The time has arrived for my favorite event of the year, the Travelers Championship! As a Connecticut resident, it has been a staple of mine to attend the event annually and I will be on the grounds again this Sunday to witness the action live. Before we get in to things for this week, let’s recap last week’s U.S. Open.

Heading into Sunday a leaderboard that featured the likes of Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, and Dustin Johnson, it was Wyndham Clark who emerged victorious. Clark was able to hold off some of golf’s biggest names and collect his first major championship. While not a household name, Clark has been having an excellent season that included his first victory a little over a month ago at the Wells Fargo and he was able to come up with timely shots down the stretch to hold on for victory. Rory McIlroy was his closest competition as Sunday progressed, but Rory could not get the putter to cooperate. He will have to wait until next month’s Open Championship at another attempt to break the near-decade long major championship drought.

The PGA Tour presents us with another elevated event this week for the Travelers Championship played at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, CT just outside of Hartford.

This is a full field 156-player field with the usual top 65 (and ties) advancing to the weekend.

As is the case with every elevated event this season (sans THE PLAYERS), the total prize pool this week will be $20 million dollars, with the winner being awarded $3.6 million for his efforts.

The Course

As mentioned, this week, we head to TPC River Highlands. Purchased by the PGA Tour in the early 80s, the course was completely redesigned by Pete Dye to bring the course to Tour standards. True to many Pete Dye designs, scoring opportunities are available, but mistakes can be particularly costly.

Most players will club down off the tee with several doglegs and search for the proper angles to the small greens. Speaking of the greens, this week they are Bentgrass mixed with Poa and are fairly average in speed. There are quite a few tiered greens and pin placements often force golfers to be creative with their approaches to the green.

Winning scores are typically in the -15 to -19 range and a cut line usually at E or -1. The course is unique as such that it lends itself to a variety of styles achieving success here. Strong approach play and a hot putter are two of the biggest factors when determining a champion.

Playing as a par-70 at 6,820 yards, TPC River Highlands is one of the shortest courses played on the Tour schedule. The course features two reachable par-5s which are the two easiest holes on the course with birdie or better rates north of 35%. Three of the four par-3s rank inside the top six of the most difficult holes (with the 158-yard 11^th playing as the 5^th easiest). The bread and butter of this course however, are the 12 par-4s (10 of which play under 450 yards).

TPC River Highlands is most notorious for its exciting stretch of finishing holes. There is the 296-yard par-4 15^th that boasts a birdie or better rate above 35%, but also a bogey rate of around 13%. Then comes the 171-yard par-3 16^th over the water, followed by the par-4 17^th with water in play off the tee and on the approach shot to the green. The closing short 444-yard par-4 18^th is often flooded with patrons come Sunday afternoon and require a precise wedge shot in.

For a more in-depth hole by hole breakdown of TPC River Highlands, here is a link to a flyover of the course:

The Field

As mentioned previously, we once again have an elevated event, which means an elevated field. For being the week after the U.S. Open, this event typically draws a quality field with a good number of top players, but this year is the strongest field yet. The closest comparison in field strength would be the 2020 edition of the tournament, as it was the third tournament played after the Tour returned from its Covid shutdown.

Notables not in the field this week include Sam Burns, Tyrrell Hatton, Justin Rose, and 2017 champion, Jordan Spieth.

The Travelers is also notorious for presenting fresh faces coming on to the tour with sponsor’s exemptions and this year is no different. Being welcomed to the field this week include young guns Ludvig Aberg, Sam Bennett, Michael Thornbjornsen (finished 4^th here last year), and Connecticut native Ben James.

Key Stats

In addition to the stats listed below this week, I will look at course history and weigh it more than normal. Course history at TPC River Highlands is very sticky with several multi time winners here.

Here are the key stats I am considering when building my lineups this week.

1. SG: Approach– Iron play is always on this list and forever will be. It is the most correlated long-term stat with success. Setting up birdie opportunities and small landing zones put an emphasis on approach play this week.
2. Proximity 125-175– Nearly half of all approach shots are from this range given the shorter nature of the par-4s on the course. Approach play in general will need to be good, but especially with the wedges.
3. Par 4 Scoring– As mentioned previously, with only two par-5s, there is a premium on par-4 scoring. I will specifically be looking at par-4 scoring in the 400–450-yard range.
4. SG: P- I will be looking at Bentgrass putting, but mixing it with putting in general. Whenever scoring is going to be in the 15- to 19-under range, some putts are going to need to be made.
5. Opportunities Gained- For those who don’t know, this stat combines off-the-tee and approach in where a golfer leaves themselves within 15 feet for birdie. A good stat to monitor for this week.

Follow me on Twitter @mlafem10 for additional thoughts as the week goes on and I’d be happy to help out with any lineup questions you have. Let’s make some money!

DFS Top Tier Play

Viktor Hovland

Salary: $9,900

There is not a lot to point at negatively in Hovland’s game right now. Some will be a little disappointed with the 19^th at the U.S. Open last week, but I am undeterred. His precision off the tee and more controlled approach to the game should suit him well here. Hovland also has tasted some success in his limited history here with an T11 in 2020, which is probably the most comparable field strength to this year’s event. What excites me most about Hovland this week is his propensity to play par-4s well, especially from the 400-450 range (ranks 11^th in the field over the past 24 rounds). The putter for Viktor has been rolling as of late, and he has gained on the green in four straight and in general is a positive putter on Bentgrass surfaces. While most in at the top will drift toward Cantlay and Scheffler, I like Hovland to anchor my lineups.

Others Considered: Collin Morikawa ($9,500), Jon Rahm ($10,800)

DFS Mid Tier Play

Adam Scott

Salary: $7,900

I’m not too sure why Scott hasn’t played this event more over the years because it seems like a good setup for his game. He ranks 3^rd in the field over the last 24 rounds on par-4 scoring and has success on shorter courses. You can also point to his immaculate course history at the Pete Dye-designed TPC Sawgrass to see his architecture fits the eye of Scott. Adam is currently on a hot streak with the putter, having gained in seven of his last eight in that department. In his last trip to TPC River Highlands in 2021 he finished that week T13 while losing over three shots to the field off the tee. What makes that noteworthy is that Scott is typically strong in that department (the last time he lost strokes to the field off the tee was at Sony in January). It is worth noting he gained nearly six strokes with the putter that week, so if Scott can correct the off-the-tee sins he had here two years ago and continue his hot flat stick, I could see Scott flirting with the top of the leaderboard this week.

Others Considered: Sungjae Im ($8,700), Sahith Theegala ($8,300)

DFS Value Play

Austin Eckroat

Salary: $7,300

There is a litany of players to pick from in this range this week, but I am riding with Eckroat. Between him and Justin Suh, I think we are seeing the rising of a new crop of young talent on Tour. While both didn’t experience immediate success, they are both starting to figure things out. Six straight made cuts including the 2^nd at the Byron Nelson when he got to taste real contention on the PGA Tour for the first time, but also a T10 at the U.S. Open last week. We have seen multiple guys carry over their strong U.S. Open play from the week before into the Travelers (think Harris English in 2021) and I see nothing in the stats that would indicate otherwise for Eckroat. His approach play has been dialed in (gaining in five straight), he plays well on shorter courses where scoring is available, and there is upside; I’m sold.

Others Considered: Mark Hubbard ($6,900), Beau Hossler ($7,100)

Betting Card

Colling Morikawa +2500

Tom Kim +5000

Sahith Theegala +7000

Keegan Bradley +10000

Justin Suh +13000

Austin Eckroat +20000

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