After the first round of the 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge, the marathon day at Colonial Country Club ended with six names atop the leaderboard. More than two hours of weather delays brought the match to the brink of darkness, with Lee Hodges holding the sole lead, but a bogey at the end meant five other names came up.
The one-time PGA Tour winner’s long day of effort resulted in a 6-under 64, putting him level with the likes of JJ Spaun, Matt McCarty, Ryan Gerrard, Andrew Putnam and Tom Kim, who is starting to find his form. Just 23 years old, he earned his first top 10 of the season at the Myrtle Beach Classic earlier this month and continues to make steady progress toward becoming the player who won three races early in his career.
“I’ve got a new swing coach, I’m working on some things, and I’m just getting back to what I’ve been doing well,” Kim said. “That’s good. I’ve been working hard on the fundamentals. That’s kind of what I’ve been working on.
“I can’t really change things that much, but it’s nice to be able to make small adjustments to things that I feel like…just a combination of things that I wanted to get better at and little things. My golf swing hasn’t really changed, but I’ve changed a lot of things and started hitting it better. I’d say my confidence has increased a lot, too, which is great.”
Rain earlier in the week left players listening to the historically difficult Colonial, but after 18 holes of play it was clear that more than half the field was within five strokes of Hodges’ total. The average score in the first round was a close one, below 69.00 points, with U.S. Open champion Spahn and Gary Woodland doing the damage.
Spawn’s 64 points edged Woodland’s record by one stroke, and the two Americans joined Swedish superstar Ludwig Oberg in scoring a respectable 66 points. At 4 under par, Oberg leads a pack of players that includes veteran winners such as Max Homa, Russell Henry, Nico Echavarria and Hideki Matsuyama.
Two-time major champion Justin Thomas started the tournament in less-than-ideal fashion with two consecutive bogeys off the block, but fought back tough to post a 69 and move into the red. Meanwhile, his good friend Rickie Fowler has work to do to qualify after starting with a 70.
leaders
T1. Lee Hodges, Ryan Gerrard, Tom Kim, Andrew Putnam, J.J. Spawn, Matt McCarty (-6):
Just as the horn sounded to signal a weather delay, Hodges made a birdie from 8 feet, but it wasn’t over yet. He returned from his round two hours later, made two more birdies, played the Horrible Horseshoe (3rd-5th) at 2 under, and sprinted across the finish line to the top of the leaderboard.
On this day, he hit 10 greens in a row midway through his round and made a putt of over 100 feet. What makes this even more impressive is that he finished the round at 4 under on the front nine. The team played a little difficult on Thursday.
It’s a great and much-needed start for Hodges. He hasn’t had a top-10 finish since the opening race of the 2026 season and is 117th in races all season, a year after missing out on full-time eligibility.
other candidates
T7. Alex Smalley, Ricky Castillo, Keegan Bradley, Brian Herman, Kevin Yu, Jordan Smith, Luke Clanton, Doug Ghim, Eric Van Rooyen, Gary Woodland, Billy Horschel (-5)
For the fifth consecutive round since the PGA Championship, Smalley has put his name on the first page of the leaderboard. Although he was the leader on holes 18, 36 and 54 before finishing runner-up at Aronimink, the Duke University graduate started the Charles Schwab Challenge just short of pole position, hoping to finally win his first PGA Tour title.
His continued top-level golf includes five consecutive top-20 finishes, two runner-up finishes, and another top-10 finish. Unlike Aronimink, who taxed Smalley’s putter, what was great Thursday was his ball-striking, splitting 10 fairways and turning on 15 greens in regulation while making zero putts from outside 15 feet. All of this adds up to five birdies, zero bogeys, and another chance to position himself for the weekend’s run.
“Everyone wants to get off to a good start,” Smalley said. “I know it’s probably not going to happen in every first round that I play for the rest of my career, but I hope it does. But yeah, I felt like I had a chance the first few holes, but I just made a couple of pars.”
“I knew it was going to be relatively easy, so I just persevered and managed to get it on the last few holes of the back nine. I mean, it’s always good to get a good start, but you still have to keep moving forward. Once you get a good start, you can’t let off the gas.”
The Knife Brigade loses another man.
Only two players in the top 20 of the Official World Golf Rankings use blade putters. Matt Fitzpatrick and Matsuyama continue to lead the resistance, but their efforts take a major hit with the Colonial forces when one of their fellow soldiers decides to jump over enemy lines.
Ludwig Oberg switched from the Blade model to the new Scotty Cameron Phantom 3. Not only has Oberg been playing well this season, but one area where he has been relatively weak is on the greens. This came true in the final round and is perhaps the missing piece in his quest to re-enter the winner’s circle.
On Thursday, the Swede posted a 4-under round, thanks in large part to his new putter. With his putter in hand, Oberg made more than two strokes on the field (15th place in SG: putting), marking seven circles on his scorecard in the process.
2026 Charles Schwab Challenge odds and winners updated
Odds from FanDuel Sportsbook
- JJ Spahn: 15/2
- Ludwig Oberg: 17/2
- Russell Henry: 15-1
- Alex Smalley: 15-1
- Matt McCarty: 15 wins and 1 loss
- Tom Kim: 16-1
- Gary Woodland: 20-1
- Keegan Bradley: 20 wins, 1 loss
- Ryan Gerrard: 20 wins and 1 loss
Spaun was the player selected at the beginning of the week and he did nothing wrong to sway our position. The reigning U.S. Open champion was solid from tee to green, going around Colonial without dropping a shot, and although he didn’t win a single par 5, he still has plenty left to squeeze out a round.
