This article is part of our FanDuel PGA DFS Picks series.
Travelers Championship
Course: TPC River Highlands (6,852 yards, par 70)
Purse: $20,000,000
Winner: $3,600,000 and 500 FedExCup points
Tournament Preview
Even after a slugfest at the U.S. Open the grind does not stop for the PGA Tour's best. Players will take the flight across the country from Los Angeles, California to Cromwell, Connecticut for the Travelers Championship which has been given designated event status for the 2023 season. That means that the purse has been bumped up to $20 million with the winner banking $3.6 million. All the top-20 players in last year's Player Impact Program (PIP) will be required to tee it up in this event, unless they had not already used a skip on one of the first seven designated events. 2017 Travelers Championship winner Jordan Spieth is the highest ranked PGA Tour player using their skip this week.
The story after the U.S. Open was Wyndham Clark who was able to outlast a stacked leaderboard. This major victory came just over a month after he picked up his first career PGA Tour win at the Wells Fargo Championship, which was also a designated event. Clark's rise has been incredible considering that we are just nine months removed from him being ranked outside the top-200 in the OWGR. Now the 29-year-old is up to No. 13 and will look to move even higher with a strong showing at the Travelers. Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler rounded out the podium at the U.S. Open and will look to get back the top step in the final designated event of the regular season.
TPC River Highlands is one of the shortest courses on the PGA Tour, but always provides a lot of fireworks like when Jim Furyk shot a 58 in the final round in 2016, which is still the lowest round in PGA Tour history. The Travelers Championship is annually one of the most attended PGA Tour events of the season and will provide a great atmosphere for this elite field of 156 players to do battle. Holes 15-17 around the lake always seem to play a huge role in deciding the champion. The event is also synonymous with providing opportunities to some of the top up-and-coming players. Stanford's Michael Thorbjornsen will be back in the field this week after finishing fourth a year ago at the Travelers. Ludvig Aberg and Sam Bennett will also receive sponsor exemptions after recently turning professional.
We will see plenty of birdies and eagles made this week as at least 12-under-par has been the winning score for the last 18 editions of the Travelers Championship. Kenny Perry's 22-under total in 2009 is the 72-hole record since the event moved to TPC River Highlands in 1991. The weather looks to be okay for the first two rounds where 156 players will be cut down to the top-65 and ties. The weekend may bring some thunderstorms and gustier winds, however.
Recent Champions
2022 - Xander Schauffele (-19)
2021 - Harris English (-13)
2020 - Dustin Johnson (-19)
2019 - Chez Reavie (-17)
2018 - Bubba Watson (-17)
2017 - Jordan Spieth (-12)
2016 - Russell Knox (-14)
2015 - Bubba Watson (-16)
2014 - Kevin Streelman (-15)
2013 - Ken Duke (-12)
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Approach
- GIR Percentage
- Driving Accuracy
- SG: Around-the-Green
Champion's Profile
TPC River Highlands is a course that caters to all types of players. There has been a wide variety of players who have done well here over the years and we should see some diversity on the leaderboard come Sunday again this week. This Pete Dye design is all about positioning from the tee. There's only a handful of holes you need to hit driver on. The rough has been grown up in recent years around TPC River Highland, which has made it more punishing when you miss a fairway. Players will need to shape their shots in both directions with a variety of different dog legs and fairways that should be pretty firm.
The greens average 5,000 square feet making them the sixth smallest targets on Tour. With small greens and a lot of second shots coming from similar areas, big emphasis will need to be placed on approach play. Players who miss a green in regulation can face a wide variety of shots either off closely mown areas, deep rough, or bunkers. Having a good short game will certainly be an advantage around TPC River Highlands. The putting surfaces are a mix between bent and poa, and will run around 12 on the Stimpmeter.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Patrick Cantlay ($11,800)
Cantlay has arguably been the best driver on Tour this season as he ranks second in SG: Off-the-Tee and first in total driving. He has paid that off to a seventh place ranking in GIR percentage. Combine those two things with a putter that can go off at anytime and it's easy to see why Cantlay is second on Tour in birdie average. The 31-year-old keeps knocking on the door at TPC River Highlands with top-20 finishes the last five years.
Viktor Hovland ($11,400)
Hovland was somewhat quiet at the U.S. Open coming off his win at the Memorial, but still was able to put together a top-20 finish at LACC. Hovland has a lot of numbers working his way going to TPC River Highlands ranking fourth in total driving, sixth in proximity to the hole, 23rd in scrambling and 20th in putts per hole. Hovland is also one of the best players out of the rough, which could be a tool if it stays firm and fast. He hasn't missed a cut all season and was T11 in his last attempt at the Travelers in 2020.
Collin Morikawa ($11,100)
Morikawa shook off any back related concerns with a solid T14 at the U.S. Open that included three straight rounds in the 60s. He is a dream fit for TPC River Highlands given his accuracy off the tee (6th) and precision into the greens (2nd). Morikawa also leads the PGA Tour in proximity from 100-125 yards, a distance the players should see a lot of at this short course. The 26-year-old gained strokes with the putter in three of his last four events.
Tony Finau ($10,900)
I see ownership value with Finau here. He's been a little off since his win at the Mexico Open and he has a mixed bag at the Travelers with four top-25s and three missed cuts in seven starts. The numbers are there for me, however, at fifth in SG: Approach, 18th in GIR percentage, 28th in SG: Around-the-Green and third in birdie average this season. The putter has been the biggest issue as of late for Finau, but seeing poa annua greens for the first time in awhile may spark something.
Longer Shots with Value
Russell Henley ($9,500)
Henley has quietly just been racking up good finishes with seven top-20s in his last eight starts. He profiles extremely well for this golf course as he leads the PGA Tour in driving accuracy and is ninth in proximity to the hole. Henley has had pretty good success at the Travelers, going 4-for-5 with a trio of top-20 finishes. He's got a high floor thanks to his ball striking and has always had the potential throughout his career for huge pop weeks with the putter.
Harris English ($9,300)
Speaking of guys who can pop, English has embodied that the last several months with six top-15s over his last 13 starts. That includes a T8 last week at LACC, where he led the field in SG: Putting. English can be a little more inconsistent with the ball striking that some of the other players on this list, but his record at TPC River Highlands gives me confidence where he has gone 7-for-9 with four top-25s and a win in 2021.
Austin Eckroat ($8,400)
I see Eckroat being a popular play, but this price is just too good to pass up on considering how well he is hitting the ball. Eckroat has now made his last six cuts including a T2 at the Byron Nelson and a T10 last week at the U.S. Open highlighted by his final-round 65. The Oklahoma State product ranked top-15 at LACC in SG: Off-the-Tee, SG: Approach, SG: Around-the-Green, fairways hit and GIR. Eckroat also made the cut at the Travelers just after turning pro in 2021.
Mark Hubbard ($8,100)
Hubbard is in a groove having made the cut in seven straight individual events with four top-20s, including a T6 last time out at the RBC Canadian Open. Over that stretch he has been dialed in with his iron play gaining 4.72 strokes on approach per tournament. Hubbard has also gained in the short game department in his last three events. The 34-year-old has never missed a cut in five treis at the Travelers, including a T13 in 2021.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
Even with this being a designated event with a $20 million purse, I still think it's going to be hard for some of those players in serious contention last week to have 100 percent focus going across the country to the Travelers. For that reason I'll pass on the likes of Clark, McIlroy and Rickie Fowler. Even given the overall field strength, TPC River Highlands is a course where the underdog has prevailed quite a bit and I think it's certainly possible we a guy in the $8K range win. There's a number of other names in that range I'll be monitoring this week like Stephan Jaeger ($8,800), Brandon Wu ($8,600), Joseph Bramlett ($8,500), Justin Suh ($8,300), and Sam Stevens ($8,000).
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