PGA DFS Picks: Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands

We're in Connecticut this week for the Travelers Championship, one of the more fun weeks on the PGA Tour calendar. The format is a no-cut event, so all 72 golfers play four complete rounds. That shapes how we build lineups in a few meaningful ways, and Ben Rasa walked through the entire field on this week's Stokastic PGA Strategy Show.

Here's the full tier-by-tier breakdown. For the weekly projections board updated through lock, see the PGA DFS Picks hub.

In Summary

• Tommy Fleetwood, Ludvig Åberg, and Xander Schauffele are Ben's top three picks below Scheffler. All three are in strong form and fit well for TPC River Highlands.
• Scottie Scheffler ($13,800) has no discernible weakness. The no-cut format shores up his floor even further.
• Patrick Cantlay is the highest-upside mid-range play. He missed the cut last week on putting alone, not ball-striking. Target him at 12-15% projected ownership.
• Ben Griffin ($8,200) leads the $8K range: good form, low attention, solid course fit.
• Corey Conners ($6,700) is the top value play. Approach game is his strength; he just needs to get the putter going.
• Jordan Spieth ($7,600) is a compelling course-history flyer at a salary that reflects his rough recent stretch.

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Ben Rasa walks through every salary tier, the Stokastic Sims builds, and projected ownership on this week's Stokastic PGA Strategy Show above.

The Course: What TPC River Highlands Rewards

TPC River Highlands is not a bomber's course. Accuracy off the tee matters more than raw distance here, and the course rewards good scrambling and solid iron play. You don't need to overpower it. That said, Ben noted that aggression in spots can still help, similar to TPC Southwind. It's not a prerequisite the way it is at a US Open venue, but it doesn't hurt.

The no-cut format changes lineup construction on both ends. At the top, reliable players like Scheffler have even more floor protection since there's no Friday cut risk. At the bottom, we can take shots on value plays that might have been too risky in a standard cut format, since four complete rounds give them time to put together a real score.

Tier 1: Scottie Scheffler ($13,800)

There's no case to make against Scheffler. He was fourth at the US Open and is gaining strokes across every category. The price reflects that. In a no-cut field, building around him is a touch more viable because the value plays at the bottom don't need to carry cut risk.

The ownership question is the only real consideration. Scheffler is heavily owned every week, so differentiation below him in your lineup is how you win a large-field tournament.

Top PGA DFS Picks Below Scheffler: Fleetwood, Aberg, and Xander

These are Ben's top three non-Scheffler plays, in order of preference.

Tommy Fleetwood is the top pick. He has been gaining strokes in all four categories and is playing some of his best golf of the year: 11th at the US Open, 11th in Canada, and top-5 at the Memorial. No wins, but consistent elite-level play week after week. He should have won at River Highlands last year, knows the course, and his game profile fits what the track rewards. When a player in this kind of form shows up at a course he understands, the case builds quickly.

Ludvig Åberg slots in as Ben's second pick in this group. He's reliable off the tee, which matters at River Highlands, and he has built several seasons of course history despite being newer on tour. His price sits just below Fleetwood's, which gives a bit more salary flexibility.

Xander Schauffele rounds out the top three. He also finished 11th at the US Open and won at River Highlands in 2022, so the course experience is real. His price is bunched close to Fleetwood's, making it a feel call between them.

The gap between Fleetwood, Åberg, and Xander is small. Ben's ordering was Fleetwood first, then Åberg, then Xander. Any one of them anchors a solid lineup; picking between them is splitting hairs.

Tier 3: The Mid-Range Sweet Spot

Patrick Cantlay is the most interesting name in this range and the one Ben spent the most time on. He missed the cut last week, but the diagnosis matters: his ball-striking was the same as it had been all year, and he had just come off seven straight rounds of gaining around the greens. The putting and short game fell apart in one event. Ben's read is that Cantlay fixes it quickly, as he typically does. At 12-15% projected ownership, he's a real play worth targeting.

Justin Thomas finished 17th at the US Open and has been a steady presence week after week. Ben has been buying him and sees no reason to stop.

Viktor Hovland showed strong iron work at the US Open despite a tough overall result. He works as a lower-owned tournament flyer if his ownership stays in the 5-10% range: real ceiling, solid iron form, not someone you need to jam into every build.

Maverick McNealy grinded at the US Open and came in 32nd. He made the cut at all four major championships this season and posted top-20 finishes at both the PGA Championship and the Masters, a level of consistency that doesn't get enough credit in the mid-salary range. Ben has him ahead of Hovland on reliability.

Bob MacIntyre is in comeback mode after missing cuts at the Masters, PGA Championship, and Memorial. He made the cut at the US Open and finished 15th in Canada, which looks like real progress. He sits behind Ben Griffin in the range but is a reasonable include if the Sims surface him at low ownership.

Pull the full PGA projections and ownership breakdown at the Stokastic PGA DataHub. That's the same data feeding the Sims builds in the next section. If you're new to the tools, the Stokastic PGA Sims guide covers how to use them end to end.

Ben Griffin ($8,200) and the $8K Range

Ben Griffin ($8,200) is Ben's top play in this range. He finished 17th at the US Open on the strength of his around-the-green game, has a couple of top-five finishes on the season, and isn't drawing much ownership attention right now. The $8K band at this tournament is weak, which makes his edge in the range more meaningful. We're planning to be over on Griffin in our builds.

The rest of the range is thinner. MacIntyre, discussed above, is behind Griffin but fine if the Sims bring him up at low ownership.

Value Tier: Spieth, Cauley, Conners, and the Rest

Jordan Spieth ($7,600) brings course history at the Travelers Championship and a salary that reflects a year where consistency has been elusive. The putter has come and gone (spikes, not steady runs), but he has been more reliable off the tee lately. Ben called him "very interesting" at $7,600. Course familiarity plus a depressed salary is a reliable combination for a tournament flyer.

Bud Cauley ($7,000) won recently on the PGA Tour and made the cut at the US Open. Putting was the issue at the US Open, but his skill set fits this course. Ben sees him as right back in play at flat $7,000.

Corey Conners ($6,700) is Ben's top play in the value tier. He finished 23rd at the US Open after his approach game held up; the only issue was five straight rounds of losing strokes with the putter. His iron play can carry a score at River Highlands if he finds any putting form at all. He works well as a fourth or fifth salary play in most builds.

Tony Finau ($6,500) skipped the US Open and came in 40th in Canada. The simple case: sub-5% projected ownership on an experienced PGA Tour player in a no-cut field at a course that doesn't single out a specific weakness of his.

Min Woo Lee is the most consistent all-around player in his range, checking the most boxes on ball-striking, course fit, and experience. The caveat is two consecutive missed cuts driven entirely by putting. If that's a blip, he's solid. If something is off, the rest of his game can't carry it.

Ben also flagged Sungjae Im as a deep flyer. His irons have been consistently weak (losing strokes on approach for five straight events), but he has a strong short game and good history in these types of events. Denny McCarthy works as a low-ownership pay-down option if you need to free up salary.

For a broader look at how we think about value and salary construction in golf DFS, the PGA DFS strategy guide covers the fundamentals in detail.

Value tier at a glance:

Worked Example: The Balanced Build Structure

The balanced build Ben ran through the Stokastic Single Lineup Simulator shows how we think about DFS salary construction for a no-cut PGA field. The sim week was tough overall — all three builds came back in negative or flat territory — so we're walking through this one for the structural reasoning, not the sim result.

Build: Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Si Woo Kim, Viktor Hovland, Corey Conners, Denny McCarthy.

The logic: one elite-tier anchor in Xander, two solid mid-range plays in Thomas and Hovland, and real value at the bottom with Conners and McCarthy. No dead salary weight in the middle, and the bottom doesn't hinge on a single player carrying the whole value load. You can swap Hovland for Maverick McNealy without breaking the core concept. You can swap Xander for Fleetwood with a small salary adjustment. The skeleton holds even when individual pieces move.

This is the kind of structure that scales across multiple entries in a large-field GPP. The Sims are a process tool — a tough pre-tournament result doesn't tell you not to run the build, it tells you the field is not pricing the sim week as highly as usual. That's useful information when setting exposure.

Three Lineup Builds From the Stokastic Sims

Ben ran three builds through the Stokastic Single Lineup Simulator on the show. It was a tough sim week — all three came back negative or flat. Lineup 3 was the best of the three, but Ben's own framing was "we don't want to get skunked." Use these as structural starting points.

Lineup 1 (High-Salary Build): Xander Schauffele, Ludvig Åberg, Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth, Ryan Fox, Eric Cole. The simulator came back as a wash — right on the edge of negative. Going aggressive at the top with three premium anchors left minimal salary flexibility at the bottom. Ryan Fox and Eric Cole are flyer-territory plays in this field, not primary targets.

Lineup 2 (Balanced Build): Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Si Woo Kim, Viktor Hovland, Corey Conners, Denny McCarthy. "Not so cool for the sim today" was Ben's read — the structure is the part worth keeping (see the Worked Example section above). The sim result was flat, but this is the build Ben was most structurally aligned with.

Lineup 3 (Fleetwood Core): Tommy Fleetwood, Ben Griffin, Ryan Gerard, Justin Rose, Collin Morikawa, and one value play (audio unclear on the sixth pick). The best of the three sim results — still in negative territory on the week, but the strongest of the three builds. Fleetwood anchors the top, Griffin holds the mid-range, and Ryan Gerard, Rose, and Morikawa fill the supporting slots. The sixth pick was not clear from the show audio.

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FAQ

Who is the top PGA DFS pick at the Travelers Championship? Tommy Fleetwood ($10,300) is Ben's top non-Scheffler play. He is gaining in all four categories, has a course fit for River Highlands, and should have won here last year. If you want one name below Scheffler, Fleetwood is the lean.

Who are the best value plays in PGA DFS for the Travelers Championship? Corey Conners ($6,700) is the top value target, with a strong approach game and a putter that just needs to wake up. Jordan Spieth ($7,600) brings course history and a depressed salary. Bud Cauley ($7,000) is right back in play after his recent win.

Is Scottie Scheffler worth playing at the Travelers Championship? Yes. No category weakness, no course concern, no argument against him. The no-cut format at River Highlands means four complete rounds of upside, and his floor is as reliable as it gets on the PGA Tour.

Should I use Patrick Cantlay in my lineup this week? If he is at 12-15% projected ownership, yes. The missed cut last week was a putting problem. His ball-striking was the same as always, and seven straight rounds of gaining around the greens before that is the more relevant baseline. At realistic ownership, he is one of the better plays in the $8K range.

How does the no-cut format affect PGA DFS strategy at the Travelers Championship? Every golfer plays four complete rounds. At the premium tier, reliable players like Scheffler have even more floor protection since no early exit can collapse a lineup. In the value tier, we can take shots on lower-owned players who might have been too risky in a cut format, because four rounds give them time to put together a real score.

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