Steve Palmer's Charles Schwab Challenge first-round preview & best bets

When to watch

Sky Sports Main Event and Golf, 12.50pm Thursday

Best bets

Tom Hoge first-round leader
1pt each-way 100-1 Betfred

Ryan Palmer first-round leader
1pt each-way 70-1 Sky Bet

Russell Knox to win threeball
1pt 13-10 Betfair

Beau Hossler to win threeball
1pt 15-8 Betfair, Paddy Power

First-round preview

The Charles Schwab Challenge tee-times are earlier than they were for the last edition, not least because Tour chiefs have reserved 8.46am for a pause of "silence, prayer and reflection" in memory of George Floyd, so there will be only half an hour of sunlight at Colonial before the action starts at 6.50am (12.50pm UK and Ireland).

A glorious morning is forecast and punters are advised to support two locals who are in the opening groups. Tom Hoge and Ryan Palmer can use course knowledge to make the most of 6.50am launchpads, potentially claiming the first-round lead.

Hoge, a Fort Worth resident who has managed to get much more practice than most of the field at the venue, has already recorded five top-15s on the PGA Tour this season. The improving 31-year-old will have been thrilled by his twoball slot alongside JJ Henry, starting from the tenth tee, and they can scoot round before the greens dry out.

Palmer, a Colonial member, should make merry in the morning calm in a relaxed threeball starting on the first tee alongside Brian Harman and Bill Haas. Five of Palmer's last eight completed PGA Tour starts have yielded top-20 finishes, and he has posted a top-six in four of his last eight Colonial visits.

Russell Knox (1.23pm) and Beau Hossler (1.01pm) look the pick of the threeballs. Knox should prove too steady from tee to green for Kevin Tway and Patton Kizzire, while Texas-based Hossler is the value against Lucas Glover and Kyoung-hoon Lee.

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