The Charles Schwab Challenge tees off this week at Colonial Country Club. This is a look at the best first-round leader bets to make for the event on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Charles Schwab Challenge: First Round Leader Picks
The Charles Schwab Challenge is being played at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. The Charles Schwab Challenge is the first tournament after the second major of the year, the PGA Championship. Colonial Country Club is a Par-70 golf course and ranges 7,289 yards. The greens are bentgrass, and the difficulty of the course is largely dependent on how severe the wind is during the week. The tournament features a field of 135 golfers and a standard 36-hole cut. Scottie Scheffler is the favorite, following his major win at Quail Hollow. Outside Scheffler, there is a drop-off in quality to the rest of the field. However, the likes of Hideki Matsuyama, Tommy Fleetwood, Jordan Spieth and Maverick McNealy will look to take down Scheffler.
Jordan Spieth FRL (+3500)
Over four days, it will be hard for somebody in this field to beat Scottie Scheffler in his current form. However, one of the players who can shoot lower than Scheffler for one round is Jordan Spieth. Spieth has shown signs of getting back to his old form so far this season. He will also be in his home state of Texas, where he has played some of the best golf throughout his career. In 12 events played this season, Spieth has finished inside the top 15 in five of them. Spieth finished fourth at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson and T12 at the Valero Texas Open in his last two events in the state of Texas. At this specific event, Spieth has had a lot of success in the past. He won here in 2016, was the runner-up three separate times, and has a total of eight career top-ten finishes. On this course, Spieth is one of the players who has a chance of going toe-to-toe with Scottie Scheffler, so he is worth a bet at this price.
Rickie Fowler FRL (+8000)
The other player that I am targeting is one of Jordan Spieth’s best friends, Rickie Fowler. Fowler’s game has been incredibly inconsistent over the past couple of seasons; not just week to week, but round to round. Just two weeks ago, Fowler shot a fantastic opening round of 63 at the Truist Championship before slipping away and finishing T15. That has been a pattern for Fowler this season, who shot 68 in his opening round at THE PLAYERS before blowing up over the weekend. He also shot an opening round of 64 at the Cognizant Classic earlier this season before leveling out in that tournament and ultimately finishing T18. In four of his nine tournaments where he has made the cut this season, his best round has come on Thursday. Fowler has four career top-20 finishes in this tournament, including a sixth-place finish just two years ago. Fowler is impossible to trust to win a tournament, but he has shown this season that he can go as low as anybody when his game clicks. At this course where he has found success in the past, he could go low on Thursday before drifting away, like he has done multiple other times this year.
