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Zach's DraftKings PGA DFS lineup picks for Charles Schwab Challenge (2026). His PGA DFS targets and value plays for daily fantasy golf lineups.
Welcome, everyone, to my DraftKings PGA DFS lineup picks and advice for the 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge. I'll be providing DFS picks and analysis to help you set those winning DraftKings lineups.
After last week's fun finish at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson, the PGA TOUR stays in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and heads back to Colonial Country Club for the 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge. This tournament is the oldest non-major that has been played on the same course throughout history. Colonial was overhauled a few years ago to bring it up to modern standards and remains a test of accuracy, ball-striking, and strategy. While it's not an especially difficult course, we probably won't see scores as low as last week's at TPC Craig Ranch. For this week, the focus will be on accuracy, as players will need to be precise to navigate the tree-lined fairways and smaller greens of Colonial. The weather will ultimately determine how hard or easy the course plays relative to par, but it should be a fun week of competition, wherever the scores end up coming in. For DFS lineups, the focus will be on course history, current form, and accuracy statistics this week, along with putters who do well on Bentgrass greens.
The RotoBaller team has you covered with details on the course, the field, the history of the event, and much more throughout the week, so be sure to check out all the coverage available at the PGA hub on RotoBaller. In this post, I'll break down six of my top DFS fantasy golf plays coming into the week.
Big Dogs: Top-Tier PGA DFS Lineup Picks
Ludvig Aberg ($10.5K)
Without Scottie Scheffler or Rory McIlroy in the field this week, Ludvig Aberg comes at the highest salary on the board. It isn't a significant amount higher than the rest of the field, though, so he's still worth considering using as an anchor for your lineup since he brings so much upside.
Aberg leads the field in Strokes Gained: Approach, Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green, and Total Strokes Gained over the last three months. He also ranks fourth in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and seventh in Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green.
The only real strike against him is that he has not competed at this course in his career, but he did play his college golf at Texas Tech University, so he should be familiar with Texas courses in general.
He comes in riding an impressive hot streak with eight straight top-21 finishes, including his T5 with a near-miss at THE PLAYERS, a T4 at the RBC Heritage, and a T4 at the PGA Championship in his most recent start. He hasn't won yet this season, but Aberg's consistent production near the top of leaderboards and elite ball-striking make him a relatively safe and strong pay-up play to build around this week.
Starting Saturday strong 💪
Ludvig Aberg chips in for birdie to start his third round @TruistChamp.
📺 Golf Channel pic.twitter.com/2EnMkSqmCD
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 9, 2026
Alex Smalley ($9.1K)
Like Aberg, Smalley didn't play last week at TPC Craig Ranch, but he'll be back in action this week after his near-miss at the PGA Championship. Despite a disappointing round on Sunday that left him three strokes behind Aaron Rai, Smalley's T2 continued a strong run of production for the 29-year-old out of Duke.
Smalley ranks second to Aberg in Total Strokes Gained over the last 30 days and seventh in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. His flat stick has also gotten hot, and he is ranked in the top 10 in Strokes Gained: Putting over the last month as well.
He comes to Colonial riding a streak of 11 straight made cuts dating back to the WM Phoenix Open, and he has gained strokes on approach in 10 of those 11 events. His putting surge has resulted in six straight top-25 finishes, with positive Strokes Gained: Putting in each of those events.
He finished T2 at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans before his T2 at Aronimink, and last year Ben Griffin got a win at both TPC Louisiana and Colonial Country Club. There isn't an obvious correlation between the two venues, but Smalley will be looking to post strong results at both tracks. He is also looking for the first individual win of his career, as Griffin was last year.
Smalley hasn't had much success at Colonial, though, missing the cut in 2025 after withdrawing in 2024. He did finish T27 and T40 earlier in his career, though, and with his current form, his momentum should carry him to a much stronger result this season.
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It’s always fun to hit an outright, especially when it’s over 100/1 and with a player that has a story like Gary Woodland!
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Underdogs: Mid-Range PGA DFS Lineup Picks
Ryo Hisatsune ($8.5K)
After missing the cut at the season-opening Sony Open in Hawaii, Hisatsune has made 14 straight cuts. The 23-year-old from Japan is ranked No. 33 in the FedExCup points list for the season and has posted six top-25 and four top-10 finishes on the year.
Last week at TPC Craig Ranch, Hisatsune finished T19 and excelled in driving accuracy, hitting 13% more fairways above the field average. Over the last six months, he ranks in the top 25 in the field in Driving Accuracy, and in the top five in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green.
He has played well in Texas throughout his career, and this year he finished T8 at the Valero Texas Open before his T19 last week. At Colonial last year, Hisatsune finished T6, gaining strokes on approach and around the green to make up for a shaky week off the tee.
With his driver in better form and some good momentum, Hisatsune will be looking to get a breakthrough win this week and brings a lot of upside along with a solid floor after so many made cuts in a row.
"Sake bomb ... just kidding" 😈
PGA Championship co-leader Ryo Hisatsune has a very unique putting routine.
Cheers.pic.twitter.com/qWjcY0PzDV
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 14, 2026
Tony Finau ($7.7K)
Finau isn't a rising star like Hisatsune and Aberg, but the 36-year-old veteran has a strong history at Colonial and has seemed to find his game in the last few weeks. He had a quiet 2025 with just one top-10 finish, but he did make the FedExCup Playoffs for the 11th straight season.
In 2026, he has popped for a few big weeks but also missed the cut in four events. He had a T11 at Torrey Pines early in the year and a T18 at the Valspar Championship, but he posted his best finish of the year last week at TPC Craig Ranch, where he was under 70 in each of his four rounds and ended up in a strong T6, his first top 10 since The Genesis Inviataional in February of 2025.
Finau's game looked well-balanced last week as he ranked third in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, fifth in total birdies made, and in the top 20 in Strokes Gained: Approach and Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green.
He'll look to build on that momentum this week at Colonial, where he has made the cut in eight of his nine tournament appearances, with five top-25 finishes in his last six events. He finished runner-up in 2019 behind Kevin Na, added a T4 in 2022, and placed T17 in 2024, which was the last time he played this event.
While he's still an underdog at this salary since it has been a while since he won, Finau has the ability and momentum to be a great play at this salary this week, especially on a track where he has played so well.
Junkyard Dogs: Top PGA DFS Value Picks
Zachary Bauchou ($7.2K)
I had Bauchou in my value plays last week, and the PGA TOUR rookie delivered a T6 at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson for his best career finish. After a strong 2025 on the Korn Ferry Tour, Bauchou has been trending up through 2026 and will be looking to secure his PGA TOUR membership with a good summer and fall.
He has made the cut in 11 of his 13 events this season with six top-25 finishes. He began April with a T28 at the Valero Texas Open before adding a T13 at the Zurich Classic, a T24 at the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic, and last week's T6.
He'll be making his course debut at Colonial, as he was last week at Craig Ranch, but one positive sign for him is that he ranked T8 last week in driving accuracy and was in the top 30 in strokes gained in all the major Tee-to-Green categories. He ranks fifth in the field in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green over the last 30 days and sixth in Total Strokes Gained in that small window.
The former Oklahoma State star who helped his squad win the 2018 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship team while playing alongside Viktor Hovland hasn't had the straightest path to success, but he is surging right now and coming to a course that should fit his skill set very well.
🚨 ACE IN NEW ORLEANS 🚨
Zach Bauchou with a hole-in-one from 198 yards on No. 3 @Zurich_Classic to take the lead at 17-under.
📺 PGA TOUR LIVE on ESPN+
(Presented by @TruGreen) pic.twitter.com/RYhY2lg8U6
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 25, 2026
Austin Smotherman ($6.9K)
Smotherman is a boom-or-bust DFS fantasy golf play, but from the bargain salary, he can be a huge difference maker if he has a strong week. He has made the cut in all three of his previous appearances at Colonial, with a T21 in 2023 as his best showing.
Smotherman played his college golf in Texas, and in 2023, he started red-hot at Colonial with six birdies on his first nine. He trailed off later in the round and the week for a T21.
Since Driving Accuracy is one of his strong points, it makes sense that he has had success here in the past. Over the last three months, he ranks fourth in the field in Driving Accuracy and ninth in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee. He also ranks 15th in Strokes Gained: Approach over that span, but he has had inconsistent results, mostly due to his streaky putting.
He has a pair of top-10 finishes with a T8 at The American Express and a T2 at the Cognizant Classic. He added two more top-20 finishes with a T13 at THE PLAYERS and a T19 at the Truist Championship three weeks ago.
For more value plays, be sure to check out my Value Plays post coming on Tuesday on the premium dashboard.
More PGA Analysis and Picks
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