This article is part of our Yahoo PGA DFS Picks series.
Travelers Championship
Cromwell, Connecticut
TPC River Highlands - Par 70 - 6,852 yards
Field - 156 entrants
Purse - $20M
The Preview
An understandably emotional Wyndham Clark celebrated his maiden major championship title on the 18th green at Los Angeles Country Club after holding off World No. 3 Rory McIlroy down the stretch Sunday, marking Clark's second huge win in two months, having emerged victorious at the elevated Wells Fargo Championship in May as well. There's no rest period between the U.S. Open and the PGA Tour's next designated event, however, as a loaded field charters its way to the east coast for the Travelers Championship and its $20 million purse.
Designed by Pete Dye, Connecticut's TPC River Highlands is an extremely short par-70 track with classic tree-lined fairways surrounded by penal rough. A slew of doglegs guide players to some of the smallest greens we'll see on Tour, though four of the past five champions have still managed to reach 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 10 par-4s measure less than 445 yards. As for the weather, rain could dampen the grounds all four days, therefore placing even more of an emphasis on driving accuracy and wedge/iron proximity in order to avoid thickening rough.
Recent Champions
2022 - Xander Schauffele
2021 - Harris English
2020 - Dustin Johnson
2019 - Chez Reavie
2018 - Bubba Watson
2017 - Jordan Spieth
2016 - Russell Knox
2015 - Bubba Watson
2014 - Kevin Streelman
2013 - Ken Duke
Key Stats to Victory
SG: Approach
Proximity: 100-175 yards
Par-4 scoring
Birdie or Better percentage
Yahoo Value Picks
Based on $200 salary cap
Cream of the Crop
Scottie Scheffler - $49
The 6-1 favorite is probably deserving of a mid-$50s salary for competitive balance purposes after four consecutive top-3 finishes from the PGA Championship through the U.S. Open, a span over which he gained a historic 63.8 strokes from tee to green. Although he gained 1.2 strokes on the greens at LACC last week, Scheffler still struggled from 10-15 feet as the putter remains a concern. However, he's second to none in SG: Approach, SG: Off-the-Tee, P4: 400-450 Efficiency and Par-4 scoring when sampling his past 24 rounds.
Collin Morikawa - $42
In his return from the back spasms that forced him to withdraw before his final round at the Memorial Tournament, Morikawa gained 7.8 strokes ball striking on the way to a top-15 result at the U.S. Open where he also ranked T7 in total birdies with 17. Over his last 24 rounds, he's second in Prox: 100-125 yards, third in SG: APP, sixth in Opportunities Gained and seventh in P4: 400-450 Efficiency.
Hideki Matsuyama - $40
Matsuyama sits No. 1 in Opportunities Gained over his past 24 rounds, averaging five strokes gained on his approach shots per event throughout four starts dating to the AT&T Byron Nelson. He lost a season-worst six strokes with the flat stick in Los Angeles last week, but Matsuyama is a candidate for positive regression while others might avoid this Travelers Championship debutant at a $40 cap hit.
Glue Guys
Russell Henley - $35
Henley paced the entire field in driving accuracy at the U.S. Open, hitting 45 of 52 fairways in regulation en route to a T14 finish. Even more exciting is the fact that he gained a season-high 7.1 strokes with his irons, and he's now gained at least 2.9 strokes approaching the green in five straight outings. Henley has placed T32 or better in four of five trips to TPC River Highlands, notably tying for sixth here in 2018 when he led the field in both GIR and FIR percentage.
Gary Woodland - $33
There's no shortage of nightmare fuel when watching Woodland attempt to hole a putt from any distance, but he and the aforementioned Scheffler are the only two players in this field to rank top-20 in each of SG: Off-the-Tee, SG: Approach and Birdies or Better Gained over their last 24 rounds. Reducing the sample to his past 12 rounds, Woodland ranks ninth in both Prox: 100-125 and Prox: 125-150 yards.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout - $29
Bezuidenhout is a touch more expensive on Yahoo than other DFS sites and the betting market in general, but that hopefully helps reduce his rostership in this spot because he otherwise models well at 14th in SG: APP, 17th in P4: 400-450 Efficiency, 21st in SG: Putting and 29th in driving accuracy over his last 24 rounds. The South African hasn't lost strokes on approach since early March's Arnold Palmer Invitational, and he's sixth in putting from 10-15 feet when expanding to a 36-round overview.
Bargain Bin
Austin Eckroat - $25
A low-owned Eckroat came through for us with a top-10 finish in the U.S. Open last week, gaining the fourth-most strokes in the field from tee to green at LACC in the process. It's safe to expect a bump in popularity for the Oklahoma State product, but he's now seventh in Opportunities Gained and 12th in SG: Off-the-Tee throughout his last 24 rounds.
Lee Hodges - $25
Hodges, who posted a T25 in his TPC River Highlands debut last year despite losing 2.3 strokes around the greens, currently ranks ninth in SG: Approach over his last 12 rounds and he's gained at least 4.1 from tee to green in four consecutive starts dating back to the PGA Championship. He's made the cut in eight of his last nine outings, making him a viable option in both cash and GPP formats.
Ludvig Aberg - $20
Rested after a top-25 performance in his professional debut at the RBC Canadian Open where he gained a tournament-best 6.2 strokes off the tee, the 2023 Haskins Award winner is curiously stuck at the $20 minimum salary, which contrasts his respectable 100-1 odds in the outright market. Aberg's seemingly elite driving ability will be somewhat muted by the navigation required at TPC River Highlands, but this could be one of the final instances that he's priced this low.
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