The PGA TOUR’s 2026 spring season is in full swing, with the Charles Schwab Challenge taking place this week at one of the oldest venues on the PGA TOUR in Colonial. DraftKings users can play in DraftKings PGA Pick6 contests for all four rounds. If you’re new, Pick6 is a single-user daily fantasy game where you select players to go over or under the totals.
This week, the PGA heads to Fort Worth, Texas, for the Charles Schwab Challenge, where players will compete in a 120+ man event with a Friday cutline where the top-65 players and ties will make the weekend. Each player will take on the Par 70 venue in Colonial, which plays over 7,200 yards and has been a tougher challenge since it underwent renovation a couple of years ago.
I reviewed additional statistics and course dynamics in the Charles Schwab Challenge PGA Cheat Sheet and included some notes on the course below for Pick6 research.
“Colonial Country Club plays as a traditional par 70 that lands just under 7,300 yards in length. The course features tight fairways with several old trees that are very much in play and often block approaches on off-center tee shots. That, along with a couple of severe doglegs and smaller greens, means there is a big premium on accuracy. Driving accuracy numbers at Colonial are usually quite below PGA TOUR averages, and players will often club down quite a bit off the tee simply due to the setup.
To make things even tougher, there’s a plethora of bunkers throughout the course. Play from the sand is something to keep note of this week — there are some great bunker players in the list of past winners (Kevin Na, Kevin Kisner and Jordan Spieth, to name a few). The bentgrass greens are also smaller than average, and water is surprisingly in play on this parkland course on six holes to keep things interesting. As a result, a pure-power game often doesn’t play that well here. Accuracy with mid-irons and strong bentgrass putting has been the key to success for many past winners.
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The venue underwent extensive 2024 renovations, led by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner, that began right after the 2023 event and aimed to restore the course to its original design. New bentgrass greens were installed, and some hole locations were moved, including the par 3 eighth and par 3 13th. These holes should now play tougher, as the water and penalty areas will present a bigger challenge than before. Barrancas (small gulleys with natural vegetation) were added around many holes to give the course a more natural flavor and feel.
The venue didn’t play that much differently in 2024 than it has in recent years, but tougher tee shots on multiple par 3s undoubtedly put a bigger emphasis on ball-striking, and only one player (winner Davis Riley) managed to end the week at double digits under par. Last season, the venue played equally tough, with Ben Griffin winning at just 12-under par.”
As of now, we have Round 1 totals up on the Pick6 site for play, so that’s where we’ll be focusing this week. Rain has softened up the course, so I expect it may play a little easier at the start of the week until the greens firm up. Despite the tougher layout, I like taking the less than on some markets, such as strokes and birdies or better for top players.
With that in mind, I’ve focused on a few of my favorite plays for Round 1 below.
Top DraftKings Pick6 Plays for the 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge
Keith Mitchell More Than 3.5 Birdies or Better
Mitchell almost always ranks among the top birdie makers on the PGA TOUR, and this year is no different. He comes into this week ranked 21st in birdie percentage on the PGA and is coming off a fantastic week at the Byron Nelson, where he landed a fifth-place finish and got to -22 for the week.
I’m not sure if the tight course suits Mitchell all that well, but I do think he can take advantage of the two par 5s and will use his typical aggressive iron play to find some birdies in Round 1. He may struggle on the weekend if the greens get fast, but I’d not hesitate to take a bullish play on him for Round 1.
Harry Hall Less Than 69.5 strokes
Hall has a great record at this event. He nearly won here in 2023, finishing T-3 after his tee shot on 18 found water. Then, he finished T-6 in 2025, another solid result and his second top-10 at Colonial in three years. The Englishman has struggled on longer courses this season, missing the cut at both majors, but these tight, technical courses are clearly his bag, as he also finished top-10 at the Sony Open on another classic Par 70 layout.
He’ll need a decent opening round, but with the disappointment of the PGA Championship in his mind, I expect he’ll come out ready. Either way, I want to back players with good course experience this week, and Hall certainly fits that bill to a tee. His hitting the Less Than on his stroke total is a favorite play of mine for Round 1.
Akshay Bhatia More Than 3.5 Birdies or Better
Bhatia’s birdie or better total simply looks too low for Round 1. He’s currently sitting fourth in the birdie or better and birdie percentage categories on the PGA TOUR for the season, and he played well here last year with weekend rounds of 66 and 67.
Even if his recent form has been a little off, I still expect the left-hander to deliver this week on a tighter course that has been more to his liking. He’s already won once this season, and with a weaker field, I expect you may even see him contend. For Round 1 with no payout limiter on this play, I like being bullish on the API winner and taking him to get us 4+ birdies or better on what will hopefully be a soft course on Thursday.
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