Charles Schwab Challenge DFS picks 2026: I’m betting on this surprise PGA contender

The “Texas Swing” comes to an end with the Charles Schwab Challenge played at the legendary Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth. This year the course is celebrating its 80th anniversary and marking eight decades as the PGA Tour’s longest-running host venue for a non-major event.

Though the event’s name has changed numerous times, Colonial has hosted this tournament since 1946, making it the longest-running event on the PGA Tour held at the same location. From its beginning, the tournament has seen the most illustrious names in golf among its champions, including Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino and Tom Watson.

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Colonial is one of those rare gems that has stood the test of time, challenging the world’s best golfers year after year. It is a challenging, tree-lined shot-maker’s course with tight fairways, numerous doglegs and small greens. It is perhaps the PGA Tour’s quintessential positional course that places a premium on accuracy off the tee and mid-iron play on approach. Ball-strikers with past success on strategic courses, who can be creative and shape their shots, and spike with their putter on the bentgrass greens, will have an edge.

Jordan Spieth, perhaps, summed up Colonial best by saying, “Fit it into tight windows, hit fairways and control the ball on the green.” With an average winning score of 12-under over the past 15 years, the list of recent past champions here is full of quality ball-strikers who can get hot with the flatstick, including players like Ben Griffin, Sam Burns, Daniel Berger, Kevin Na, Justin Rose, Jordan Spieth, Chris Kirk and Zach Johnson.

The field features strong depth at the top, despite not having Texas natives Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth, with seven of the top 20 players in the world rankings scheduled to compete. J.J. Spaun enters the week as the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 9 in the world, and is followed by Russell Henley, Ludvig Aberg, Justin Thomas, Hideki Matsuyama, Robert MacIntyre and defending champion Ben Griffin.

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Here are my favorite plays and fades in each price range for DraftKings lineups for the 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge:

$9,000+ range Play: Rickie Fowler, $9,600

Carl Recine

It’s been nearly three years since that Sunday in Detroit when Rickie Fowler rolled in the winning putt on the 18th green to capture the Rocket Classic. After a horrendous 2024 season, his game has steadily trended upward. Over the past year, Fowler has quietly become one of the most consistent players on tour with 14 top-20 finishes, and this season he’s started to flash elite upside again with four top-10s in signature events.

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His game is remarkably well-rounded, as he’s the only player in this field gaining at least 0.20 strokes per round in every strokes gained category. Fowler also heads to Fort Worth in strong form with his irons, gaining 0.66 strokes over his past 16 rounds. With two additional par 4s on the card this week, his strength in that area becomes even more valuable, as he ranks second on tour in par-4 scoring this season. He also brings an excellent track record at Colonial, where he’s posted five top-20 finishes.

Play: Alex Smalley, $9,300

There may not be a golfer in the world carrying more momentum right now than Alex Smalley. After closing the 2025 fall swing with multiple top-five finishes, he has continued to elevate his game throughout 2026 with a T-24 at The Players, T-14 at the Valero, T-7 at the Cadillac, T-17 at the Truist and a runner-up finish at the PGA Championship two weeks ago.

Smalley has long been regarded as one of the premier iron players on tour, but the biggest difference in his rise has been the dramatic improvement in his short game. After losing 0.62 strokes per round both on and around the greens in 2024, he’s flipped that into a gain of 0.45 strokes per round this season. The result has been one of the most complete stretches of golf of his career. He currently ranks fourth overall in my early Rabbit Hole model and looks primed to seriously contend for his first tour victory this week.

Alex Smalley’s last five events.

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Fade: Robert MacIntyre, $9,900

MacIntyre has been a consistent fade in this article dating back to Masters week in April, and nothing has changed since then. Over that stretch, he has missed two cuts and failed to record a single finish better than T-40. The primary issue has been his dreadful iron play, as he has lost strokes on approach in eight of his past 10 tournaments.

And these haven’t been minor losses either. In five of those events, MacIntyre lost at least 4.8 total strokes on approach, a disastrous trend heading into one of the most demanding iron courses on tour. With Colonial placing such a heavy emphasis on precision into the greens, it’s difficult to justify him being priced as the third-most expensive golfer in the field. Given both the recent form and the course-fit concerns, he stands out as one of the clearest fades in recent memory.

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$8,000+ range Play: Harry Hall, $8,700

Augusta National

Hall is one of my favorite course fits this week with his improved iron play combined with his ability to spike on bentgrass greens, where he has gained 0.75 strokes per round over the past three years. He’s shown much more upside so far this year with three top-10s including a T-6 at a similar positional course at Waialae in the Sony Open. He’s shown he has an eye for this course with a T-3 and a T-6 in his three trips to Fort Worth.

Fade: Michael Thorbjornsen, $8,200

The young phenom is clearly going through a difficult stretch right now, entering the week with three missed cuts and two additional disappointing performances in no-cut signature events. During this run, he has consistently lost strokes both on approach and with the putter, a troubling combination heading to one of the toughest ball-striking tests on tour.

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Colonial ranks as the eighth-toughest non-major course on the schedule, making it far from an ideal venue to try and rediscover form. His biggest advantage off the tee, gaining strokes through elite distance, is also somewhat neutralized at a positional layout like Colonial, where precision and placement matter far more than raw power.

Read The Line’s Joe Idone and John Haslbauer discuss Ludvig Aberg’s chances at the 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge:

Watch the full Preferred Lines betting show powered by Read The Line.

$7,000+ range Play: Brian Harman, $7,800

David Cannon

While Harman’s recent finishes don’t immediately stand out, he remains one of the most consistent players on tour and now returns to a course that fits his strengths perfectly. His accuracy off the tee and elite scrambling ability are major assets at Colonial Country Club, where small, demanding greens place a premium on precision and short-game play. Harman’s proficiency with short- to mid-irons is also a strong match for Colonial, where roughly 60 percent of approach shots come from 125-200 yards. He’s gained strokes on approach in seven consecutive starts and, according to the Rabbit Hole, has gained the second-most total strokes in this field at Colonial since 2016, trailing only Tony Finau.

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$6,000+ range Play: Karl Vilips, $6,800

Sam Hodde

Vilips’ boom-or-bust profile is exactly the type of upside worth targeting in the $6K range. He already has three top-25 finishes this season and tends to spike either with his irons or putter when he’s at his best. His strengths align well with Colonial, particularly his play from 100-150 yards and his success on shorter, positional layouts. He also impressed here in his debut last year, finishing 11th while gaining strokes in every major category.

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Ron Klos (@PGASplits101 on X) is a PGA Tour data analyst for Betsperts Golf.