PGA DFS Coverage For The Charles Schwab Challenge

Getting excited for PGA DFS is always a struggle after a major championship, especially after what we saw in last week’s PGA Championship from Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York. Brooks Koepka held the 54-hole lead after Saturday and he didn’t relinquish it on Sunday as he shot three-under par with six birdies in the final round of the 2023 PGA Championship to lay his claim to the Wanamaker Trophy for the third time in his career. Koepka becomes the first LIV Golf player to win at a major since the new tour’s inception a couple years ago. Another big storyline to take away from this weekend is that of Michael Block, a club pro who finished tied for 15th and already locked himself into the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. Block’s story reached its apex on Sunday when he notched a hole in one on the par three 15th hole, which helped secure his top 15 finish. Following his final round on Sunday, Block was extended a sponsorship invitation for this week’s Charles Schwab Challenge as well as the RBC Canadian Open at the beginning of June.

 

But we turn our attention to the 2023 Charles Schwab Challenge from Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas this Memorial Day Weekend. Charles Schwab has been the sponsor of this event since 2019 and is currently in the final year of its contract with the PGA Tour as the sponsor for this tournament as well. Colonial Country Club has been on the PGA Tour’s schedule since 1946 and has hosted the U.S. Open for both the men and the women in the past, but it has served as an annual visit for the PGA Tour every year since 1946, with 1975 being the lone exception. Sam Burns enters as the defending champion having bested Scottie Scheffler in a playoff last year. Speaking of Scheffler, his strong showing at the PGA Championship allowed him to reclaim his spot atop the Overall World Golf Rankings as he looks to win the Charles Schwab Challenge following last year’s runner-up finish.

The Field: Charles Schwab Challenge

It’s a slightly smaller field this week for the Charles Schwab Challenge. Most PGA Tour events will include 140-150 golfers but because this is an invitational, there are only 120 entrants. This weekend will be a bit of a homecoming for Scheffler, as it will also be for Jordan Spieth who is dealing with a wrist injury that is worth keeping an eye on, but he still managed a top 30 finish at least week’s PGA Championship. Other notable entrants for this weekend’s field include two-time winner at Colonial Country Club, Zach Johnson, who owns the 72-hole course record from his dominant 21-under par win back in 2010. Victor Hovland finished in a tie for second with Scottie Scheffler last week, and he’ll also tee it up in Fort Worth as well. Other players include Sungjae Im, Si Woo Kim, Collin Morikawa, Max Homa, Tony Finau, Tommy Fleetwood, and Rickie Fowler. The top 65 golfers with ties will make the cut following round two on Friday.

The Course: Colonial Country Club

Colonial Country Club has hosted plenty of PGA Tour events, with the Charles Schwab Challenge being the most recent. Previously this course hosted the Fort Worth Invitational, the Dean & DeLuca Invitational, the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, the Bank of America Colonial, etc. Colonial Country Club measures in at 7,209 yards as a Par 70. There aren’t too many water hazards for this course save for the ninth hole, which features a small pond right in front of the green. The Par 3 13th hole also features a lake right in front of the green as well. Think of the infamous 17th hole from TPC Sawgrass for The Players Championship, but much more land to work with this weekend. It’s a very lush, green course featuring bentgrass greens. The last four winning scores have ranged from 9-under, to 15-under, to 14-under, to 13-under so there’s no reason to suspect any different this weekend.

The Weather: Fort Worth, Texas

The weather is looking pretty good early on for North Texas this weekend. The temperatures will be in the 80’s this weekend (nearing 90 on Sunday for the final round) with winds not exceeding 15 mph, but they’ll likely settle between 8-12 mph for most of the invitational. There is still a chance for rain this weekend, but between Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday none of those days have more than a 25% chance of wet conditions. As always, we’ll confirm weather in the PGA DFS Discord channel on Wednesday before the main slate locks. 

How To Watch The Charles Schwab Challenge

We don’t get the extended coverage this week as we did last week for the PGA Championship. However, you can still catch all the coverage for the Charles Schwab Challenge on CBS of rounds three and four this weekend starting at 3:00pm ET. The Golf Channel will also have their standard coverage following the first two rounds from 4:00-7:00 pm ET on Thursday and Friday as well as 1:00-3:00 pm ET on Saturday and Sunday for the final two rounds before they kick it over to CBS this weekend. And as always, if you have an ESPN+ subscription you’ll be able to watch their main coverage for the first two rounds in addition to the featured groups.

Coverage From Fantasy Alarm

The PGA DFS Playbook will be available on FantasyAlarm.com Wednesday morning at 10:00am ET.  We will also have PGA DFS example lineups available beginning at 2:30pm ET.  You can get help with your DFS lineup construction with our usual tools like our PGA DFS Lineup Generator and the PGA DFS projections. Don’t forget about our Value Finder tool!  That’s available as well, and I will be readily available in the PGA DFS Discord channel leading up to the main slate lock Thursday morning. Best of luck! Hope to see you all atop the leaderboard Sunday afternoon!