This article is part of our Yahoo PGA DFS Picks series.
Travelers Championship
Cromwell, Connecticut
TPC River Highlands - Par 70 - 6,841 yards
Field - 156 entrants
Purse - $7.4M
The Preview
A stacked U.S. Open leaderboard crumbled late as the back nine at Torrey Pines encouraged bogeys down the stretch for all but Jon Rahm, who finished birdie-birdie to secure his maiden major championship victory while celebrating his first Father's Day as a new dad. The upcoming Travelers Championship likely won't live up to such an experience, but a somewhat surprisingly solid field will be in attendance with a handful of top players teeing it up in America for the last time before flying from the east coast to Europe for Open Championship preparations.
Connecticut's TPC River Highlands is a short and relatively easy par-70 track, with each of the last three champions reaching at least 17-under-par despite only two par-5s appearing on the scorecard. Full wedges and short irons are the name of the game this week, as seven par-4s measure between 400-450 yards. As for the weather, precipitation shouldn't be an issue but winds are slated to increase throughout the weekend as high temps rise into the mid-80s.
Recent Champions
2020 - Dustin Johnson
2019 - Chez Reavie
2018 - Bubba Watson
2017 - Jordan Spieth
2016 - Russell Knox
2015 - Bubba Watson
2014 - Kevin Streelman
2013 - Ken Duke
2012 - Marc Leishman
2011 - Fredrik Jacobson
2010 - Bubba Watson
Key Stats to Victory
SG: Approach
Proximity: 125-150 and 150-175 yards
Par-4: 400-450 efficiency
SG: Putting (Poa)
Yahoo Value Picks
Based on $200 salary cap
Cream of the Crop
Patrick Cantlay - $44
Cantlay, who's racked up three straight top-15s at the Travelers Championship since 2018, heads back to TPC River Highlands as the leader in the FedEx Cup standings with a pair of wins and four total top-3s through 18 events played this season. He followed his victory at the Memorial Tournament with a T15 last week at the U.S. Open, where he gained over four strokes on the field Sunday by playing his final 18 holes in bogey-free fashion. Cantlay has gained an average of 9.4 strokes from tee to green per tournament in his last three starts dating to the PGA Championship.
Paul Casey - $42
Casey's course history at TPC River Highlands is even better than Cantlay's as the former owns four top-5s and no finish worse than a T32 in six career appearances, dating to his playoff loss as a debutant here in 2015 to Bubba Watson. More importantly, Casey is second in SG: Approach, seventh in Prox: 150-175, seventh in GIR percentage and eighth in Prox: 125-150 yards over his last 24 rounds. Rebounding from a missed cut at the RBC Heritage, Casey has gained no less than 8.5 strokes from tee to green in any of his last three measured starts.
Glue Guys
Brian Harman - $35
Ranked second among this week's field in Par-4: 400-450 efficiency over his past 24 rounds, Harman just posted his second top-20 finish in a major this season. The 34-year-old's daily fantasy output was boosted by two eagles at Torrey Pines, where he also tallied an average of three birdies per round. Harman collected back-to-back top-10 results at the Travelers in 2018 and 2019, and he's made the cut in eight of 10 attempts at the venue.
Si Woo Kim - $34
Over his last 24 rounds, Kim ranks top-25 in SG: Approach, SG: Off-the-Tee and Prox: 150-175 yards, but he's also No. 13 in SG: Putting from 5-10 feet throughout his past 50 rounds on poa greens. He's placed T26 or better in three of four visits to Cromwell and has gained six strokes from tee to green in back-to-back showings at the U.S. Open and the Memorial Tournament, where he notched a T9.
Emiliano Grillo - $31
Despite a missed cut at the Memorial, Grillo's stellar iron play gets him all the way up to fourth in my custom model this week as he paces the field in SG: Approach, opportunities gained and Par-4: 400-450 efficiency over his last 24 rounds. Throughout his last five tournaments, Grillo has gained an average of 7.7 feet in proximity on approach shots from the crucial 150-175 yard range. Additionally, he's a perfect 4-for-4 in cuts made at TPC River Highlands.
Bargain Bin
Kevin Streelman - $29
Much like Bubba Watson at just $33, this past champion is sure to draw a ton of interest at $29 with a 2014 win, 2020 runner-up and five total top-10s filling his Travelers Championship resume. Streelman's 30/1 betting odds indicate a definite miscalculation in salary, especially given the fact that he's finished T26 or better in five consecutive starts from the Wells Fargo Championship through the U.S. Open. Over his last 24 rounds, Streelman ranks third in opportunities gained, fifth in GIR percentage, eighth in SG: Approach and even 23rd in SG: Off-the-Tee.
Aaron Wise - $26
Wise is back inside the top-100 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time since the fall of 2019 thanks to a trio of top-20s in four starts since a T9 at the Wells Fargo Championship. The former Oregon Duck most recently added another T9 at Muirfield Village where he gained strokes across the board, which he also did at the Honda Classic in March. On the season, Wise ranks eighth in GIR percentage, 16th in par-3 scoring, 23rd in SG: Tee-to-Green and seventh in proximity from 50-125 yards.
Kyle Stanley - $20
After finishing outside the top-125 in the FedEx Cup standings for the first time since 2015 last season, it's clear that Stanley is bouncing back. He's made the cut in 16 of 22 events played throughout the 2020-21 campaign and he recently picked up his second top-10 of the season at the Charles Schwab Challenge. Stanley has gained strokes off the tee in six consecutive tournaments and he's third in SG: Approach over his last 12 rounds. Expanding the sample size to 24 rounds, he's fourth in Prox: 125-150, 10th in opportunities gained, 12th in Prox: 150-175 and 15th in SG: OTT.
