Today’s opening round of the Charles Schwab Challenge marks the end of a 92-day wait for a ball to be hit in anger on the PGA Tour, and an elite field is primed to tackle the Colonial Golf & Country Club in Texas.
Only three players outside the top ten in the world ranking are absent – Adam Scott, Brit-based Englishman Tommy Fleetwood and Patrick Cantlay.
This equates to the event having the strongest field on the PGA Tour this season – stronger than both the WGCs in China and Mexico and stronger than The Players, which was cut short in March when restrictions were put in place to stem the Covid-19 outbreak.
“It will be nice to get back out and play,” said World No.1 Rory McIlroy, who is making his first career start at the event. “Obviously we’re going to have to take as many precautions as possible to be able to put Tour events on again, but I think the PGA Tour has got a very robust plan in place.”
The course is a par-70, measures just over 7,200 yards and is considered a classic test which rewards premium ball-strikers and short-game wizards.
Precise Iron Play
The recent past winners list is a testament to this, with renowned precise iron-players Adam Scott, Justin Rose and Boo Weekley triumphing and the likes of short-game specialists Jordan Spieth, Zach Johnson (twice), David Toms, Kevin Kisner and defending champion Kevin Na also prevailing.
Colonial G&CC features a stretch known as ‘The Horrible Horseshoe’, which comprises holes 3, 4 and 5 and is statistically always the toughest run of holes on the course.
The only two par-5s on the course are the opening hole (565 yards) and hole 11, which measures over 600 yards and will play as a three-shot hole for many in the field.
In addition to the annual stop on the PGA Tour, the course has hosted the US Open (1941) and the Women’s US Open (1991).
The PGA Tour have grouped their elite players together for the opening two rounds, with the top three ranked players in the world – Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka – in one of the featured groups.
Other groups to keep an eye out include Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth; Byrson DeChambeau, Justin Rose an Dustin Johnson and the major winning pair of Gary Woodland and Phil Mickelson alongside defending champion Na.
In total 16 of the top 20 in the world ranking are teeing it up in Texas.
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