Horschel, Schauffele, Lowry Among Latest Charles Schwab Challenge Commitments
The strength of the field continues to grow by the day for the PGA Tour’s return at the Charles Schwab Challenge, June 11-14 at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.
2019 Open Championship winner Shane Lowry, 2017 AT&T Byron Nelson champion Billy Horschel and No. 12-ranked Xander Schauffele were among the latest additions to the field at Colonial.
Lowry, who will be making his Colonial debut, won last summer’s Open Championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Irleand by six shots over Tommy Fleetwood. The win was his second official PGA Tour victory, following his triumph at the 2015 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. He has five European Tour wins including the 2019 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
Lowry’s inclusion in the Charles Schwab Challenge field means that three of the four 2019 major winners are now committed to the Charles Schwab Challenge. Brooks Koepka (PGA Championship) and Gary Woodland (U.S. Open) are the others who are committed to Colonial while the jury is still out on whether Masters champion Tiger Woods will tee it up in Fort Worth in June.
Horschel will be making his third appearance at Colonial and he is attempting to do the DFW-Double after winning the AT&T Byron Nelson in its last incarnation at the TPC Four Seasons Resort in Las Colinas in May 2017.
“I am a fan of old-school golf courses, and this obviously fits that,” Horschel said, of Colonial’s classic layout.
Schauffele, currently fifth in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings, will be making his fourth consecutive appearance at Colonial. The 2016-17 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year has four PGA Tour wins including the 2017 TOUR Championship and the 2018 WGC-HSBC Champions at the Sheshan Golf Club in Shanghai.
“We’re all just itching to get out and play,” Schauffelle said on fansided.com. “I don’t think it really matters when the major is as long as we’re able to play it. Colonial is going to feel like a major, even without spectators. I’m assuming it’s going to be a very strong field since all of us just want to get out and play and practice and just get back to normal life.”
Bud Cauley and Wyndham Clark also added their names to the field that already includes six of the top 10 in the world rankings.
Of note, No. 10 Tommy Fleetwood and former No. 1 in the world Lee Westwood have removed their names from the field due to travel and quarantine concerns according to espn.com.
2014 Colonial champion Adam Scott announced that he would be taking more of a “wait and see approach” and is not planning on teeing it up on the PGA Tour until July according to Golf Channel.
See the full early commitment list at charlesschwabchallenge.com.
