After the excitement of last week’s PGA Championship we head to Texas for the Charles Schwab Challenge.
Last week’s winner Justin Thomas is in the field for what is a fairly strong line up at Colonial Country Club.
Thomas is the favourite alongside Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth, but it is the latter of those that really appeals this week after some incredible form around this venue in the past.
Colonial is a tight course that needs some plotting rather than bombing it off the tee. Spieth has thrived here. He has a win, three seconds and three other top 10s here. There is nobody in the field that has played this course better than him. He has been working on some things in his swing that have started to show some signs of improvement but off the tee last week he was a little wayward — something that shouldn’t be too much of a problem here.
His form of late has been really good with a win and a second place heading into the PGA Championship a week ago. It would be hard to look past him at 12/1. There is not too many negatives for Spieth this week. His putting is perhaps not at his absolute best but he is still a very good putter. He is not one for people looking for a longshot but on a lot of weeks he would be a lot shorter price than this when you combine course form and his recent play.
Featured Groups for this weeks @CSChallengeFW:
⛳️ Horschel
⛳️ Burns
⛳️ Gooch🏌️♂️ Morikawa
🏌️♂️ Simpson
🏌️♂️ Reed⛳️ Thomas
⛳️ Scheffler
⛳️ Kokrak🏌️♂️ Kisner
🏌️♂️ Rose
🏌️♂️ Zalatoris⛳️ Hoge
⛳️ Pereira
⛳️ Hovland🏌️♂️ Spieth
🏌️♂️ Homa
🏌️♂️ Berger pic.twitter.com/8yBm87keiM— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 24, 2022
This is definitely a place where course form holds up well and Justin Rose is second to only Spieth since 2016. He played great last week and can back up a win and third place here over the past few years with a good finish again. His iron play last week was a big improvement on what he has shown of late and that will be key around this course. 55/1 is a generous price if you like him to follow up last week’s form.
If there was ever a golf course built for Abraham Ancer it is maybe this one. He is as accurate as they come and sometimes is not quite long enough at the bigger courses out there, but that will not be a problem around here. He is a classy player and his ninth place finish last week perhaps did not reflect just how well he played. His record around here is decent, if not great, but he is a better player now than he has ever been and he can take a big step up from his two 14th place finishes here the past two years.
It is hard to look at this style of course where ball striking is key and not at least take a look at Colin Morikawa. His form is not at its very peak right now and that is the worry. But he has a good record around here and it may be the place where he rediscovers some of his best golf. 18/1 is on the short side after some of his recent results, but it would be no shock to see the talented American picking up the title on Sunday.
⛳️ Charles Schwab Challenge picks
Outright
Sam Burns 35-1
Abraham Ancer 41-1
Daniel Berger 42-1
Harold Varner 55-1
Kevin Na 55-1
Sebastian Munoz 64-1
Stewart Cink 120-1Spieth 17th or better -110
In attendance this weekend. Time to bust the slump pic.twitter.com/BRE6xLxq7K
— Cam LaFontaine (@LaFontaineCam) May 25, 2022
Everyone is always on the lookout for some long shots and Ryan Palmer could be the man this week. He has some great results here in the past, mixed in with some missed cuts. But a fifth placed finish two weeks ago gives some confidence he is playing some good golf right now and he could well defy the big price of 80/1 for a good finish. He may be one to look at in place markets such as top 10 and 20s, but a small punt on him for this week could pay off big.
This is a great event that maybe suffers a little for being the week after a major in terms of the field. But we still have a great line up here, even if the depth is perhaps lacking. Spieth looks the man to beat based on recent form and his past here but there are so many players heading into this week with a great chance of picking up the title.
