By Eric Cohen

I was thinking about the lead for this column on Saturday night

and how foolish all of us were for ignoring Brooks Koepka, injury

or not, in a major no less! And then Sunday happened…

It wasn’t until he had a 5 shot lead on the back 9 that I thought

Phil Mickelson had a chance to win the PGA Championship. I just

couldn’t envision any way, as of the front 9, that Brooks was going

to choke. But as much as Koepka underachieved on Sunday, Phil

proved himself as a worthy champion.

As majors go, this one ranks right up there for me with Tiger’s

2019 Masters and the 2008 epic U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in

terms of incredible theater. There is nothing like the inward 9 of a

major championship with notable players in contention. I’ll take

those sporting events against just about any others we’d see on a

yearly basis.

Now the PGA Tour is off to Texas again and the Charles Schwab

Challenge, where the resumption of golf last June took place. I

had Collin Morikawa to win but he couldn’t hold off a surging

Daniel Berger in a playoff in 2020. Yet it was the start of a nice

run of picking winners those next few months.

The course favors accuracy, not necessarily length…and I have a

gut feeling that we’re going to see a first time PGA winner this

week. Will my fellow competitors agree with that logic?

Once again the rules: each picker will get a simulated $200 to bet;

$100 of which will be on win bets and another $100 on top-5, top-

10, and top-20 bets only. The kicker this time is that the money

can only be spent on a maximum of three golfers in each

category. Picking winners has never been so difficult.

Here are this week’s plays for the Charles Schwab Challenge:

(Odds courtesy of Draft Kings Sportsbook)

The Parlay Kid

Last Week’s Results: +$350

Total ROI: +$4960

Winners Picked in 2021: 5 (Reed, Berger, Morikawa, Thomas,

McIlroy)

$35 to WIN: Abraham Ancer (+1700)

$35 to WIN: Joaquin Niemann (+2650)

$30 to WIN: Patrick Reed (+1700)

$100 on Top-10: Gary Woodland (+400)

Eric:

Last Week’s Results: -$200

Total ROI: +$407.50

Winners Picked in 2021:3 (Berger, Thomas, McIlroy)

$40 to WIN: Scottie Scheffler (+3000)

$30 to WIN: Abraham Ancer (+1700)

$30 to WIN: Will Zalatoris (+2500)

$100 on Top-10: Corey Conners (+200)

Harry

Last Week’s Results: -$200

Total ROI: +$111.25

Winners Picked in 2021: 2 (Spieth, McIlroy)

$50 to WIN: Jordan Spieth (+1050)

$50 to WIN: Daniel Berger (+1900)

$100 on Top-20: Daniel Berger (+110)

Producer Michael

Last Week’s Results: -$200

Total ROI: -$281.25

Winners Picked in 2021: 2 (DeChambeau, Spieth)

$50 to WIN: Collin Morikawa (+1500)

$25 to WIN: Tony Finau (+1700)

$25 to WIN: Corey Conners (+1900)

$50 on Top-5: Collin Morikawa (+350)

$25 on Top-5: Tony Finau (+400)

$25 on Top-10: Corey Conners (+200)

Brother Bri

Last Week’s Results: -$200

Total ROI: -$605

Winners Picked in 2021: 0

$40 to WIN: Collin Morikawa (+1500)

$40 to WIN: Abraham Ancer (+1700)

$20 to WIN: Corey Conners (+1900)

$100 on Top-5: Collin Morikawa (+350)

Find more of Eric’s sports opinions and predictions on Twitter at

@CohensCornerAZ.