Colonial Country Club has this vibe. You feel it the second you walk past the Ben Hogan statue. It’s old-school, tight, and frankly, it doesn't care about your 330-yard carry. In May 2023, the Charles Schwab Challenge delivered exactly what golf purists crave: a grind. It wasn’t a birdie fest where guys were throwing darts at 62s every day. Instead, it was a week defined by a heartbreaking local narrative and a gritty playoff that proved why Emiliano Grillo belongs in the winner's circle.
Golf is weird.
One minute you’re cruising, and the next, you’re watching your ball trickle down a concrete drainage path for what feels like an eternity. That’s exactly what happened to Grillo on the 72nd hole. It was chaotic. It was stressful. Honestly, it was the kind of high-stakes theater that makes the PGA Tour worth watching even when the "big names" aren't at the top of the leaderboard.
The Grillo Rollercoaster and That Infamous 18th Hole
Emiliano Grillo hadn't won on tour in seven and a half years. Think about that for a second. That is a lifetime in professional sports. Seven years of "almosts" and "what-ifs." When he stepped onto the 18th tee on Sunday at the 2023 Charles Schwab Challenge, he had a two-shot lead. It should have been a victory lap.
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But Colonial has teeth.
He pushed his tee shot right. The ball found a stone-lined drainage aqueduct. Because of the way the water was flowing—or rather, the way the concrete was sloped—the ball just kept rolling. It moved back toward the tee, bobbing along like a toy boat while the crowd watched in disbelief. It took forever. Grillo stood there, hands on hips, probably wondering if he was cursed. By the time he took his penalty drop and scrambled for a double-bogey, his lead was gone. He finished at 8-under par.
Most players would have crumbled. You see it all the time—the "mental scar tissue" kicks in and the playoff becomes a formality for the other guy. But Grillo found something. He waited for Adam Schenk to finish, went back out to the 16th hole for the playoff, and buried a birdie putt from the heavens.
Why the 2023 Charles Schwab Challenge Felt Different
The shadow of Michael Block was everywhere. If you follow golf, you know the story. The club pro who finished T-15 at the PGA Championship the week prior was the biggest star in the world for about six days. He got a sponsor's invite to Fort Worth.
People expected the magic to continue. It didn't.
Block shot 81-74 and missed the cut. It was a sobering reminder that Colonial is a "shot-maker's" course. It doesn't reward "vibes" or momentum; it rewards precision. If you miss the fairway by three yards, you’re blocked out by a pecan tree that’s been there since the Great Depression. This tournament proved that the "Blockie" phenomenon was a beautiful fluke, while the grind of the Tour is a permanent reality.
The Leaderboard Reality Check
- Emiliano Grillo: -8 (Won in playoff)
- Adam Schenk: -8 (A breakout performance for a guy who has become a model of consistency)
- Scottie Scheffler: -7 (The hometown hero who just couldn't get the putter to cooperate on Sunday)
- Harry Hall: -7 (The Englishman who led or co-led for much of the week with a unique, aggressive style)
Schenk deserves a lot of credit here. He’s a guy from Indiana who just works. No flash. No social media antics. Just a pure ball-striker who ran into a buzzsaw in the playoff. Seeing him and Grillo battle it out felt like a throwback to an era where the trophy mattered more than the PIP standings.
Scottie Scheffler’s Putter Woes
We have to talk about Scottie. In 2023, Scottie Scheffler was playing some of the best "tee-to-green" golf since prime Tiger Woods. It was statistically absurd. He arrived at the Charles Schwab Challenge as the heavy favorite. He’s a Dallas guy. He knows the wind. He knows the grass.
But the putter. Oh, the putter.
Watching Scottie on those Sunday greens was like watching a master chef struggle to open a jar of pickles. He hit almost every green in regulation. He gave himself look after look. If he makes just one of those mid-range putts on the back nine, he wins by two. Instead, he finished one shot out of the playoff. It was a recurring theme for his 2023 season—ball striking that belonged in the Hall of Fame paired with a flatstick that seemed possessed.
The Course: A Farewell to the Old Colonial
The 2023 edition was special for another reason: it was the last time we saw the course in that specific configuration. Immediately after Grillo lifted the trophy, the bulldozers moved in.
Architect Gil Hanse, the guy everyone hires when they want to fix a classic course, began a massive restoration. They spent $25 million to bring back the 1941 look. They changed the irrigation, moved some tees, and modernized the guts of the course while trying to keep the soul of Ben Hogan alive.
So, when we look back at the 2023 Charles Schwab Challenge, we’re looking at a time capsule. It was the final chapter of "Old Colonial." The narrow corridors and the specific bunkering that defined the event for decades were bid farewell by a guy who nearly lost it all in a water ditch.
What Most People Get Wrong About This Win
There’s this idea that Grillo "choked" on 18 and "got lucky" in the playoff. That’s a lazy take.
Winning on the PGA Tour is hard. Winning when you haven't done it in nearly a decade is almost impossible. The mental fortitude required to shake off a double-bogey on the 72nd hole—caused by a freakish bounce on a cart path—is immense. Grillo didn't win because he was lucky; he won because he was the only person on the grounds who refused to let a bad break define his career.
Also, can we talk about Harry Hall’s hat? The man rocked the flat cap all week and led the tournament through 54 holes. It gave the event a distinctive, almost vintage feel. He didn't close the deal, but he proved that his game travels.
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Key Lessons for Your Own Game
You probably aren't playing for a $1.5 million winner's check this weekend, but the 2023 tournament at Colonial offered some pretty relatable lessons for the average weekend warrior.
First, the "aim small, miss small" mantra is real. Colonial is a course that forces you to pick a specific branch on a tree as your target. When the pros got greedy, the course punished them. For us, that means maybe leaving the driver in the bag on those tight par 4s.
Second, the short game is the great equalizer. Adam Schenk stayed in the hunt because his chipping was sublime. When he missed a green, he didn't compound the error. He took his medicine, got up and down, and moved on.
The Impact on the FedEx Cup
This win was massive for Grillo’s trajectory. It shot him up the standings and guaranteed him spots in the designated events (now called Signature Events). It changed his schedule for the next two years. For a player who had been hovering in the middle of the pack, the 2023 Charles Schwab Challenge was a career-saver.
It also solidified Scottie Scheffler’s status as the most frustrated elite player in the world at that time. He left Fort Worth with another top-3 finish, yet another week of questions about his putting coach, and a clear path toward his eventually dominant 2024 run.
Actionable Insights for Golf Fans and Players
If you're looking to apply the "Colonial Mindset" to your approach to the game or how you follow the tour, keep these points in mind:
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- Study the "Strokes Gained: Putting" stats. Looking back at the 2023 data, Grillo was actually gaining ground on the field with his putter all week, which was the statistical outlier for him. If you want to predict a winner, look for a great ball-striker who is having a "warm" putting week.
- Don't ignore the local favorites. Scheffler and Jordan Spieth (who also has a storied history here) always perform at Colonial because they understand the "Texas Wind." This isn't just a cliché; the wind at Colonial swirls in the trees, making club selection a nightmare for outsiders.
- The "Hogan's Alley" effect. Players who shape the ball both ways have a massive advantage. If you only have one shot shape, Colonial will eventually find a hole that dares you to do the opposite. Work on a "get-out-of-trouble" fade if you ever play a course with high tree density.
The 2023 Charles Schwab Challenge wasn't just another stop on the calendar. It was a high-drama, concrete-bouncing, playoff-grinding masterpiece that reminded us why we love this stupid, beautiful game. It honored the past of a legendary venue while launching Emiliano Grillo back into the spotlight he had been chasing for years.