Following the PGA Championship, the PGA Tour returns to action with the Charles Schwab Challenge. The non-signature event at Colonial is the longest-running PGA Tour venue aside from majors. Two of Texas’s homegrown stars, Jordan Spieth and Scottie Scheffler, return to the field. 

Defending champion Emiliano Grillo returns to the venue of his second PGA Tour victory. Xander Schauffele has skipped the event, but not his final round partner, Collin Morikawa. Before the $9.1 million purse event kicks off this week, here are our picks from the ten top 30 players teeing up on Thursday.

Tony Finau 

Tony Finau will look to capitalize on his biggest strength at the PGA Championship—his iron game—at Colonial. The T18 at Valhalla was his seventh top-25 this season. Finau was the best approach player at Valhalla, gaining 2.3 strokes compared to the field. The six-time PGA Tour winner has had two top-5s here on previous occasions, including a runner-up in 2022. 

Jordan Spieth

Spieth was 8-under par until Saturday at Valhalla. Another under-par round could’ve moved him to the top 20 or even the even the top 15. Instead, the former Masters champion carded a 2-over 73 to finish at T43. Given the harrowing season he has had so far, Colonial is the perfect place to reset the clock. Jordan Spieth has eight top-10s from his 11 appearances, including three runner-ups. Spieth last won the Colonial event in 2015-16. 

Max Homa

Despite the T35 at the PGA Championship, Max Homa is trending in the right direction. Homa has netted three top-10s since missing the cut at the WM Phoenix Open. Last year, the 33-year-old was T9 at ‘Hogan’s Alley’. 

Collin Morikawa

Morikawa’s steady resurgence started last month at the Masters. Piling on top of a T3 at the Masters, the 27-year-old piles a solo ninth on top of a T3 at the Masters. A T23 at the Zurich Classic and a T16 at Wells Fargo were the right tune-up to his onslaught at Valhalla. Since ANGC, the six-time PGA Tour winner has gained almost three strokes per round compared to the field. 

Scottie Scheffler

Scheffler didn’t show any signs of the rust that sometimes accompanies a month-long break. Or the lack of sleep that mostly comes with a three-week-old baby at home. Instead, the world no. 1 was under par through three rounds at the PGA Championship, with Saturday being the obvious outlier. 

That 2-over 73, his first over-par round since the 2023 Tour Championship, was the result of a lot of factors, including a 2nd-degree assault charge labeled against him. Last year, the 27-year-old was T3 here; before that, he was solo second. 

Besides the top five, keep an eye on Harris English and Akshay Bhatia. English has putted the lights out at Valhalla, gaining 1.90 strokes compared to the rest of the field, the fourth best of the PGA Championship. Bhatia’s Irons have been hot all season, and they were red-hot when he won the Valero Texas Open. He missed the cut last week, but that was mostly his putting to blame. If Bhatia putts well at Colonial, expect him to be back in the top 10 on the field. Robert MacIntyre will also be in the field, hoping to keep his momentum going. In his last four starts, the Scottish pro has three to-15s.

Interestingly, all of them will tee off in a new-look Colonial. The renovation started after last year’s event, and this week the par-70 layout seeks to offer a new experience to seasoned pros. The back nine was entirely renovated. By June last year, it was stripped of all the grass. The course was covered in barren mounds of dirt. Almost all the holes at the Charles Schwab Challenge have new yardage. At 7,289 yards, the course is now the longest. The fairway bunker placement was changed keeping in mind the increasing clubhead speed and ball flight.

The Charles Schwab Challenge has never crowned a first-time winner since Sergio Garcia in 2001. Another first-time winner, Phil Mickelson, too, now plays for LIV Golf. Similar to the RBC Heritage, the Charles Schwab Challenge winner also gets a Scottish tartan jacket. There will be a regular 36-hole cut, with top-60 and ties advancing to the weekend. $1.6 million is reserved for the winner from the $9.1 million purse.