The PGA heads off on a four-week stint that will lead into the final major of the season at the Open Championship. This stretch begins with the Travelers Championship which sits in its usual spot — directly after the U.S. Open — on the schedule again this year. Nonetheless, let’s get on to our 2023 Travelers Championship DFS picks and preview.
The Travelers is always an interesting event as the venue (TPC River Highlands) sets up players to shoot low scores, and it’s certainly an event where birdies must be made if you are going to prevail. In 2016 Jim Furyk set the all-time single-round round scoring record here with a final-round 58.
While the U.S. Open tends to be a grueling, tee-to-green test, TPC River Highlands is more of an outright sprint where converting on a high number of your birdie chances is a must just to keep level with the field. With TPC River Highlands having hosted this event forever, there is a lot of course history to go off this week. Recently, though, the trend has been to target players coming in with great recent form, and also those who performed well at the U.S. Open.
With a ton of big money at stake for DFS, there has never been a better time to check out the Stokastic PGA DFS projections, to get an edge.
But before you do make sure you keep reading as the full preview for the 2023 Travelers Championship DFS picks is below.
2023 Travelers Championship DFS Preview & Picks
The top five finishers at the U.S. Open the week prior were as follows:
- Wyndham Clark
- Rory McIlroy
- Scottie Scheffler
- Cameron Smith
- Min Woo Lee / Rickie Fowler / Tommy Fleetwood
The trend for this event lately has been that players coming in off solid stints over May and June have been able to use this week as a launching pad to even more success. With the pressure ratcheted down after the U.S. Open, Xander Schauffele was able to break a long winning slump at the Travelers in 2022, getting to 19 under par for the week and winning by one over Sahith Theegala. Schauffele had finished top 20 in his previous four starts and finished in the top 15 at both the PGA and the U.S. Open that season.
The year prior in 2021, Harris English had a near similar bout of recent form, placing top 15 in three of his previous four starts. He then proceeded to win the Travelers in an eight-hole playoff that season. English also had a great U.S. Open placing in the top five at Torrey Pines the week prior.
Statistic-wise, this does set up as more of a pure putting contest, and with the greens bringing Poa Annua back into play (a surface used more on the West Coast) it is also worth looking at who had good West Coast form earlier in the season. Both Schauffele and English rank top 15 in strokes gained putting on Poa Annua and that’s a stat that certainly could be a key to finding who has a shot at contending this week.
Travelers Championship DFS Picks: Betting Trends
– Eight of the last nine winners of this event had posted at least a 31st at TPC River Highlands prior to winning. The last two winners here had posted top-15 finishes at this event in a prior season.
– The last three times this event was played after the U.S. Open (2019-Reavie, 2021-English and 2022-Schauffele), the winner at the Travelers was a player who:
- Had participated in the U.S. Open the week before
- Finished inside the top 15 at the US open the week prior
- Gained over eight strokes Total at the U.S. Open the week prior
Below are some of the top players in the field to watch given their recent form and course history:
- Scottie Scheffler: Top three again last week. Scheffler has now finished inside the top five in five straight starts. It’s an insane run considering his putting has been below average in each of those starts.
- Rickie Fowler: Battled all week but settled for fifth after a poor final nine holes. He’s finished top 10 in three straight events and has finished outside the top 20 just once in his last eight starts.
- Rory McIlroy: McIlroy posted his fourth top 10 in a row when he finished runner-up to Wyndham Clark last week. It was another heartbreaking weekend in a major for McIlroy who excelled everywhere but on the greens.
- Tommy Fleetwood: Fleetwood followed up his playoff win with the round of the day on Sunday — a 63 that saw him vault into the top 10. He’s now finished top five in three of his last five starts.
- Austin Eckroat: This is starting to get interesting by Eckroat. He has finished 16th or better in three of his last four starts. One of those finishes was a runner-up at the Byron Nelson and the other was a 10th place at the U.S. Open — his best finish in a major.
Field Notes: Last week saw Min Woo Lee post a career-best finish in a major with a fifth-place showing. As a result, he gets a spot in the field this week and a chance to secure his card for next season with a win. Michael Thorbjornsen is back in the Travelers field again for 2023. He finished fourth at this event last season but missed the cut badly in Canada. Ludwig Aberg is also playing again this week and the PGA University graduate made the cut in his last start in Canada where he also gained over six strokes off the tee.
Travelers Championship Past Winners and Winners Stats
2022: Xander Schauffele
- Lead-in: 10/MC/5 (finished 14 at U.S. Open the week prior and gained over eight strokes total)
- Stats for the week of win: SG: OTT 3.0/SG: APP 5.7/SG: ATG -0.2/SG: PUTT 7.9/SG: TTG 8.4
2021: Harris English
- Lead-in: 3/14/64 (finished third at U.S. Open the week prior and gained 12.1 strokes total)
- Stats for week of win: SG:OTT 3.7/SG:APP 1.5/SG:ATG 2.9/SG:PUTT 4.0/SG:TTG 8.0
2020: Dustin Johnson
- Lead-in: 48/MC/17 (17th at RBC week prior and gained over seven strokes TTG there)
- Stats for week of win: SG:OTT 0.0/SG:APP 6.0/SG:ATG 1.3/SG:PUTT 6.0/SG:TTG 7.3
Recent form for this event has been huge for recent winners. Both Harris English and Xander Schauffele had solid U.S. Opens with English finishing top five at Torrey Pines in 2021 and gaining over eight strokes tee to green there for the week. Schauffele had a somewhat similar result as English last year at Brookline. The need to get hot with the putter at TPC River Highlands is also evident. All three of the past three winners gained over four strokes on the greens. English, Schauffele and Johnson are all also regarded as strong bentgrass/poa putters so recent form in those splits is worth looking into this week.
Want to see who is trending as a strong play early? Check out Stokastic’s PGA DFS projections, which will be updated on Monday and throughout the week.
2023 Travelers Championship Course Preview
TPC River Highlands: 6,852, Par 70
Greens: Poa Annua/Bent
Designer: Pete Dye 1982
Renovation: Bobby Weed (1989)
Similar Courses: Pebble Beach, TPC Southwind
TPC River Highlands plays as one of the shortest venues the players will see all season. At right around 6,900 yards the venue doesn’t challenge the players much off the tee as irons and fairway metals can be taken on many of the holes. Drivable par 4s do exist but they offer challenging greens which make them more of a luxury for around-the-green specialists and putters.
Unlike other tighter venues on the PGA Tour, the fairways at River Highlands are not hard to hit and accuracy ratings off the tee are often high, as players also will club down on many of the shorter holes or doglegs. There are eight par 4s that measure between 400-450 yards this week making this a serious wedge-fest for everyone, but especially the bigger hitters who will be within 100-125 yards on approach on many holes.
Despite the venue being situated on the East Coast, it’s worth noting that the last four winners all could classify as “West Coast specialists”. Dustin Johnson (2020) has won at Riviera, Pebble Beach, and has come close to winning both the PGA and U.S. Open at places like Pebble and TPC Harding Park. Chez Reavie (2019) is a perennial contender at the shorter Pebble Beach and has been in contention at Riviera before. Harris English (2021) has lost in a playoff at Torrey Pines and Jordan Spieth (2017) is a past winner at Pebble Beach and was runner-up there again in 2022.
The correlation is that the poa greens and smaller targets tend to make this venue play a little like a tighter West Coast venue and also seems to make it a comfortable setting for players who have had success in that part of the world over their careers.
Key Stats: Par 4 efficiency 400-450 yards / Strokes Gained Approach (proximity 125-150 yards) / SG: Putting (Poa)
2023 Travelers Championship Recent Form Watch
Top Strokes Gained Tee to Green (U.S. Open)
- Rory McIlroy 14.5
- Tommy Fleetwood 13.3
- Scottie Scheffler 12.8
- Austin Eckroat 12.4
- Dustin Johnson 11.5
Top Strokes Gained Putting (Poa) (Last 50 Rounds)
- Webb Simpson
- Adam Scott
- Peter Malnati
- Kevin Kisner
- Denny McCarthy
Par 4 Efficiency 400-450 yards (Last 50 rounds)
- Collin Morikawa
- Scottie Scheffler
- Taylor Montgomery
- Jon Rahm
- Jason Day
2023 Travelers Championship Weather Update
Thursday morning: 65-70 F, winds 2-4 mph/ 0% chance of precipitation
Thursday afternoon: 80-82 F, winds 8-10 mph/ 0% chance of precipitation
Friday morning: 62-64 F, winds 3-6 mph/ 0% chance of precipitation
Friday afternoon: 82-84 F, winds 10-12 mph/ 0% chance of precipitation
The weather this week looks solid. It will be hot the first two days with highs in the low to mid 80F range. The wind doesn’t look like it will be very obtrusive so scoring good conditions should be in play. Friday looks like it may play a little tougher than Thursday given the hotter temperatures and the fact the afternoon winds are expected to pick up a little (2-3 mph difference). If you are looking for a DFS angle for lineup building, then Friday afternoon may in fact be the best one to fade.
2023 Travelers Championship DFS Picks and Early Betting Targets
Patrick Cantlay | BetMGM Outright
Cantlay is getting close to his goal of shedding the title of “best player without a major” but he’s still someone who feels miles more comfortable at these smaller profile events and courses. Over the past three years, he’s now grabbed five total wins on the PGA Tour and has at least one win in each of the last four seasons.
Even despite not living up to his potential in the majors, Cantlay’s played well at points in 2023. Three top-15 finishes in the majors this season are nothing to sneeze at and he comes into this week has racked up four top-10 finishes over his last eight starts. Cantlay’s putter has held him back at points this year but last week when it came to life as he ranked second (+7.9 strokes) in the entire field in strokes gained putting. Given how familiar he is with TPC River Highlands it wouldn’t be shocking to see that confidence flow over to this week either. Cantlay shot a 60 at this venue back in 2011 (his first time playing it) and has finished top 15 in each of the past five seasons as well. With a very different venue in play, and a putting stroke that is finally coming to life, targeting him for an early outright looks reasonable for this week.
Mark Hubbard | BetMGM Outright
Despite having last week off there is no reason to stop piling in on Mark Hubbard right now. He has made the cut in seven straight starts, and it’s been mostly due to some extremely strong iron play. Hubbard has now gained over four strokes on approach in four of his last six starts and has two top-10 finishes in his last three starts as well. That’s a good spike to see on a stat sheet as heading into a short-iron competition at River Highlands this week, and it’s also good news that Hubbard has seen his putter take an uptick of late too.
Hubbard can occasionally struggle on the greens but has gained strokes in that area in five of his last seven starts overall. Hubbard’s skill with his approaches also has him favoring the shorter venues on the PGA. He’s finished top 15 at courses like Harbor Town, Colonial, and TPC Deere Run and also has five made cuts in five appearances at TPC River Highlands (including a 13th-place finish there in 2021). It all adds up to making him a solid value to chase in DFS and for the top 40/20/10 markets this Monday.
