Charles Schwab Challenge 2024 Each-Way Tips: Picks from 28/1 to 70/1

• 28/129.00 Tony Finau has strong TTG figures at Colonial

• 55/156.00 Aaron Rai has a good record in Texas

• 70/171.00 Lee Hodges is coming of T12 at the USPGA

For those who found Valhalla a bland test and not really worthy of a major championship, here's some ammunition.

2024 US PGA Championship
-21 Xander Schauffele
-20 Bryson DeChambeau

Charles Schwab Challenge last two winners
-8 Emiliano Grillo
-9 Sam Burns

To be honest, that says more about the design of Colonial Country Club, one of the great venues on the PGA Tour and used since 1946.

Valhalla had no real protection with downpours making it soft and the greens ultra-receptive but Colonial has far more tricks up its sleeve despite being some 400 yards shorter.

And yet despite back-to-back winning scores in single digits under par, the course was subject to a major renovation last year.

It remains a par 70 and the yardage overall (now 7,289 yards) hasn't changed much even though it's been tweaked on each hole.

New Bentgrass greens will need relearning so we have that familiar question to try and answer after a big redesign: does previous course form count as much?

Perhaps Paul Hodowanic's article on the PGA Tour website offers a clue.

He writes: "The bones of Colonial remain the same, however. The corridors look familiar on almost every hole. There was hardly any tree removal or added distance, the two most prominent features in modern course renovation."

Overall it might be smart to surmise that previous tee-to-green prowess at the course still counts for plenty but perhaps past putting stats less so given the new greens.

Back Tony Finau @ 28/129.00

Tony Finau had a decent PGA although tied 18th wasn't exactly what he was looking for.

But despite an overall perception that he hasn't done much this season, that was a seventh top 25 and in that bunch there was a second place in Houston at the end of March.

A tied 12th at Hilton Head the week after the Masters is also a decent pointer.

It shows he can go well after a major (he'd finished 55th at Augusta after a closing 80) and also thrive on a course where strategy counts far more than just blasting it long.

I also like the fact that he has strong SG: Tee To Green numbers at Colonial.

He's ranked 10th, third and ninth TTG in three of his last four visits and that's paved the way for finishes of fourth, 20th and second.

Finau clearly likes this course and returns with his TTG game in good shape after ranking 11th in that category at Valhalla.

Notably he was 1st in SG: Approach.

With the new greens likely to be a leveller, Finau's coldish putter may not matter quite as much.

Traditionally, he's good on bentgrass anyway so a decent enough putting week could be all he needs.

With Scottie Scheffler taking a chunk out of the market, Finau appeals at 28s.

Scheffler, incidentally, has ranked 1st for SG: Tee To Green in each of the last two years here so may be hard to beat if he's processed his wild week at the US PGA.

After a second and a third here, it's very easy to see him getting the '1' but becoming a first-time father and being arrested in the space of a week is quite the double, even for his calm headspace.

Back Aaron Rai @ 55/156.00

Aaron Rai's tied 39th in the US PGA doesn't look anything to write home about but it was just his second start in a US-based major and he'd missed the cut in the first.

He threatened better than that after a pair of 68s put him 18th at halfway and there was hardly too much wrong with weekend laps of 70 and 71.

Rai ranked 24th Tee To Green but had negative putting figures (0.381).

That was similar to his Colonial experiencec last year when the Englishman was 5th Tee To Green (2nd in Approach) but lost nearly half a stroke on the greens when finishing an encouraging 12th.

But that's the formula we're following this week and he looks a good fit.

Rai had gained strokes with the flatstick in three of his previous three four starts and that included his impressive fourth place in the CJ Cup Byron Nelson where he posted 3rd in the TTG charts.

The other part of his appeal is that the two-time DP World Tour winner seems to thrive when in Texas.

His last four starts in the Lone Star State show a fourth, a seventh and a 12th and he's made 11 of 12 cuts in Texas events.

This could be the week when he gets his first win Stateside.

Back Lee Hodges @ 70/171.00

Lee Hodges is already a PGA Tour winner - by seven shots no less - after cruising to victory in the 2023 3M Open (on Bentgrass greens).

And last year the 28-year-old's career took another forward step with a tied 12th in the US PGA at Valhalla.

He'd previously had one go each at the four majors, missing the cut in three and posting 55th in the other so it was quite a leap.

Hodges, who ranked fourth for Approach and 21st TTG at Valhalla, is making his third start at Colonial and he's shown promise in the first two visits.

The actual finishes were 35th on debut in 2022 and 29th last year but in the former he shot a 73 to close while 12 months ago he was in the top dozen at halfway.

And continuing the theme of ball-striking and putting at this redesigned Colonial, Hodges was 13th TTG here last year (sixth for Approach) but only 59th for SGP.

There's also some Texas form to be found when looking at Hodges' record when heading south.

Hodges finished 8-14-25 in his three Korn Ferry events in the Lone Star State while he overcame a slow start to take sixth place in last year's Texas Open. He hasn't quite kicked on after his breakthrough win last season but his 12th at Valhalla could be a turning point.

And if you like a good pattern/omen, he was also 12th at the Scottish Open last year just two weeks before claiming that runaway win at the 3M Open.

Now read Steve Rawlings' Soudal Open preview