2025 Charles Schwab Challenge: Preview, Prop Picks, Best Bets

The PGA Tour makes its fourth and final stop in Texas this year for the Charles Schwab Challenge, which tees off Thursday at iconic Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth.
While world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler highlights the field, it’s otherwise lacking a strong contingent of marquee players as it follows a major and precedes the Memorial. What it does provide is strong value plays, especially looking at players who have quietly enjoyed excellent starts to 2025.
Our golf experts preview the event and provide their favorite prop picks along with best bets to win.
CHARLES SCHWAB CHALLENGE
Location: Fort Worth, Texas, May 22-25
Course: Colonial Country Club (Par 70, 7,289 Yards)
Purse: $9.5M (Winner: $1.71M)
Defending Champion: Davis Riley
FedEx Cup leader: Scheffler
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday: 4-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday: 1-3 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS)
Streaming (ESPN+): Thursday-Friday: 8:15 a.m.-7 p.m. ET; Saturday-Sunday: 8 a.m.-6 p.m.
X: @CSChallengeFW
PROP PICKS
–Jesper Svensson to Make Cut (-150 at DraftKings): The young Swede has been impressive thus far in 2025, reaching the weekend in eight of his past nine starts. The lone exception was in Texas at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson earlier this month, but Svensson has otherwise been very consistent, including a T27 at the Texas Children’s Open.
–J.T. Poston Top 30 Finish (+105 at BetRivers): Poston was in contention at the PGA Championship, where he posted an excellent T5 finish. That came on the heels of a T23 and T11 in two signature events, so Poston has been playing highly competitive golf against far deeper fields than this week’s.
–Ryo Hisatsune Top Japanese Finisher (+250): Hisatsune has a ton of game, which he put on display through three rounds at Quail Hollow before stumbling home with a 74 on Sunday for a T37 finish. He did post a pair of top-fives earlier this spring, including at the Valero Texas Open, and enters in better form than the countryman he idolizes. Hideki Matsuyama (-140) missed the cut last week for the third time in his past five starts. Takumi Kanaya (+350) is the other player in this prop group. He did finish T5 at the CJ Cup, but has otherwise missed five of his past seven cuts.
2025 Prop Pick Record: 17-19-1
BEST BETS
–Scottie Scheffler (+240 at DraftKings) has won his past two starts. The enormous pre-tournament favorite has not won at Colonial but has finished runner-up two of the past three years. Despite his short odds, Scheffler leads the field with 31 percent of the bets and 40 percent of the money wagered on this week’s winner.
–Jordan Spieth (+2200) missed the cut last week but did win at Colonial in 2016.
–Daniel Berger (+2200) has consistently put himself in contention this year, including a T3 at the RBC Heritage. He is second to Scheffler with 5 percent of the bets and 8 percent of the money backing him to win.
–Seventh-ranked Hideki Matsuyama (+2500) is the only other top-10 player in the field, but he has missed three of his past five cuts.
–Tommy Fleetwood (+2500) is still seeking his first stroke-play victory in the United States. He had a pair of top-10s before last week’s T41.
–Aaron Rai (+3000) is quietly stacking up strong results, including last week’s T19. Well, maybe not so quietly to the betting public. He’s third in the field with 7 percent of the money backing Rai to win.
–Harris English (+3500) quietly finished T2 last week with a 65 on Sunday for his best major finish, and is No. 10 in the FedEx Cup standings.
–Si Woo Kim (+4000) couldn’t keep pace with Scheffler on Sunday, but he did post a T8 last week and now lives outside of Dallas. He’s fourth in the field with 5 percent of the money backing a Kim victory.
–Davis Riley (+5000) is attempting to join Ben Hogan as the event’s only back-to-back champions. He also would have claimed solo second last week if not for a triple-bogey on the seventh hole Sunday.
–Ben Griffin (+6000) posted a T8 at Quail Hollow on the heels of winning the Zurich Classic with Andrew Novak.
NOTES
–This is the 79th tournament at Colonial since 1946, making it the longest-running host venue on tour among non-majors. Hole Nos. 3-5 at Colonial were dubbed the “Horrible Horseshoe” by late golf writer Dan Jenkins.
–Along with the event’s famous Tartan Jacket, this week’s winner will take home a 1992 Schwab Defender as the sponsor’s “prize car” award.
–The field includes 20 of the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking, and nine players who finished in the top 10 last week.
–The top 5 players in the AON Swing 5 after this event who are otherwise not qualified will earn a spot into the Memorial next week. The top 5 are currently Ryan Fox, Harry Higgs, Mackenzie Hughes and Kevin Yu, with Niklas Norgaard and Alex Smalley tied for fifth. Only Fox and Norgaard are not in this week’s field.
–Blades Brown, who turned 18 on Wednesday, is in the field along with Neal Shipley as the two Champions’ Choice selections.
–Former North Carolina star David Ford will make his professional debut. Other sponsors exemptions include PGA professional Michael Block and former major champion Webb Simpson.
–2025 Ben Hogan Award winner Luke Clanton (Florida State) has accepted the first invitation into next year’s field.
–Zach Johnson set the tournament scoring record of 259 in 2010.