RADIO
Patrick Gates shares his betting card for the 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge and breaks down each of his selections for this week's event.
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The PGA TOUR travels to Fort Worth, Texas, this week for the Charles Schwab Challenge. The tournament features a 132-player field, with seven players ranked inside the top 20 of the Official World Golf Ranking competing this week.
In an article released on Tuesday, I broke down everything you need to know about the Charles Schwab Challenge, from course details to key stats and historical trends. If you have not checked that out yet, I highly recommend giving it a read. As always, if you have questions about any players or the event itself, feel free to reach out to me on social media or in Discord.
With that said, let’s dive into the 21st event of the season as I break down my betting card for the 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge!
Outrights
Rickie Fowler (+2700) - FanDuel
Rickie Fowler has put together a strong season so far with seven top-20 finishes in his first 11 starts. He enters the Charles Schwab Challenge in excellent recent form, recording three top-10 finishes in his last four tournaments, highlighted by a runner-up finish at the Truist Championship, where he closed with a Sunday 65.
He did struggle in his most recent start at the PGA Championship, finishing T60, but the poor result was almost entirely tied to the putter as he ranked 73rd in SG: Putting. The encouraging part is that the rest of his game remained very solid.
Overall, Fowler’s game has been trending in the right direction for several weeks. His iron play has remained consistent, while his short game has also improved significantly, gaining strokes around the green in four of his last six starts. His putting has been one of the biggest strengths of his season, as he has only lost strokes on the greens three times all year.
More importantly, Fowler has responded well after poor putting performances. Following the previous two events where he lost strokes putting, he bounced back with positive putting weeks in his next start. If that trend continues after his struggles at Aronimink, this sets up as a strong bounce-back spot.
Fowler also brings extensive experience at Colonial Country Club. He has played this event 12 times and recorded five top-20 finishes, including two top 10s. In his last three appearances at Colonial, he has finished T6-T37-T16.
In previous trips to Colonial, the short game occasionally held him back, but that area of his game is in much better form entering this year’s event. He also putted extremely well here last season, ranking 4th in the field in SG: Putting, another encouraging sign for a course where avoiding mistakes and capitalizing on scoring chances is critical.
J.J. Spaun (+3300) - FanDuel
J.J. Spaun got off to a slow start in the 2026 season following a breakout campaign in 2025, but his form has turned around significantly since April. During that stretch, he captured a victory at the Valero Texas Open and finished inside the top 25 in three of his last four starts.
His overall game has been solid across the board, but his results have largely depended on his performance with the putter. His two best finishes this season, the win at the Valero Texas Open and a T5 at the Truist Championship, both came in weeks where he gained significant strokes on the greens. In fact, those events were two of just three tournaments this season where he gained strokes putting.
Spaun returns to Colonial Country Club with a mixed course history overall. In his first five appearances here, he failed to finish better than T63. However, he showed clear improvement last season with a T6 finish, which is especially encouraging considering he also gained strokes putting that week.
With a win already in Texas this season, improving recent results, and signs that the putter can heat up on these greens, Spaun profiles as an intriguing outright option this week.
