PGA DFS Core Plays: Charles Schwab Challenge
Top-ranked grinder, Notorious, breaks down his favorite daily fantasy golf plays at various salary ranges for the coming week’s golf tournament. Who should you be building around? Find out below.
Charles Schwab Challenge Preview
The PGA Championship was filled with so many great stories, the biggest of which was Phil Mickelson becoming the oldest major champion in the history of the sport. Everyone (including myself and the betting market) kept waiting for him to have a blowup round that would take him out of contention, but he strung together four excellent days of golf to win the Wanamaker Trophy. We saw more top 10s from Will Zalatoris and Tony Finau at a major and another second place finish from Louis Oosthuizen. We saw a resurgence from Rickie Fowler and got even more fuel for the fire of the ever-growing Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka rivalry. It was a tremendous week of golf and I hope we see another major at Kiawah Island in the near future.
We now turn our attention to the Charles Schwab Challenge. If you recall, this was the first event back from the COVID break. It was one of the best fields of any event all season because most golfers were chomping at the bit to get back in action. Daniel Berger was able to outlast Collin Morikawa in a playoff to pick up the win. This time around, the field is back to 121 golfers (down from 156 last year), which means at least 54% of the field will make the cut. The event is back in its normal Memorial Day weekend time slot and should play a little harder than it did a year ago. The weather was close to perfect for all four days and we are expecting the Texas winds to blow a bit this week.
Colonial Country Club is a Par 70 that measures over 7,200 yards. There are only two par fives on the course and many of the holes have forced layups off the tee. We did see golfers be a tad more aggressive off the tee last year, but historically accuracy has been much more important than distance. For reference, Jordan Spieth, Brian Harman, Kevin Na, and Kevin Kisner have the best course histories of any players in the field. The main goal is to put the ball in play off the tee and then focus on iron play and short game. I will be placing a heavy emphasis on strokes gained approach, strokes gained around the green, and strokes gained putting on bentgrass greens.