FORT WORTH, Texas – One of the traditions of the yearly PGA Tour event at Colonial Country Club is the additional prize of a snazzy vehicle to the victor.
In recent years, Kevin Na won and gave a glacier-blue 1973 Dodge Challenger to his caddie, and Jason Kokrak has since raved bout driving his kids off to school in the renovated, light-blue 1946 Dodge Power Wagon he won in 2021.
This year’s car is another beauty: a fully restored and modernized 1979 Firebird Trans Am with the word Schwab inscribed in multiple places, including throughout the interior. The car is in homage to sponsor Charles Schwab, and the year is significant because it was when the firm made a major technology investment.
But all that is irrelevant to Matthias Schwab. The 27-year-old Austrian who played collegiately at Vanderbilt knows just one thing about the vehicle – it literally has his name written all over it.
The winner of this year’s Charles Schwab Challenge gets a modernized, one-of-a-kind 1979 Schwab Firebird.https://t.co/HYFV6Ldjwv pic.twitter.com/V9XJoEihOw
— Chantel McCabe (@chantel_mccabe) May 26, 2022
Schwab – who has three top-10 finishes on Tour this season, including a T-8 at the Valero Texas Open down the 35 from this week’s stop – admitted that he noticed the car, which is plopped prominently off to the side of the 10th hole at a busy thoroughfare. And after an opening-round 69, he’s pretty comfortable in the surroundings at the iconic club.
“I have noticed the car, yeah,” Schwab said. “It looks really cool. I have nothing but positive vibes out here. Obviously, the name of the tournament is great for me, also, and I’ve been out here before. I have a bunch of friends here from my college times. Nothing but positive vibes.”
Colonial sets up well for Schwab, who is one of the top putters on Tour but who lags on distance. The course is immaculate and loved by many of the players on Tour, but unlike TPC Craig Ranch – home of the AT&T Byron Nelson two weeks ago – it’s not a driving contest.
FORT WORTH, TEXAS – MAY 26: Matthias Schwab of Austria lines up a putt on the seventh green during the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club on May 26, 2022 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
Schwab hopes his friends in the area will come out en masse this weekend, especially if he’s in the hunt for a vehicle with a name that seems tailored to him.
“Most of them had to work (Thursday),” he said of his friends, “so not many of them were out here, but I hope to have a pretty good crowd (Friday) afternoon and then as the week goes on.”
His tee time Friday is 1:01 ET, and he’ll play with Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Taylor Moore.
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