2025 Charles Schwab Challenge betting tips: Our expert’s top picks at Colonial
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Tom Jacobs picks out his top Charles Schwab Challenge betting tips ahead of the PGA Tour event.
With the destiny of the 107th PGA Championship decided, the 2025 PGA Tour season rolls back into Texas for the 78th Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club.
The tournament is one of five on the PGA Tour, along with the Genesis Open, Arnold Palmer Invitational, RBC Heritage, and the Memorial, which are given invitational status, meaning the field is slightly smaller than other tour events, featuring 134 entrants.
Last year, American Davis Riley romped to a five-shot victory over Scottie Scheffler and Keegan Bradley for his first individual PGA Tour title.
Before diving into my Charles Schwab Challenge betting tips for the week, here’s everything else you need to know…
Charles Schwab Challenge key details
Venue: Colonial Country Club, located in Fort Worth, Texas (Par 70 – 7,209 yards)
Format: 72-hole strokeplay with 36-hole cut
Purse: $9.5m with the winner receiving an estimated $1.7m
Field: 134 – Full lineup can be found here
FedEx Cup points: 500
Favorite: Scottie Scheffler 5/2
Defending champion: Davis Riley (USA), -17
Most wins: Ben Hogan (USA), 5
How to watch the Charles Schwab Challenge
US viewers can catch all the action on the Golf Channel.
All times EDT
Thursday, May 22: The Golf Channel, 16.00
Friday, May 23: The Golf Channel, 16.00
Saturday, May 24: The Golf Channel, 13.00
Sunday, May 25: The Golf Channel, 13.00
UK viewers can catch all the action on Sky Sports Golf.
All times BST
Thursday, May 22: Sky Sports Golf, 21.00
Friday, May 23: Sky Sports Golf, 21.00
Saturday, May 24: Sky Sports Golf, 18.00
Sunday, May 25: Sky Sports Golf, 18.00
Charles Schwab Challenge tee times
Tee times and groupings can be found here.
Charles Schwab Challenge betting tips
It’s always a puzzle picking golf winners, but the difficulty certainly rises when you factor in how different individuals behave after playing or contending in a major. Some will simply withdraw, others are still determined to win. Aside from Scottie Scheffler who had to grind for the first 9 holes yesterday before eventually cruising to victory, there weren’t too many players involved in the real heat of the battle, aside from Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau who will be playing on LIV, and Alex Noren who’s not teeing it up this week, so it’s quite nice not to have to make too many considerations in that respect ahead of this week’s Charles Schwab Challenge.
Then, we simply have to decide if Scottie Scheffler can be beaten. I will normally be positive about taking on a favourite who has just won or contended in a major, but Scheffler seems to be built different, having won the RBC Heritage a week after winning the Masters last year and finishing T2 here 12 months ago after a taxing week at the PGA Championship, including his arrest…
With that said, I am still going to take him on, despite him very quickly reaffirming he’s the best in the world, after Rory McIlroy’s run earlier this season, that led to him winning three times including The Masters. Just to be clear though, Scheffler loves this golf course, having finished 2nd, 3rd, and 2nd the last three years, but hopefully the trend of him being beat in a home event continues here in Texas.
Here are my four I think can pip Scheffler to the Charles Schwab Challenge title:
The Banker: Harris English 40/1 e/w (Paddy Power 6 Places)
I should have stuck with Harris English last week, after betting at 100/1 at the Truist Championship, but he performed well at both events, just missing the places when we bet him.
Sure, it might be a case of missing the boat, after he finished 2nd last week at triple-digit odds, but to me it still seems like English is trending toward a second victory this season, and this looks like a good course for him to do it on.
English finished 5th on debut at Colonial way back in 2012 and four years later he finished 2nd to Jordan Spieth. Spieth won by three strokes in the end, but English pushed hard with rounds of 64 and 66 on the final two days to make it interesting. A couple of top 30s followed in the next two years and then he took a break from the event, playing once in the next four years, missing the cut on that occasion. Two years ago though he returned, playing well again, finishing 12th but promising better having been inside the top 3 for the first three rounds before falling away on Sunday. Twice then he’s gone into Sunday with a chance to win, first when sitting two back of Spieth in 2016, and then again two years ago, when one back of the 54-hole lead.
In my mind, it’s only Scheffler in this field that’s playing better than English right now, after he finished 11th at the Truist, 2nd last week at the PGA, and inside the top 30 in four of his six starts before his run over the past fortnight. Further digging shows that his form is perhaps better in that six-event span than the final numbers show as well, as he was 11th at halfway at The Players where he finished 30th, he shot 64-66-68 in Houston to overcome a terrible opening round to finish 18th there, and his 12th at The Masters was a career-best, having never cracked the top 20 before that week.
English also posted season-best numbers in both SG Approach and SG Tee to Green (2nd in the field in both) and given both of these were close to career-best attempts as well, we are surely looking at a player ready to contend again.
There’s a slight pause for concern that he only finished 66th at the Heritage a week after The Masters, but I take a lot of encouragement from the fact he won the 2021 Travelers Championship a week after he finished 3rd at the U.S. Open, where he was also wasn’t expected to win.
Harris English was 5 strokes back of the 54-hole lead at the U.S. Open and was not among the leading candidates to win, and the same was true last week, when he trailed Scheffler by 11 strokes, going into Sunday. So the fact he closed the gap both times on an elite player should just be a sign he’s playing well, and will give him the confidence he needs to go on and win again.
I also like the fact that his win at the Travelers in 2021 was his second of the season, and came a week after a career-best finish at a major. He can replicate that effort this week, having already won at Torrey Pines this season, and having bettered the 3rd at the 2021 U.S. Open with a 2nd at the PGA Championship yesterday.
He’s also doubled up every time he’s won, having won twice in 2013, twice in 2021, and now seemingly set on winning twice in 2025.
It’s too good to be true, right? Wrong. He’s 40/1 and it he’s going to win again. He’s also 33/1 8 places on Paddy Power, if you want a bit of additional security.
The Outsider: Ryan Gerard 80/1 e/w (Sky Bet 6 Places)
Ryan Gerard is playing great golf right now, with his 8th place finish last week, his third solo top 10, and fourth top 12 finish in his last seven starts, if you include his Zurich Classic result as well.
One thing to note is that his 2nd came at the Valero Texas Open and the 9th came at the Houston Open. We return to Texas again this week at Colonial, and while he’s never played this event, he’s clearly enjoying his golf in the Lone Star State this season.
Gerard ranked 7th in SG Approach last week, the third time in his last seven starts he’s ranked inside the top 11 in that category. He also ranked 4th in SG Tee to Green, the second time he’s ranked inside the top 7 in that category in the same timeframe.
At this stage, Gerard looks a prime candidate to be the next breakout star at just 25 years of age, as he looks to build on his first Korn Ferry Tour win in 2024, with a win at the next level.
His form isn’t a huge shock, after all, he showed huge potential when finishing 4th in his first regular PGA Tour start as a Monday Qualifier at the Honda Classic in 2023, and he later finished 5th in that same season at the Barracuda.
Another eye-catching result in that first season on Tour back in 2023, was his T26 finish at the John Deere Classic, where he played for the final 54 holes, after a slow start. David Toms, Kenny Perry, Steve Stricker, Zach Johnson, and Jordan Spieth have all won both John Deere Classic and here at Colonial, and that’s another string to Gerard’s bow this week.
The Longshot: Michael Thorbjornsen 125/1 e/w (Sky Bet 6 Places)
Michael Thorbjornsen was is a former World No.2 amateur who has already flashed signs of brilliance on the PGA Tour, including when 2nd at the correlating John Deere Classic – which I love.
2nd at the Corales back in March, 4th at the Travelers Championship back in 2022 and T8 at both the RSM Classic and the Sanderson Farms Championship in 2024, Thorbjornsen has already showed he can contend at this level, and I suspect he can add to that here.
Thorbjornsen backed up his 2nd at the Corales by finishing 4th alongside Karl Vilips at the Zurich Classic, and he’s been slightly better than results suggest since as well. He finished 33rd at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, but was 4th after round 1 and shot a Saturday 66 to climb the leaderboard again after a tough Friday. He then finished down the field at the Truist Championship, but then last week, played solidly enough in the PGA Championship, where he finished 41st, but was 9th after round 1 and 7th going into the weekend.
I think we should take a shot on a potential superstar in Thorbjornsen, on a course that should suit, while he is still triple-digits.
Bonus Pick: J.T. Poston 40/1 e/w (Paddy Power 6 Places)
After finishing 5th at the PGA Championship last week, J.T. Poston’s made-cut streak now sits at 13 events, and after what was a career-best major performance by far, we should expect him to come into this week with a ton of confidence.
Sure, he will be disappointed he didn’t make more of a run at Scheffler last week in the end, but he played extremely well, overcoming a lack of distance by ranking 6th in SG Approach and 14th in SG Putting.
We know Poston can win tournaments, he’s done so three times in his career, and as recently as last October at the Shriners. One of those wins came at the John Deere Classic, and were he to win this week, he would join that list of five golfers who have won both events.
He’s a proven winner, who has now shown he can mix it with the very best in the world for four rounds, which should surely do wonders for him.
At 40/1 I think it’s well worthwhile backing Poston who has three top-20s to his name at this golf course. Twice he’s been within six shots of the Sunday lead here, and while his top 10 here in 2020 was a standout result, he had a better chance to win, when 4th and 4 back going into Sunday back in 2018 – he finished 20th.
Poston now needs to turn incredible consistency into a win, so that he doesn’t waste a really solid run – and I am sure he’s capable of doing so here.
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2025 Charles Schwab Challenge betting tips from Today's Golfer.
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Davis Riley won the 2024 Charles Schwab Challenge
