Davis Riley Wins At Colonial | 2024 Charles Schwab Challenge

The Sunday Swing 
May 26th, 2024 

Welcome back to another edition of the Sunday Swing presented by 2nd Swing Golf. This week in the professional golf world, the PGA Tour had the spotlight in Texas for the Charles Schwab challenge from Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth.

Charles Schwab Challenge - Tournament History 

Founded 78 years ago in 1946, the Charles Schwab has been played at Colonial for the entirety of its existence making it the oldest non-major event / host course on the PGA Tour schedule. Like other events on tour, the winner of the Charles Schwab gets a plaid jacket on top of a trophy and a hefty winners check. One of the legends of the game Ben Hogan has won this event more times than anyone with five career victories at Colonial including the first two editions. Many other legends won here as well including Billy Casper, Lee Trevino, Ben Crenshaw, Corey Pavin, and Nick Price. 

Designed by John Bredemus and Perry Maxwell, Colonial Country Club is a classic. The 7,209 yard par 70 features Bermuda grass fairways and bent grass greens and has hosted both men’s and women’s U.S. Opens as well as the Charles Schwab. Zach Johnson owns the tournament scoring record at 21-under par, but the winner is typically in the 10-15-under par neighborhood. While it’s not usually a birdie fest, the course does allow for good scoring if your ball striking is on. Long par-4’s require accurate tee shots paired with precise long irons if you want to have a chance at carding something in the mid 60’s. Not only does the course have difficult par-4’s, it only has two par-5s – the only two holes on the course where birdie feels like a must. While many of the games greats have hoisted the trophy at Colonial, the five most recent champions are as follows: 

2024 - Davis Riley (-14) 
2023 - Emiliano Grillo (-8)
2022 - Sam Burns (-9) 
2021 - Jason Kokrak (-14)
2020 - Daniel Berger (-15) 

The Big Swing

This week the big swing belongs to Davis Riley. Riley, who debuted on tour in 2022, only had one win to his name and it came at the Zurich Classic in 2023 when he and Nick Hardy paired up and each claimed their first tour titles. While it does count as a PGA Tour victory, getting his first title on his own had to feel extra special this week. 

Riley opened up the week Thursday with a 4-under round of 66 in which he only made one bogey. On Friday he went even lower, shooting a bogey-free 64 and jumping out to a large lead heading into the weekend. Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa, Sungjae Im, and Tony Finau were all lurking within striking distance, but they would need to have special weekends to have a chance at winning. 

Scheffler added a 63 on Saturday, moving him to within striking distance. In fact, he was the betting favorite with 54 holes completed, despite trailing Riley by a few shots. After all, Riley shot a 66 to get to 14-under-par for the championship. 

On Sunday, Colonial showed its teeth and nobody was really able to gather much momentum. Lots of the contenders dropped multiple shots in the final round. The best round of the day was Keegan Bradley’s three-under-par 67, that allowed him to vault up to a tie for second on the leaderboard.

Scheffler was among those who faded, as he carded a 1-over 71 and also finished in a tie for second. Riley played a relatively stress-free round, making four birdies and four bogeys on the round on his way to an even par 70. Given the conditions, he actually gained ground on the field, and since he already had a comfortable lead it felt like a pretty easy win. His victory is a testament to his quality play lately, and he will look to carry the momentum into the final signature events and majors of the season.

Winner’s Bag - Davis Riley 

Titleist staffer Davis Riley picked up PGA Tour victory No. 2 and the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth on Sunday afternoon. Riley’s bag features a full lineup of Titleist equipment (with one exception) starting with the Titleist TSR3 driver (9 degrees). Riley carries one fairway wood, and it’s the Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max – the only non Titleist club in his bag. His iron setup is fairly unique, and consists of a Titleist T200 3-iron, T100 4-6 irons, and 620 MB 7-9 irons. Riley is one of the few players on tour to carry four wedges, consisting of all Vokey Design SM10s (46, 50, 56, and 60 degrees).  On the greens, Riley rolls a Scotty Cameron Phantom X 7.2 Tour Prototype. 

Key Stats

Strokes gained: off the tee- 6th
Strokes gained: approach to green- 2nd 
Strokes gained: around the green- 39th
Strokes gained: putting- 4th
Strokes gained: total- 1st