Welcome to our weekly PGA Tour gambling tips column, featuring picks from GOLF.com expert prognosticator Brady Kannon. A seasoned golf bettor and commentator, Kannon is a host and regular guest on SportsGrid, a syndicated audio network dedicated to sports and sports betting, and is a golf betting analyst for CBS Sportsline. You can follow Brady on X at @LasVegasGolferand you can read his picks below for the 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge, which begins Thursday in Texas.
Two longtime friends and legendary players from the state of Texas take us from Byron Nelson’s annual Hogan’s Alley event to Colonial Country Clubhome of Ben Hogan’s five career wins and what will be the 80th edition of the Charles Schwab Challenge this week on the PGA Tour – the longest on tour at the same golf course.
The Colonial Country Club was designed by John Bredemus and Perry Maxwell and received a Gil Hanse/Jim Wagner renovation shortly after this tournament took place in 2023. This historic golf course is now approximately 7,300 yards and plays par 70. The fairways are narrow and tree-lined, bordered by somewhat penalizing Bermudagrass. The greens are small targets and are fast surfaces, Bentgrass. The test requires accurate placement off the tee, hitting the greens in regulation, and a hot shot.
I looked at Driving Accuracy this week, Strokes Gained: Approach, Greens in Regulation and Strokes Gained: Putting (Bentgrass). With 12 of the holes being par 4s, I looked at those that measure between 350-450 yards and considered the closeness of the holes from 125-175 yards.
Colonial is one of those classic, positional, precision-based golf courses that doesn’t necessarily lend itself to hitters and rewards a player who can play the wedge, putt the hole, and avoid bogeys. We definitely see some similar tests on the Tour and crossover success on those leaderboards as well.
I always like to start with Valley Country Clubhome of the Sony Open. Chris Kirk and Kevin Na immediately come to mind as two players who have dominated at both Waialae and Colonial. Na, David Toms and Zach Johnson have won at both tracks. Matt Kuchar, Kirk, Jason Kokrak and Daniel Berger are examples of players who have had tremendous success at every course. Sea Island (RSM Classic), Innisbrook (Valspar Championship), TPC South Wind (FedEx St. Jude Championship), and Pebble beach it’s the other courses I’ve used that show a great correlation.
I believe it’s also worth noting as we get closer and closer to this year’s US Open Championship that many of the winners here at Colonial are also US Open champions. It starts with Ben Hogan who won several times in each. More recently, Tom Watson, Corey Pavin, Jordan Spieth and Justin Rose are examples of players who have won both championships. Keep an eye on the leaderboard this week as it may provide clues as to who may be ready to show up in a few weeks at Shinnecock Hills. I can tell you that I’ve already placed a long shot to win next month’s US Open, which has PGA Tour wins at Pebble Beach, TPC Southwind and Colonial. We’ll have our early US Open betting article right here next week.
We went the long shot route last week at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson and were able to get two top 20 finishers in Stephan Jaeger and Taylor Moore. Since this week’s field is also missing a plethora of big stars, I’ll once again take the long shot approach.
Ryan Gerard (70-1)
Gerard is one of the top ball hitters on Tour and that includes being very accurate off the tee. He has fallen off a bit since the start of the season with two runner-up finishes, but the first of those two runner-up finishes was at Waialae for the Sony Open. He’s made the cut now in six straight starts, is a very good putter and is outstanding near holes from 125-175 yards.
Mac Meissner (70-1)
I nearly made Meissner a game last week at TPC Craig Ranch and he really had a strong week, finishing tied for 31st and shooting three of four rounds in the 60s. He attended SMU nearby so I have to believe he is familiar with this golf course and certainly golf in the state of Texas. He finished fifth here at Colonial in 2024. Meissner is a great putter, excellent approach, ranks 25th on Tour in Scrambling and is 37th in Greens in Regulation. He ranks 13th on Tour in Bogey Avoidance.
JT Poston (70-1)
Similar to last week, I want to lean on good players again here in Fort Worth. Poston’s shortstop numbers are surprisingly off this season for a player who has always used such skill sets as his strength. He has top 10 and 20 finishes at each of the interlocking courses this week, including recent finishes of 10th and 12th here at Colonial. Poston also lives on the island of St. Simon, Georgia and practice at Sea Island Golf Club, where they play the RSM Classic. Despite his short game numbers being lacking this year, I can’t ignore that he has always been a great profile for this type of golf course.
Eric Cole at the 2024 WM Phoenix Open.
Getty Images
Eric Cole (90-1)
Cole is another exceptional short game box checker who excels in the approach game. He ranks 47th on Tour for SG: Approach, 16th for SG: Putting and is 34th in Scrambling. Like Meissner, Cole also finished 31st last week and posted three of four rounds in the 60s. Before that, he had two consecutive sixth-place finishes and one 14th. Cole has finished fifth and 13th at the Sony Open, third at Sea Island, 12th at Valspar and was 22nd, 14th and 15th at Pebble Beach.
Taylor Moore (115-1)
If you were playing with our Moore selection last week for the First Round Leaders, you got a nice winner after he shot a 62 at TPC Craig Ranch last Thursday. He ended up finishing 14th for the tournament and ranked 10th in that field for SG: Putting. He is now on the right track with finishes in his last three starts of 20-17-and-14. He won the Valspar in 2023, the same year he finished fifth at TPC Southwind. Moore has also been eighth in the RSM Classic.
Lee Hodges (150-1)
The cross-course scores for Hodges are the strongest of all our selections this week. He has never missed a cut here at Colonial with as many as 12th place finishes on his resume. He has been sixth and 10th at Sony, fourth and fifth at Sea Island, 18th at Valspar and 13th at FedEx St. Jew. He’s the only one of our picks this week who doesn’t have the history or numbers of a great putter – but he ranks 57th on Tour for SG: Approach, 16th in Driving Accuracy and is especially good at Proximity holes from 125-200 yards.
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