Charles Schwab Challenge: The Punter's Preview

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Charles Schwab Challenge tournament history

Formally known as, the Fort Worth Invitational, the Dean & Deluca, the Crowne Plaza, the Bank of America, the MasterCard and the Southwestern Bell, the Charles Schwab Challenge was first staged in 1946.

Winners of the event are given a plaid tartan jacket, and their names are etched on to the Wall of Champions adjacent to the first tee.

Local resident, Ben Hogan, won the first two renewals before going on to win it again three more times in the '50s. Nobody else has won the title more than twice.

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Venue

Colonial Country Club, Fort Worth, Texas.

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Course details

Par 70 - 7,289 yards 
Scoring Average in 2025 - 70.26

Designed by John Bredemus and opened in 1936, Colonial Country Club staged the US Open as soon as 1941, after Perry Maxwell had altered holes three, four and five. 

This wonderful classic course has hosted this event since its inception and on the PGA Tour, only the US Masters has been staged at the same venue for longer, but it looked significantly different at the 2024 renewal. 

As soon as the 2023 edition of the event concluded, PGA Tour player and Colonial member, Ryan Palmer, consulted with renowned course designers, Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner, as they moved in to undertake a $20 million renovation. 

Using footage and photos from the US Open in 1941, Hanse and Wagner restored the course as close as possible to the original design. 

As many as 20 bunkers were removed, the Trinity River was brought into play on two holes, trees were removed, greens were moved and lowered, barrancas were incorporated into nine holes in total 13^th holes were remodelled. 

It was an extensive project and the renovation was very well received. This what the US Ryder Cup captain, Keegan Bradley said about the changes. 

"I very rarely come to a golf course that's been redone and think it's better, but this is definitely better."  

The clip below provides some great insight into the renovation. 

Colonial is a tight, tree-lined track with 12 dog-legged holes and small bentgrass greens that usually run at around 12 on the Stimpmeter. The course is littered with strategically placed fairway bunkers and water is a theme throughout. 

The par five first hole is consistently the easiest hole on the course 9averaged only 4.58 last year) and the par four second historically ranks as the second or third easiest but the next three faced, which were the only holes Maxwell altered prior to the US Open in 1941, are tougher and nicknamed the 'Horrible Horseshoe'. 

Colonial CC is often affectionately referred to as 'Hogan's Alley' after the five-time winner Ben. 

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Weather forecast

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TV coverage

Live on Sky Sports all four days, starting at 13:00 on Thursday.

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Last 10 winners with pre-event Betfair Exchange prices

2025 - Ben Griffin -12 95.094/1
2024 - Davis Riley -14 600.0599/1
2023 - Emiliano Grillo -9 90.089/1 (playoff)
2022 - Sam Burns -9 32.031/1 (playoff)
2021 - Jason Kokrak -14 75.074/1
2020 - Daniel Berger -15 120.0119/1 (playoff)
2019 - Kevin Na -13 90.089/1
2018 - Justin Rose -20 16.015/1
2017 - Kevin Kisner -10 32.031/1
2016 - Jordan Spieth -17 8.07/1

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What will it take to win the Charles Schwab Challenge?

The 2022 playoff protagonists, the runner-up, Scottie Scheffler, and the winner, Sam Burns, ranked first and third for Driving Distance and the 2021 winner, Jason Kokrak, ranked first for DD but that's unusual.

The 2023 winner, Emiliano Grillo, ranked 66^th for DD and the front three last year, Ben Griffin, Matti Schmid and Bud Cauley, ranked 55^th, 28^th and 60^th. This is a track that can't really be overpowered and length off the tee is usually an irrelevance.

Colonial is short by modern standards and there are just two par fives. Irons are taken off several tees and the average DD ranking of the ten winners before Kokrak was exactly 30^th.

Driving Accuracy is a more important stat than DD and that was certainly the case two years ago in the first edition after the changes.

The winner, Davis Riley, only ranked 38^th but Keegan Bradley, who finished tied for second, ranked third, with Collin Morikawa, who ranked first for DA, finishing fourth.

Hitting it straight off every tee isn't absolutely essential though. Last year's front three ranked 48^th, 72^nd and 16^th, Jordan Spieth only ranked 54^th when he won 10 years ago, and Chris Kirk won ranking only 60^th 11 years ago.

Kirk was one of the strangest winners, statistically, that I've ever seen on the PGA Tour. He basically just putted incredibly well all week long, averaging an amazing 1.57, so we should perhaps ignore the fact that (in addition to only ranking 40^th for DD, 60^th for DA and 39^th for Scrambling) he ranked a lowly 62^nd for Greens In Regulation.

Griffin only ranked 17^th for Greens In Regulation last year but 14 of the last 18 winners have ranked inside the top 10 for that stat and 12 of those 18 ranked inside the top-seven so it's been a really key stat over the years.

Kevin Kisner ranked second for Scrambling when he won here in in 2017 and Spieth ranked first 10 years ago but the last eight winners have all got across the line with unusually ordinary Scrambling stats - ranking 42^nd, 25^th, 15^th, 30^th, 32^nd, 46^th, 16^th and 28^th but all eight putted brilliantly.

The last eight winners have had a Putting Average ranking of ninth, eighth, fifth, fifth, fourth, fourth, first and second and other than Kisner in 2017, every winner in the last 20 years has ranked 17^th or better. And 15 of the 20 have ranked inside the top-five for Putting Average.

We've only had 10 years' worth of Strokes Gained Data, but Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green is definitely the key SG stat to consider.

Grillo only ranked 20^th for SG: T2G three years ago Griffin ranked fourth last, Riley ranked first in 2024 and the worst any of the other seven winners have ranked was ninth (Sam Burns in 2022).

Justin Rose is the only winner in the last decade to rank outside the top eight for SG: Putting but the second and third that year, Brooks Koepka and the 2023 winner, Grillo, ranked second and first, so they're the two SG stats to concentrate on.

Given we're in Texas, an ability to handle windy conditions is usually essential.

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Pairs event a recent pointer

Prior to the final round last year, Griffin spoke of how his victory alongside Andrew Novak in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans pairs event a month earlier had given him believe that he could win an individual title and it was the second year in-a-row that the Charles Schwab Challenge had gone the way of Zurich Classic winner.

Davis Riley had caused a bigger shock than Griffin when he won here two years ago and his victory came just over a year after he'd won the Zurich playing alongside Nick Hardy. And like Griffin, Riley's win at the Charles Schwab Challenge was his first individual title.

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Deere Run form worthy of consideration

Augusta form holds up well here but Deere Run, home of the John Deere Classic, is the course that appears to correlate the best.

Zach Johnson has won this title twice recently so of the ten men to win the last 18 editions, four have also won the US Masters - Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Phil Mickelson, and Adam Scott.

The 2018 winner, Justin Rose, has lost two playoffs at Augusta and the two-time US Masters winner, Scottie Scheffler, has a great record here too but they're all top-class players that can win anywhere so Deere Run is the best place to start for clues.

David Toms, Kenny Perry, Steve Stricker, Zach Johnson, and Jordan Spieth have all won this title and the John Deere Classic, staged at Deere Run in Illinois. The 2017 runner-up, Sean O'Hair's first PGA Tour success was at Deere Run, and Brandt Snedeker and Tim Clark have both finished runner-up in both tournaments.

Sebastian Munoz, who topped the Strokes Gained Putting stats when finishing third here in 2021 went on to lead the John Deere Classic through three rounds a couple of months later. Lucas Glover, who had finished eighth at Colonial went on to win, and the 2019 Colonial winner, Kevin Na, finished tied for second.

Riley has only played Deere Run once and he failed to make it through to the weekend but Griffin finished fifth there on debut in 2024 the 2023 result advertised the link between the two courses brilliantly...

The winner, Grillo, has twice finished runner-up at Deere Run and behind Grillo in sixth place was the surprise 2018 JDC winner, Michael Kim. That was only his third top-six finish on the PGA Tour since he'd won at Deere Run five years earlier.

Adam Schenk, who was beaten by Grillo in extra time, only had five top six finishes on the PGA Tour prior to his second here and two of them were at Deere Run! He finished sixth in 2019 and fourth in 2021.

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Is there an identikit winner?

With length an irrelevance, the wily old pros have a great chance to add to their silverware here. 

Most Colonial winners have already bagged plenty of titles, but the profile of the winners appears to be changing somewhat. 

The last two winners have been maidens in their 20s and five of the last 10 winners have been in their 20s. Grillo was only 30 when he won three years ago, but prior to Spieth's victory a decade ago, Sergio Garcia, in 2001, was the last player under the age of 30 to take the title and eight of the last 27 winners have been aged 40 or over. 

Colonial is a course that takes a bit of getting to know and debutants have a poor record. 

Historically, the winners have already played the event around eight times on average and it's rare to see someone win their first PGA Tour event here. 

Given Griffin and Riley had won the Zurich Classic pairs event before they won here, Sergio Garcia is the last first timer winner on the PGA Tour, way back in 2001, but he'd already won in Europe. 

Before that, Australia's Ian Baker-Finch won his first PGA Tour title in this event in 1989 but he too had already tasted success, having already won Down Under. We all know how good the 2017 US Masters winner, Sergio, is and Baker-Finch won an Open Championship. 

Given how impeccably good all areas of a player's game need to be to win here, it's probably not surprising to see so many major champions, Ryder Cuppers and Presidents Cup players have been successful here. 

From a price perspective, the tournament appears to be changing considerably. 

The cream has tended to rise to the top here historically and short-priced winners were commonplace but six of the last seven winners have been fairly big in the market, going off at 90.089/1, 75.074/1, 120.0119/1, 90.089/1, 600.0599/1 and 95.094/1 so it's really starting to morph into a great event for long-shots.

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Last 10 winner's position and Betfair Exchange price pre-round four

2025 - Ben Griffin - tied for the lead 2.166/5
2024 - David Riley - led by four strokes 2.26/5
2023 - Emiliano Grillo - T4 - trailing by four 24.023/1
2022 - Sam Burns T17 - trailing by seven 250.0249/1
2021 - Jason Kokrak - solo second - trailing by one 3.3512/5
2020 - Daniel Berger T7 - trailing by two 29.028/1
2019 - Kevin Na - led by two strokes 3.4549/20
2018 - Justin Rose led by four strokes 1.42/5
2017 - Kevin Kisner T5 - trailing by three 11.010/1
2016 - Jordan Spieth - led by one stroke 2.111/10 

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In-play tactics

Griffin led after rounds to and three, after sitting second after round one, Riley won wire-to-wire in 2024 and five of the last 10 winners were in front with a round to go but it's not always easy to convert from the front here and no 54-hole leader or co-leader won here between 2008 and 2016.

Being up with the pace is typically the way to go though and being on the heels of the leaders is usually the ideal place to be.

The two winners that preceded Spieth's victory in 2016 were seven and six strokes adrift and outside the top-ten at halfway but that's unusual.

Prior to Adam Scott's victory 12 years ago, Rory Sabbatini in 2007 and Sergio Garcia in 2001, had been the only two winners this century to be outside the top-ten and more than four strokes adrift through 36 holes and 20 of the last 24 winners have been no more than two strokes off the lead with a round to go.

Grillo trailed by four and recent winners, Kevin Kisner and Chris Kirk, trailed by three, so although it's hard to win from the front, winning from miles back is very rare but we did witness it four years ago.

Having been matched at a high of 570.0569/1 and having begun the final day trailing by seven strokes and trading at 250.0249/1, Sam Burns teed off an hour and 25 minutes before the final two-ball and when he set the clubhouse target of nine-under-par, it didn't look like it would be enough.

With still eight holes to play, the third-round leader, Scheffler, who had started the day trading at odds-on and leading by a stroke on -11, was tied with four others on ten-under-par and although conditions weren't great and the wind was still picking up, it was still very long odds-on that someone would remain ahead of Burns but nobody got past him and he ended up beating Scheffler in a playoff.

I'm going away for a few days now so there'll be no selections before the off or Find Me a Winner column this week, but I'll be back at the weekend with the In-Play Blog as usual.

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