DraftKings Fantasy Golf Picks & Plays for The Travelers Championship
Welcome back for another week of PGA DFS at DraftKings, FanDuel, and FantasyDraft. We’re here to give you the full report on picks for The Travelers Championship & TPC River Highlands.
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The Course
Built in 1928 and renovated by Pete Dye in 1982, TPC River Highlands is a 6,800-yard par 70 with Bent grass greens, plus a bit of the bumpy, native Poa creeping in. Situated in Cromwell, Connecticut, TPC RH has vintage parkland course design with mature trees surrounding most of the holes. Water is in play on several of the holes, with slightly elevated greens and shaved run-off areas close by. Long rough skirts the fairways, and the frequently soft conditions encourage pin seeking.
How it Plays
TPC River Highlands is a fairly benign golf course until you hit the closing stretch of 15-18, well known for its ability to turn a tournament. One of the easier courses to find the fairway, TPC River Highlands usual yields plenty of scoring. It lacks the teeth of the more modern and sprawling courses, which could be a welcome reprieve after a grueling week at the US Open.
Golfers shouldn’t have any troubling getting into the short grass here. It’s hitting the smaller than average greens that can bite some players. As is typical of Dye designs, players will be forced to work the ball both ways on approach.
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The Breakdown
Make sure to check out my course preview video here.
As you can see, this par 70 is all about par-4 scoring. Sixty-three percent of all DK points will come from these holes this week. The only real danger exists on the two long par 4’s and No. 17. Everything else on this course is very manageable for everyone in the field at this level. The par 5’s are easy to score on, and most of the players in form and/or contending this week should have little difficulty.
There really isn’t a lot more to say about the course in terms of the breakdown. The closing stretch of holes is the only real danger here, and a lead can quickly evaporate if nerves get to a player late on Sunday.
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Key Stats
- Strokes Gained Approach
- Birdies or Better
- GIR Gained
- Prox 125-175
PGA DFS Players:
Top Tier: $11.5K – $9.5K
Justin Thomas ($11.5K)
Thomas has posted some mixed results at this track over his four tries, a couple of missed cuts in 2015 and 2017 but with a 30th in 2013 and a 3rd in 2016. Based on what we know about JT at this point in his career, I am unconcerned about his MC here and expect him to go a bit less owned than he should. Thomas is an elite scorer who plays the game as aggressively he does intelligently and strategically. This course will allow him to do all of the above with his hot current form.
Brooks Koepka ($11.3K)
Hard to ignore the guy who just back-to-backed the US Open and currently has more Major wins than regular tour wins. Brooks could easily be looking past this event given his Major win, but if he is teeing it up, he is very much the kind of guy who can win in consecutive weeks walking away.
Patrick Reed ($10K)
Patrick Reed continued his solid showings last week and is currently on a streak of eight made cuts in a row, including a Major win and four top 10’s. TPC RH has agreed with Reed over the years with three top 20s, a top five, and two missed cuts in his six visits here. He is in excellent form right now and is gaining strokes in all facets of the game. Plus, he loves to putt the bent. A bit more expensive than we are used to seeing, Reed could see depressed ownership given the names and “value” around him.
Paul Casey ($9.6K)
Elite ball-striking, strong course history, and his best season on tour — what more is there to say about Mr. Consistency Casey? The best cash play off the top tier should be a lock to make the cut on a course that is tailor made for his super steady T2G game. Then, the slower greens should help Casey surge near the top of the weekend leader boards at TPCRH. Casey will likely be the most tagged golfer on Fanshare this week.
Other to consider: Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Jason Day
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Mid Tier: $9.5K – $7.6K
Ryan Moore ($9K)
Ryan Moore is coming off a strong showing at Memorial. He’ll potentially be a bit under the radar this week since we didn’t see him at the US Open last week. Moore is super consistent tee to green, and it shows in his results here: no missed cuts in his last three tries, and his worst finish is a T17, with a pair of top 10s the other two times. Moore is a great fit here and in form enough to scare the top of the leaderboard once again.
Patrick Cantlay ($8.4K)
Cantlay once posted a 60 here, and this is the perfect course setup for his elite ball-striking game to rise above his scrambling woes given the soft conditions that help his aggressive approaches hold close. I expect Cantlay to make the cut this week and surge on the weekend at a course he has lit up before. Clearly in good form and ready to notch a second tour victory, Cantlay is a good bet to hit the top five tagged golfers on Fanshare this week.
Russel Knox ($8K)
A former winner on this course, who’s made cuts in his last four outings, Knox has the prototypical game for this course. He’s elite into the greens with a shaky putter than can get crazy hot on slow, easy greens that afford tight approaches. Knox is knocking at the door once again at TPCRH.
Emiliano Grillo ($7.7K)
The Argentine poster boy was a big disappointment last week for his backers, as he deviated from his scorching iron play and much-improved putter. That said, if there was ever a tournament to give a pass on, it’s the US Open. I worry about Grillo in tough conditions on non-bent greens because he is a bit of a hot head (see his iron toss at API last year), but the tame acreage and soft bent greens of TPCRH will get him comfy again and back to his top 15 ways this week.
Others to consider: Brandt Snedeker, Marc Leishman, Webb Simpson, Daniel Berger, Bubba Watson, Charley Hoffman, Kyle Stanley, Brendan Steele, Russell Henley, Patrick Rodgers, Keegan Bradley
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Value Tier: $7.6K and Lower
C.T. Pan ($7.6K)
The “Taiwan Bomb” has been playing some really solid golf as of late and always seems to pop up on these shorter par 70 tracks. Gaining 4.1 strokes on approach at the St. Jude as well as a positive bent and poa putter set Pan up well for success this week. Pan has played here twice before and both times posted strong finishes (25th and 8th). Pan will probably get plenty of buzz this week on FanShare with his affordable price, recent form, and history here.
Si Woo Kim ($7.5K)
Kim should have notched the victory back at Harbour Town, but his putting cost him once again. Yet his world-class game is more consistent this year than ever. He’s missed only one cut since the Masters, and that was last week. Despite his approach game being a bit all over the place, Kim is finding a way to make cuts. Given his price tag, Kim is a value with real winning upside below $7.6K. His previous win and second place both came at comparable Dye courses. He’s worth a couple GPP shares if you are multi-entering this week.
Wesley Bryan ($7K)
Bryan gained 8.8 strokes on approach the last time we saw him at St. Jude, a mildly difficult par 70 that isn’t the worst comparison to TPC RH. A short hitter who excels around the greens, Bryan has plenty of upside for his cheap price tag.
Others to consider: Jim Furyk, Chris Stroud, Kevin Tway, Joel Dahmen, Chez Reavie, Satoshi Kodaira
That does it for this The Travelers Championship breakdown. Good luck this week!
