The year’s second major is in the rearview mirror, as Xander Schauffele took down the PGA Championship last week.
We now turn our attention to the Charles Schwab Challenge.
With it being the week after a major, we should be happy with the field teeing it up this week.
It’s headlined by top contenders Scottie Scheffler (+275 to win, BetMGM), Collin Morikawa (+1200), Max Homa and Jordan Spieth (both 22/1).
Colonial Country Club has undergone some renovations since the last time we’ve seen it on the PGA Tour.
It was lengthened by 89 yards, the greens were lowered and many of the bunkers around the green were converted to grass.
Colonial was routinely one of the toughest non-majors on tour, and these changes should cement that moving forward.
The course is a par-70 that now measures just less than 7,300 yards.
Given the number of doglegs and forced layups, this is one of the few courses on tour where distance off the tee isn’t a huge advantage.
This is more of a second-shot-and-in type of test.
Golfers who are good on approach, around the green and putting on bentgrass should find their way to the top of the leaderboard this week.
Here are three best bets to win the Charles Schwab Challenge:
Tony Finau (30/1, bet365)
Finau hasn’t been consistent this season, but his iron game has been impressive as he showed last week when he gained 9.7 strokes on approach at the PGA Championship.
He routinely gains strokes off the tee (even on shorter courses) and is an underrated scrambler.
However, his upside all depends on his putting.
While it hasn’t been good this year, he loves bentgrass greens.
Over the last two years, he’s 32nd in this field in strokes gained putting on bentgrass.
He’s finished in the top 25 at this event in four of the last five years, so he certainly has an affinity for the course.
Denny McCarthy (50/1, BetMGM)
If I could only make one outright bet this week, it would be on McCarthy because it’s hard to find a better course for his skill set.
He’s accurate off the tee, has one of the best short games in the world and he’s on record saying how much he loves difficult golf courses.
While he missed the cut last week at Valhalla, that was more of a bomber’s course. He should find Colonial much more to his liking.
He doesn’t have the best course history there, but I’m willing to overlook that given the changes to the course. Most of the field will be seeing these alterations for the first time.
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Christiaan Bezuidenhout (50/1, BetMGM)
If you place C-Bez in the middle of the fairway with everyone else, he’s one of the best golfers in the world.
He’s an elite iron player, an excellent scrambler and he can light it up on the greens.
Bezuidenhout is still searching for his first victory on the PGA Tour, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t know how to win.
He has seven professional wins on his résumé and has contended a number of times on this side of the pond.
Bezuidenhout enters the week in good form (six top 30s in his last seven starts) and is sitting at a very enticing number in the outright market.