70)
- Location: Fort Worth, Texas
- Purse: $9.5 million ($1.71 million to winner)
- Defending Champion: Davis Riley (-14)
- 2024 Scoring Average: 70.82
- Average Winning Score Last 5 Years: -12
Colonial Country Club underwent a massive restoration prior to last year's Charles Schwab Challenge. Gil Hanse and his crew did a great job bringing back the original design intentions of Perry Maxwell and John Bredemus. Colonial has a much more rugged look now and the barranca that winds through the property has been brought more into play. These are some of the smallest greens on Tour and since they are quite new, they will still be very firm. Players will need to be coming into the greens from the fairways and not this tricky bermuda rough to get balls close to the hole. Colonial is quintessential target golf and the best ball-strikers tend to thrive on this set up.
In the first tournament since the restoration, Davis Riley put on a clinical performance to win by five shots at 14-under-par. He was paired with Scottie Scheffler in the final round with a four-shot lead, and did not look rattled at all. Keegan Bradley was tied with Scheffler at nine-under with Collin Morikawa a shot back at eight-under. Those names should all speak to Colonial being a place primed for ball-strikers. That advantage should only be accentuated given the weather forecast. The course should really dry out for the tournament after some storms rolled through Monday evening. The wind is also going to be a major challenge, particularly on Friday and Saturday. It would not be overly surprising to see single digits win this week.
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Charles Schwab Challenge: One and Done Picks
There are other picks that would provide more comfort, but honestly, I don't want to use Daniel Berger or Jordan Spieth in a spot where they're unlikely to win or even cash a big check unless they get runner-up. Gerard is not a guy that I'll mind burning in this spot because I won't use him in a major or a signature event. He has the upside to cash a decent check however and his game appears to be in great shape entering this week. --Greg Vara
English just has a knack for playing well on difficult setups and in challenging conditions. He won the Farmers Insurance Open at eight-under-par, he was T12 at The Masters and shot the best round of the day in the final round en route to a T2 finish at the PGA Championship. English was second for the week at Quail Hollow in SG: Approach and has now finished top-20 in four of his last five starts. Colonial is a place he has played well on before with a pair top-five finishes and four top-20s. This seems like the perfect place and time to use the five-time PGA Tour winner. --Ryan Andrade
Rai is a great fit for Colonial as his lack of distance isn't much of a detriment here, and he leads the Tour in driving accuracy this year. He finished T12 here two years ago and ranked second in approach. When it comes to one and done contests, Rai is an interesting player because you want to use him at some point but it's hard to feel comfortable doing it in the bigger tournaments. He hasn't played many non-signature events this year, so I like targeting him this week. Rai is coming off a top-20 at Quail Hollow last week in which he was third in SG: Approach. Lock him in. --Ryan Pohle
The Dallas resident is a fairway finder and he ranks fourth among this field in SG: Tee-to-Green over his last 24 rounds. But despite a T8-T15-T17-T8 stretch from the RBC Heritage through the PGA Championship, Kim projects to fly well under the radar in OAD this week, likely due to lousy course history on a track that should otherwise suit his game. He spiked with the flat stick en route to a season-high 6.8 strokes gained putting at Quail Hollow last week, and Kim is the type of volatile player that carries enough win equity for a sneaky move up the OAD leaderboard if you're well behind. --Bryce Danielson
This is a week where it feels everybody is playing for second behind Scottie Scheffler. Berger might have the best chance to give Scheffler a challenge. He is having a terrific bounceback season after his career was derailed by a wrist injury. Berger is not the longest hitter, so Colonial is an especially good fit for him. Which explains why he won there back in 2020 -- against a stacked leaderboard. He defeated Collin Morikawa in a playoff with Bryson DeChambeau and Xander Schauffele among those tying for third. --Len Hochberg
Charles Schwab Challenge: One and Done Fades
Fleetwood was on a roll heading into the PGA Championship this past week, posting top-10s in his two starts prior to the major, but once again he left a major thinking what might have been. Fleetwood often plays well at the majors, but his hopes are continually derailed by one bad round. In his case it was Saturday's round that sunk his chances. I just wonder if all these missteps are starting to create a lot of baggage. Fleetwood would love to win any event on the PGA Tour, but you know he wants a major and having not played his best at the most recent major could result in a hangover this week. --Greg Vara
In OAD, and in particular for a regular event like this, we need someone who can pop to make up any ground in the standings. Matsuyama has not been that guy since his win at The Sentry. I almost couldn't believe it when I saw that he had not once finished top-10 in his 11 starts since Kapalua. The missed cut last week at the PGA Championship was his third in his last five starts as well. The biggest issue of Matsuyama's game this season has been driving, and Colonial is not a course where you're going to be able to get away with regularly playing from off the fairway like he has most of the year. --Ryan Andrade
It's interesting to see Fleetwood in the field considering he's only played two non-signature events this year while having played the last two weeks on top of skipping this event last year as well. He's gone T35 and MC in his two appearances at Colonial and failed to shoot a round in the 60s in his T41 finish at Quail last week. Notably, his five best approach weeks this year came in the first five tournaments, so I'd like to see some better form with his irons before using him. RBC Canadian Open or Royal Portrush will be my preferred targets for Fleetwood the rest of the season. --Ryan Pohle
Coming off a career-best 11.1 strokes gained from tee to green at last week's PGA Championship, all signs point to English playing well again this week at Colonial Country Club where he owns a pair of top-5s throughout his career. However, English isn't quite the elite caliber of player I like to target when considering chalk at the very top of the OAD ownership projections, especially if you're facing a deficit in the standings. It feels wiser to select a possibly more-talented option at a fraction of the ownership in OAD, and secure your English shares elsewhere in the betting and/or DFS markets this week. --Bryce Danielson
Matsuyama has done next to nothing since winning the season-opening Sentry. Or, to put it another way, he's done next to nothing since I drafted him in the RotoWore season-long league the week after the Sentry. Good times. What's perplexing is Matsuyama is putting pretty well -- and for him, very well, ranked 63rd. Instead, his biggest issue is with hitting the ball straight, which is a disaster waiting to happen at Colonial. Matsuyama is ranked 139th in driving accuracy. --Len Hochberg
Don't get burned by late withdrawals. Visit RotoWire's PGA tournament field page for a live-updated summary of the field for the current week and list of players who have dropped out.
