Paulie's Picks: 2026 Austin Championship presented by Compliance Solutions

The PGA Tour is back stateside for the inaugural Austin Championship held at the Fazio Canyons Course at Omni Barton Creek in Texas. Anytime we see a new course, there seems to be a lot of guessing in terms of what skills are needed to play well. Luckily, I played this course a few years ago, so I have a slight advantage in terms of knowing what is needed. 

The course breakdown is pretty simple. The landing areas off the tee are larger than normal, but there are some holes where they narrow up to where guys with elite distance might have to club down, so accuracy and distance off the tee are both going to be slightly less important this week. The greens on the Canyons Course are large with enough slope to make putting difficult. This means that we will have fewer chips around the green and likely fewer putts made from distance. This leaves us with approach play, which is of massive importance this week. Many players will be hitting into the greens from similar spots, and having an elite iron game will provide the best chance to make birdies. 

I’m going to make it easy this week and back the best two iron players in the field:

Chris Kirk: Top 30, -112

Chris Kirk is No. 1 in this field in approach play. He has gained strokes on approach in every event dating back to Colonial in late May. Even crazier is that he has gained at least two strokes on approach in each event since the U.S. Open in June! I would fully expect Kirk to continue this elite iron play this week, which puts him at a large advantage against a small field that’s lacking top-tier talent. This week is of utmost importance to Kirk as he sits just outside the top 100 on the FedEx Cup points list as he fights for status in 2027. He has finished 21st or better in all four of his starts this fall and I expect another high finish this week.

Ben Kohles: Top 30, +112

Imagine that, another article with me backing Ben Kohles. I am utterly flabbergasted that the market has yet to upgrade Kohles, and we continue to get similar pricing every week. After a 25th-place finish last week, Kohles’ streak of top 30 finishes on the PGA Tour has risen to 12. We add in the fact that he is second in this field in approach play behind Kirk, and it seems like a natural fit to keep riding the money train to earn some more Kohles cash!