Betting the Charles Schwab Challenge: Best bets, tips and more - ESPN

Colonial Country Club has chewed up plenty of players over the years. The fairways are narrow, the rough can get sticky and even when players club down off the tee, driving accuracy still hovers at about 60%. It's an iron play tournament, plain and simple.

Most of the important approach shots are from under 200 yards and the guys who dial in their distances will hang around the leaderboard. The restoration is now in year three so the greens and surrounding areas could finally play the way they were intended to, making putting important this week.

Distance doesn't really move the needle, so I'm backing players with smart course management more than power.

Here are some players I like to contend this week for the Charles Schwab Challenge.

Odds by DraftKings Sportsbook (with ties) and subject to change.

Ludvig Åberg Top 10 (+120)

He's the best player in the field and the best fit on the board this week. Colonial rewards iron play above everything else and Aberg is first in the field on approach and tee to green. He's been posting top 5s at elite venues all season — Players, RBC, Truist and a T4 in the PGA Championship most recently. That's a player operating at a different level right now close to a win if he can close out the fourth round (36th in fourth round scoring). His shapes the ball well, controls his distances and plays measured. That type of technical iron play thrives in this environment.

Rickie Fowler Top 20 (+110)

He's been here before and that's the point. I once took Fowler for basically the same profile he has now: performed poorly at a major soon before, bad putting week, strong everything else, and then a bounce back at Colonial. He finished top 20 that year and the setup is nearly identical now. He was