The Travelers Championship
Preview for the Travelers Championship: This Connecticut-based event dates back to 1984 when it was originally named the Insurance City Open, and Ted Kroll was the winner with a score of -11 which was four strokes better than three other players. The record at this tournament is held by Tim Norris who shot a -25 in the 1982 edition of the Sammy Davis Jr.-Greater Hartford Open winning by 6 strokes over two other golfers. Winners of the Travelers Championship over the last five years include Xander Schauffle in 2022, Harris English in 2021, Dustin Johnson in 2020, Chez Reavie in 2019, and Bubba Watson in 2018.
Tournament purse: The prize money for this week’s event is $20M, the winner collects $3.6M and also earns himself 500 FedEx Cup points.
Course and key stats: TPC River Highlands is a short 6,852 yards in length, is a par 70, and the average-sized greens are a mix between bentgrass/poa annua. The winning score at the Travelers Championship over the past decade ranges from -12 to -19, so the course is around average in terms of difficulty level this week. Some core key stats to hone in on this week include driving accuracy percentage, strokes gained: tee to green, strokes gained: approach, strokes gained: around the green, and strokes gained: putting.
The 2023 Travelers Championship field: Much the same as last week in Los Angeles and the week before in Toronto, we again have a full 156-player field competing this week, and the top 65 golfers plus ties after round 2 on Friday will move on to play round 3 on Saturday and round 4 on Sunday. The field is once again quite stacked with plenty of superstars and stars in action this week including Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, and fresh off of winning the U.S. Open last week, Wyndham Clark. On a scale ranging from A to D, I rank the field strength to be an A.
DFS PGA Tour Golf Picks
Make the most of this article’s data, predictions, and insights to help with your fantasy golf picks for the Travelers Championship. And check out our PGA Projections and Optimizer tools to make more informed player selections for your DFS DraftKings lineups. Best of luck this week!
Three questions that are relevant to the Travelers Championship this week:
- Which 10 players have gained the most strokes total over their last 24 rounds? Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark, Patrick Cantlay, Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, Rickie Fowler, Rory McIlroy, and Denny McCarthy.
- Which 10 players does my custom model like the most? Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Tony Finau, Viktor Hovland, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm, Si Woo Kim, Matt Fitzpatrick, and Russell Henley.
- Which 10 players gained the most strokes total (minimum 8 rounds) at this event since 2018? Xander Schauffele, Brian Harman, Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay, Chez Reavie, Kevin Streelman, Kevin Kisner, Tommy Fleetwood, Jason Day, and Brendon Todd.
All the best in your journey to win or at least be in the money in some contests this week – here are (in no particular order) 15 DFS golf picks on DraftKings (DK), plus I also include player salaries for DK. I consistently provide recent and seasonal finishes for each of my picks, their performances at the event over the last five years, and add in some valuable data.
15 Players Who Are Either High-Potential or Solid-Value Plays This Week – Get Them Into Your DFS Lineups
Scottie Scheffler (Salary: DraftKings – $11.3K) – He’s simply unbelievable with five consecutive top 5’s coming into this week including a T2 at the PGA Championship and a 3rd last week at the U.S. Open. He consistently gains double digits on ball striking, is really strong around the green, and his putter has been cold recently, but he did gain 1.20 strokes last week in Los Angeles, so if his putter heats up again, watch out as his next winning streak could be just around the corner. He had a good showing last year, and should better that this week with yet another top 10 and will likely win if he gains at least 2 strokes putting. Travelers Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T13, 2021 – T47, and 2020 – cut.
Rory McIlroy (Salary: DraftKings – $10.9K) – Rory was licking his lips last week at the U.S. Open just hoping that Wyndham Clark three-putted hole 72 so that he could get into a playoff situation, but Clark made a 60-foot two-putt look easy to hold on and win by a single stroke. He now has four straight top 9’s including his runner-up finish last week where he gained an atrocious 13.59 strokes ball-striking. He has been consistent at this event with finishes ranging from T11 to T19 between 2017 to 2022. Travelers Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T19, 2020 – T11, and 2018 – T12
Tommy Fleetwood (Salary: DraftKings – $9.3K) – He came on strong last week in round 4 to finish T5 at the U.S. Open and he lost in a playoff the week before that at the Canadian Open. He has three top 5’s in his last five starts, and looked solid last week gaining 12.00 strokes ball-striking and 13.17 tee-to-green. He narrowly missed out on a top 10 here in 2019 and gained an insane 10.41 strokes with his short game that year. Travelers Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T46 and 2019 – T13.
Russell Henley (Salary: DraftKings – $7.8K) – Henley has been consistently finishing in the teens with six of those in his last eight starts and he had a T4 at The Masters in April. He has three top 19’s here since 2016 in five starts, and gained 10.04 strokes ball-striking in 2020 to finish T32, no thanks to losing 5.74 strokes with his short game. Travelers Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T19, 2020 – T32, 2019 – cut, and 2018 – T6.
Harris English (Salary: DraftKings – $7.7K) – He’s starting to get in a groove now after some tough finishes throughout the winter, with a T8 last week at the U.S. Open, and he has four top 13’s in his last six starts if you include the Zurich Classic. He won here just two years ago by gaining strokes across the board, had a T7 in 2014, and a T19 last year, so he has a pretty decent track record at this venue. Travelers Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T19, 2021 – Won, 2019 – T71, and 2018 – cut.
Austin Eckroat (Salary: DraftKings – $7.3K) – He’s really starting to build a name for himself and is coming off a T10 last week in LA gaining 7.58 strokes ball-striking and another 4.86 around the green. He also had a T2 four starts ago at the Byron Nelson and has four straight top 30’s. He had a decent rookie appearance here last year and pretty much gained strokes across the board except for a mild 0.17 loss around the green. Travelers Championship finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T47.
Eric Cole (Salary: DraftKings – $7.3K) – Here’s another young player that you’ll want to keep your eyes on as he has been putting together solid finishes since late last year including four top 24’s in his last six starts including a T6 at the Canadian Open two weeks ago. If his putter stays really hot this week, then a top 25 isn’t out of the question. Travelers Championship finishes over the last five years: none.
Xander Schauffele (Salary: DraftKings – $10.4K) – He came out guns-a-blazin’ last week shooting a 62 in round 1 of the U.S. Open, but just couldn’t do much else and settled for a T10. Nonetheless, he has six top 10’s in his last eight starts if you include the Zurich Classic, and he plays a tight all-around game. He’s the defending champ here and has three top 20’s in four starts dating back to 2017, and has never lost anything ball-striking on this track. Travelers Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – Won, 2020 – T20, and 2018 – cut.
Patrick Cantlay (Salary: DraftKings – $10.2K) – He’s such a consistent player since his game has no weaknesses whatsoever, and his DNA has shown up here as he has finished anywhere from T11 to T15 over the last five years. He has six top 9’s this year, and his worst finish over his last eleven starts is a T30 – not too shabby at all. Travelers Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T13, 2021 – T13, 2020 – T11, 2019 – T15, and 2018 – T15.
Rickie Fowler (Salary: DraftKings – $9.1K) – He was right in contention to win after 54 holes last week, but Fowler fell apart in round 4 on Sunday to finish T5 to extend his top 9 streak to three events played. He has been playing extremely well since last October, and although he missed the cut here over the last two years, he did have a T13 in both 2010 and 2013, so he can navigate this course just fine. Travelers Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – cut and 2021 – cut.
Viktor Hovland (Salary: DraftKings – $9.9K) – He only had his B-game last week to finish T19 in LA, but did win at the Memorial Tournament the start before that and had a T2 at the PGA Championship four starts ago, so he’s playing admirably right now. He was a stroke off a top 10 finish here three years ago, and gained 10.06 strokes ball-striking that year – 7.83 of that number was on approach. Travelers Championship finishes over the last five years: 2020 – T11 and 2019 – T54.
Brian Harman (Salary: DraftKings – $7.5K) – He seems very comfortable here as he has four top 8’s over the last five years, and he also had a 3rd in 2015 thanks to gaining 9.60 strokes ball-striking. Harman hasn’t been so great lately, but had a T29 three starts ago at the Charles Schwab Challenge, and is coming off a T43 last week gaining 4.00 strokes on approach and 1.33 putting at the U.S. Open. If he nets another top 10 finish this week, then he’s an absolute steal. Travelers Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T8, 2021 – T5, 2020 – cut, 2019 – T8, and 2018 – T6.
Lee Hodges (Salary: DraftKings – $6.9K) – Hodges has something brewing with three top 29’s in as many starts, and he has collectively gained 16+ strokes ball-striking. He did good here last year as a rookie, and could put up another top 25 if his ball-striking remains hot and if he can find some life in his chilly putter. Travelers Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T25.
Chez Reavie (Salary: DraftKings – $6.7K) – Reavie was the 2019 Travelers Championship winner, he has three top 25’s over the last four years including a T8 last year, and he has only missed a single cut here since 2009 going 10/11. He has made four consecutive cut lines and is 7/8 since early April with a T6 and a T11, and five top 40’s during that stretch, as well. Travelers Championship finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T8, 2021 – T25, 2020 – T46, 2019 – Won, and 2018 – cut.
Shane Lowry (Salary: DraftKings – $8.2K) – Since I wanted to include an $8K player, I landed on Lowry who has three top 20’s in his last four starts including a T12 at the PGA Championship and a T20 last week at the U.S. Open. He doesn’t really do anything extremely notable on a regular basis, but he plays a complete game making his finishes consistent and rarely missing a cut line. Travelers Championship finishes over the last five years: 2020 – T60.
