2026 Charles Schwab Challenge Preview: Everything To Know About Colonial Country Club

The PGA TOUR heads to Colonial Country Club with the 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge. Compare Charles Schwab Challenge odds at the best sports betting sites to increase your potential PGA TOUR golf betting payouts. Ludvig Aberg, Hideki Matsuyama, and Russell Henley project as the top favorites for this upcoming tournament.

In one of the most competitive stretches of the PGA TOUR schedule, the stars continue to shine in the Lone Star State. We head to Fort Worth for the 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge at the new and improved Colonial Country Club. Let’s take a look at this weekend’s Charles Schwab Challenge odds.

We’ve grown accustomed to seeing Colonial CC on the schedule, as it’s the longest-running host course on TOUR. While it’s gone through a myriad of different sponsors, 2026 marks the 79th installment of this event, dating to 1946. Notably, it served as host for golf’s return from its COVID hiatus in June 2020. It attracted an unusually strong field and saw uncharacteristic course conditions crop up.

Colonial CC is a quintessential positional course that historically mitigates distance advantage and produced a diverse cast of winners. Emiliano Grillo, Sam Burns, and Jason Kokrak’s driver-heavy approach in their recent victories exposed Colonial as no longer the positional test it was originally intended. A significant course renovation in 2023 makes for a refreshed Charles Schwab Challenge in 2026.

The players who catch the hottest irons and putter are the ones who historically prevail at this event. There’s an added premium on mid-irons and accuracy off the tee in order to work the ball around this golf course and create the best angles to attack pins and generate scoring opportunities. We’ll run through the key facts and info about Colonial CC ahead of the 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge.

CHARLES SCHWAB CHALLENGE ODDS: THE FAVORITES

Scroll to the bottom for complete outright odds and to compare prices across the best sportsbooks in your state. With Scottie Scheffler’s incredible win equity in the field, only two favorites this week opened with odds shorter than 15-1.

THE FIELD AT A GLANCE

The Charles Schwab Challenge is a 133-player invitational, maintaining the standard “top-65 and ties” cut rules. For DFS purposes, that means we can expect a higher 6/6 percentage this week.

A storied event that lacks the “Signature” status bump on this season’s schedule, the Charles Schwab Challenge attracted a decent field despite where it falls on the schedule ahead of the Memorial and U.S. Open.

As an unfortunate side effect of the Signature Event schedule, Texas mainstays Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth will not be in the field this week. It’s a puzzling decision for both to choose TPC Craig Ranch over the famed Charles Schwab Challenge. The fact that these beloved Dallas figures have to pick and choose which Dallas event they want to play underscores my issue with having TPC Craig Ranch on the PGA Tour schedule at all. We’re okay with having just one Dallas event, and golf would be in a much better place if the best players in the world could all find the time in their schedule to prioritize the famed Colonial Country Club.

Keeping the focus on those who are here this week, a solid seven OWGR top-20 players will headline this week. Ludvig Aberg, Russell Henley, Justin Thomas, J.J. Spaun, Robert MacIntyre, Ben Griffin, and Hideki Matsuyama represent this week’s favorites.

Ben Griffin returns to defend his title, out-dueling Matti Schmid to continue his 2025 heater. Davis Riley, Emiliano Grillo, Kevin Kisner, Chris Kirk, and Zach Johnson also return to the field as past champs.

INTRODUCTION TO COLONIAL CC

Immediately following the 2023 Charles Schwab Challenge, Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner embarked on an extensive renovation project with the goal of restoring Colonial Country Club to its roots. The goal was to return the course to when it hosted the 1941 U.S. Open. In doing so, Hans and Wagner developed a more sustainable agronomy to withstand North Texas’ harsh climate changes throughout the year. That renovation project is complete, with a fresh and modernized Colonial Country Club ready to take the stage.

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. The layout of the course was largely unchanged. The exception of holes No. 13 and No. 18 saw brand new greens constructed. The new routing at Colonial also features a new barranca and rivetted bunkers – two classic staples of Hanse’s design philosophy.

Overall, the primary goal of the renovation was to introduce a more modern and sustainable irrigation system. While extensive work has been done to the course, its playability did not change drastically in 2024, where we saw a similar archetype of player rise to the top of the leaderboard as usual at Colonial CC.

How It Breaks Down

Colonial CC is a classical, tree-lined, and positional golf course with a rich history. As a par 70 just over 7,200 yards, it’s stood the test of time and challenged the field year after year. It keeps scores in check and has led to many dramatic finishes.

Precision off the tee, accuracy on approach, and putting pedigree are the consistent key characteristics we’ve seen from winners like Jason Kokrak, Daniel Berger, and others.

Winning scores pushed beyond -15 only twice since 2011. With the area receiving less rain than in recent years, I would expect a winning score of around -12 to -13. The DFW Metroplex may have the most dense population of golf obsessives in the United States. So, the Charles Schwab Challenge always welcomed electric atmospheres. Local Texans take much pride in competing each year. The event should have the full attention of players like Scheffler and Spieth despite the Major turnaround.

Traits And Recent Notable Facts

Compared to Tour average, Colonial CC’s defining traits are in its difficulty off the tee. The fairways are the third-most narrow on TOUR, measuring just 27 yards on average. That has made this the second-most difficult course on TOUR to gain strokes off the tee. The Bermuda rough can give players challenges, but it is not a pronounced penalty, with scoring from off the fairway about in line with the TOUR average. Still, when hitting into smaller, 5,000-square-foot greens, it’s a huge bonus to be able to control spin from the short grass.

There are two ways to go about a course like this. You can either hone in on the most accurate drivers off the tee who will have the highest percentage of approaches from the fairway into these tight greens, or you can take the Bryson at Winged Foot approach. If nobody is hitting these fairways and everyone is hitting their approaches from the rough, it’s better to have a wedge in hand than a mid-iron.

Jason Kokrak won the 2021 Charles Schwab challenge despite losing two strokes around the greens. That’s a bit misleading, considering he lost all of his strokes in the bunkers. He performed very solidly in terms of chipping from the green-side rough. In general, this is not a course that is going to be won with your short game. We should expect a higher scrambling rate from the field, even from players who are more deficient around the greens.

In terms of Course History over the last 10 years, Jordan Spieth, Collin Morikawa, Tony Finau, Kevin Na, and Jon Rahm highlight the list of players who have repeatedly played well here, suggesting an advantage for elite, in-form iron players.

Putting And Approach

Given the smaller greens, we’ve seen less of an emphasis on lag putting or three-putt avoidance. This instead shifts the importance to precise approaches and greens in regulation. Winners here have consistently generated a volume of 20-foot birdie opportunities with a simple formula of Approach + Putting, separating them from the pack. We want a player who can gain 5+ strokes in both categories.

In terms of proximity ranges, the concentration of nine par 4s under 450 yards and only two par 5s creates a notable deprioritization on approach shots from 200+. Instead, we’ll see a higher-than-average volume of approach shots from 125-200 yards. With ample options to lay back off the tee, we should expect varying dispersion on approach yardages for each player. They’ll set up approach shots from their preferred yardages on most of these par 4s.

The Donald Ross-designed courses on TOUR (Detroit Golf Club, Sedgefield CC, East Lake) share an interesting trend of top-putting players finding the most success, given that the greens define the course and act as its best defense. Players who are historically best at reading intricate greens have gone on to find the most repeated success on these golf courses. Colonial CC is not a Ross course, but it does share a similar identity and has a storied history of the game’s best putters succeeding. For that reason, I’ll weigh SG: P a bit more heavily this week than most.

COLONIAL CC COURSE SPECS

• Yards: 7,289
• Par: 70 (4x 3s / 12x 4s / 2x 5s)
• Greens: Bent (Fast)
• Average Green Size: 5,000 sq. ft. (Average)
• Average Fairway Width: 27 yards (Below average)
• Architect: John Bredemus & Perry Maxwell
• Historic Cut Line: +2
• Comp Courses: Sedgefield CC, Harbour Town, Waialae CC, Memorial Park, Pebble Beach GL, TPC River Highlands, TPC Craig Ranch, Innisbrook Resort
• Hole-by-hole Breakdown & Official Scorecard:

COURSE HISTORY AND COURSE COMPS

Course History has proven very predictive at Colonial CC. Of the last 10 Charles Schwab Challenge winners, six posted a T10 or better finish within three years prior. Rose is the only player within the past decade who won in his debut appearance. The list of players with a T10 finish over the last three years at this event includes: Ben Griffin, Harry Hall, Bud Cauley, Rickie Fowler, Keegan Bradley, Mac Meissner, Emiliano Grillo, Sungjae Im, Robert MacIntyre, Kevin Streelman, Max Homa, Pierceson Coody, David Lipsky, Michael Kim, and Mark Hubbard

Looking at recent course history, six players posted multiple T15 finishes within the last five years: Sungjae Im, Harry Hall, Gary Woodland, Emiliano Grillo, Lucas Glover, and Davis Riley.

Eleven players avoided missing the cut over each of the last five years (min. three appearances): Rickie Fowler, Webb Simpson, Matt Kuchar, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Emiliano Grillo, Lucas Glover, Mark Hubbard, Lee Hodges, Adam Svensson, Nick Hardy, and Austin Smotherman.

The top 10 players in terms of overall course history at Colonial CC are: Davis Riley, Tony Finau, Brooks Koepka, Webb Simpson, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Brian Harman, Mac Meissner, Gary Woodland, Emiliano Grillo, and Matt Kuchar.  

Course Comps

Colonial CC slots in well with some of the other shorter, positional, wind-exposed courses we see on the yearly TOUR schedule. A similar formula of driving accuracy, approach precision, and strong putting continues to be the script to find success here. I lean to Sedgefield CC as the top overall comp course. Kevin Kisner and Sergio Garcia have won both events within the last 10 years. We’ve seen players like Reed, Snedeker, Poston, Na, Simpson, Spieth, and Scott post T5 finishes in both events over recent years. Both par 70s share a similar emphasis on those key characteristics of driving accuracy, approach and long-term putting.

In addition to Sedgefield, I also like Memorial Park for a comp as another challenging, wind-exposed Texas course which featured a recent Kokrak win and strong performances from Finau.

TPC River Highlands, Harbour Town, Pebble Beach GL, Innisbrook Resort, and Waialae CC have also shared similar overlapping leaderboards with shared emphasis on positional play and strong iron play from inside 200 yards.

Lastly, the Philadelphia Cricket Club and Aronimink Golf Club are great recent examples of classical courses that underwent a recent restoration. They feature the same Bentgrass greens and similar course yardage as a par-70.

Combine performance across this list and the top 10 players in Comp Course History here are: Russell Henley, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Gary Woodland, Ludvig Aberg, Brian Harman, Harry Hall, Akshay Bhatia, Wyndham Clark, and J.J. Spaun.

KEY STATS TO CONSIDER

• SG: Ball Striking
• SG: APP / GIRs Gained
• Prox: 125-200
• Good Drives Gained / Driving Accuracy
• SG: Putting (L36, Bent)
• Bogey Avoidance // Doubles Avoided
• Course & Comp Course History

We’ve seen a sticky formula of repeated success on courses that remove distance advantage and instead reward control both off the tee and on approach. When we also consider that scoring will remain in check – likely no further beyond a -15 winner – we have less randomness to account for. As with most 7,200-yard courses, irons will likely decide things. The top 10 in terms of SG: APP entering this week are Ludvig Aberg, Zac Blair, Brooks Koepka, J.J. Spaun, Austin Eckroat, Alex Smalley, Sam Ryder, Ryan Gerard, Zecheng Dou, and John Parry.

Precision off the tee remains of vital importance this week. The heavily treelined setup will block out approach shots for any significant misses. Since the rough is not incredibly penal, the Good Drives Gained stat has been a bit more predictive of success at Colonial CC than pure accuracy. There is more of an advantage to hitting drives to the correct side of the hole than simply finding the fairway. The top 10 in terms of Good Drives Gained are: Russell Henley, Austin Smotherman, Joel Dahmen, Takumi Kanaya, Ryan Gerard, David Ford, Michael Brennan, Andrew Novak, and Alex Smalley.

A combination of Good Drives Gained, SG: APP, Prox: 100-200, and weighted SG: P (Bent and Total) looks like the simplest approach to narrowing down a player pool this week. Eight players rate out above average in each of those categories: Russell Henley, Akshay Bhatia, Andrew Putnam, Sudarshan Yellamaraju, Rickie Fowler, Matt McCarty, Brian Harman, and Nico Echavarria.

Approach from Shorter Range

Unique to Colonial CC, 82% of approach shots will come from inside 200 yards, so it’s a great week to hone in on players who thrive with their wedges and mid-irons. The top 10 players in terms of SG: APP with Prox 200+ removed are: Hideki Matsuyama, Rico Hoey, Emiliano Grillo, Davis Thompson, Joel Dahmen, J.J. Spaun, Tom Hoge, JT Poston, AJ Ewart, and Brooks Koepka.

Looking at the correlation charts this week, it’s notable to see the precipitous drop in the importance of Par-5 Scoring at Colonial CC compared to TOUR average. That makes sense on this par 70, which features one par 5 reachable in two for the full field and a second par 5 not reachable in two for anyone.

We also see a notable drop in the importance of SG: OTT and P4: 450-500. Emiliano Grillo, Jason Kokrak, and Sam Burns have excelled in both areas in their wins each of the last three years. Over the history of this event, however, the shorter hitters have found the most success, capitalizing on their driving accuracy and short to mid-irons. 

Par 4: 350-400 and Par 4: 400-450 represent the biggest climbers in terms of importance at Colonial CC, considering half the holes this week will fall within these two ranges, a bit of an unusual set up for a PGA TOUR course.

Just nine players in the field rank above average in each of the above 10 key stat categories: Ludvig Aberg, Russell Henley, Rickie Fowler, Gary Woodland, Akshay Bhatia, Alex Smalley, Sudarshan Yellamaraju, Mac Meissner, and Sam Ryder.

PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: ANDREW PUTNAM

Prior to the renovation in 2023, Colonial Country Club represented a rare opportunity for shorter hitters to mix with the bombers. As time wore on, the bombers discovered a way to over-power Colonial, so the renovation was done, in part, to restore Colonial to its original intent as an everyman’s battleground. Looking back on its history, short plodders like Chris Kirk, Zach Johnson, Kevin Kisner, and Kevin Na have each conquered Colonial CC. Andrew Putnam profiles well to deliver on that trend.

Putnam’s history at Colonial has been strong with a T3 and two additional top-20s over eight career appearances. He’s been in excellent form of late, with a T5 at the Valero Texas Open and T18 at the Cadillac Championship over his last six starts. As one of the shortest hitters on Tour, Putnam has survived a stretch of behemoths like Doral and Quail Hollow, and now stands to take advantage of this more getable layout at Colonial. Putnam’s best result this season – a T2 at The American Express – came on a positional course of a similar yardage.

Putnam ranks No. 11 in my model this week, a credit to ranking top-10 in Good Drives Gained, SG: Short Game, SG: ARG, and Bogey Avoidance. He’s flown under the radar so far this season, but has a great opportunity to strike this week while in excellent form.

2026 CHARLES SCHWAB CHALLENGE ODDS: DFS PLAYER POOL

With all the course-fit profiles in mind, I’m leaning early toward the below player pool. Naturally, I’m looking their way in the 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge odds as well. I’ve broken the list down by projected pricing/odds tier for DraftKings Sportsbook.  

CHARLES SCHWAB CHALLENGE MODEL RESULTS & BREAKDOWN

In my model, I’m emphasizing SG: APP first and foremost, followed by a more balanced mix of SG: T2G (Recent Form), Comp Course History, Good Drives Gained, Prox: 100-200, SG: P (TOT + Bent) and Doubles Avoided.

Ludvig Aberg is understandably the man to beat in my model this week. The Texas Tech graduate has had great results in Texas throughout his career, and has done everything but win on Tour this season, with six top-10 finishes over his last seven starts. Aberg ranks No. 1 in SG: TOT, SG: T2G, SG: APP, and SG: Ball Striking over the last 36 rounds and will be the favorite to win the 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge.

After Aberg, the rest of my model’s top 10 is rounded out by: Russell Henley, Gary Woodland, Brooks Koepka, Akshay Bhatia, Rickie Fowler, Alex Smalley, Mac Meissner, Thorbjorn Olesen, and Sudarshan Yellamaraju.

When 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge odds open Monday, I’ll look to Ludvig Aberg, Rickie Fowler, and Andrew Putnam to start my card, depending on where the odds ultimately open.

Check back in later this week for more updates. Best of luck navigating 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge odds!

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Photo Credit: AP/David J. Phillip