The Travelers Championship has been the regular post-U.S. Open stop for a few years and goes back to its regular place on the schedule for the third straight season. TPC River Highlands will be a much different test for the players, as it is typically one of the easier courses on the PGA Tour and plays relatively short (with somewhat easy rough) at 6,840 yards. The par 70 was redesigned in 1982 by Pete Dye and has hosted this event for over three decades. It has seen a variety of different styles of player win and was even the site of a round of 58, posted by Jim Furyk in 2016, who was 46 years old at the time. With that in mind, let’s get into some PGA DFS fades and pivots for the Travelers Championship.
PGA DFS Fades & Pivots | Travelers Championship
The tournament has been a hotbed for veteran players, and West Coast specialists have also found the poa greens extremely inviting. Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Chez Reavie and even Kevin Streelman are all names we see pop up at Pebble Beach and Riviera, and yet all four of them are past champions at the Travelers as well. The field is among the strongest this event has ever seen, and the presence of the top-3 players Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy will certainly give this tournament a different dynamic than it has had in past seasons.
Below we will go through a few of the best fade and pivot spots for PGA DFS lineup building, with a main focus on large-field GPPs with top-heavy prizes. As always, we will use Stokastic’s PGA DFS projections and PGA DFS ownership projections.
TPC River Highlands Stats and Info
- A par-70 course that often plays under 6,900 yards; features smaller greens that use poa/bentgrass and has water in play on five holes.
- Seven of the par 4’s measure 400 to 450 yards, making short-iron play essential; the fairways are some of the easiest to hit on the PGA Tour, as players tend to average close to 70% driving accuracy, which is 5% to 7% higher than the tour average. This has helped big hitters get around this more technical track with more ease in the past.
- Approaches are the most vital to focus on, and five of the last six winners have gained five strokes or more on approach in the week of their win.
2023 Travelers Championship PGA DFS Fades and Pivots
High-Range PGA DFS Fade: Viktor Hovland
Projected DFS Golf Ownership: DraftKings: 13.3% | FanDuel: 6.4%
Hovland managed to grind out a 19th-place finish at the U.S. Open last week, but it was far from a spirited effort. He lost strokes on approach and perhaps was a little fatigued, having been in contention so much in his past few starts. Whatever the reason, Hovland comes to the Travelers and a course in TPC River Highlands where he is yet to find much success. The short venue means his driver mastery does not gain him as much advantage as it does at longer layouts, and the poa greens have never gelled well with his putter, as he has lost multiple strokes putting here in two career appearances. Hovland’s projections on Stokastic are steady, but his value score is surpassed by a few players who come in under his $9,900 salary on DraftKings. With his ownership likely to push close to 15% once again, he looks like a potential large-field fade target in the upper tier.
High-Range Pivot: Collin Morikawa
Projected DFS Golf Ownership: DraftKings: 10.3% | FanDuel: 6.97%
Morikawa bounced back nicely from his back issue at the Memorial (where he withdrew after Round 3), grabbing a share of 14th at the Los Angeles Country Club — his second top-15 finish in the majors so far. Morikawa was his usual steady self on approaches and off the tee in Los Angeles., gaining over seven strokes tee to green for the week. His putter perked up towards the end of the event as well, and it is worth noting that Morikawa has gained over a stroke on the greens at both Torrey Pines and Riviera this year. Morikawa’s Stokastic PGA DFS projections have him as one of the best value plays in this range and with potentially 3% to 4% lower ownership than Hovland. As a GPP pivot, it is hard to go wrong in this situation, as the injury scare looks overblown and his ownership looks unlikely to rise to the levels of several other names in this range, many of whom he bested last week.
Mid-Range PGA DFS Fade: Min Woo Lee
Projected DFS Golf Ownership: DraftKings: 18.3% | FanDuel:19.8%
Make no mistake — Lee looks like he is going to be a legit player and potentially challenge for some big titles soon. He posted a career-best fifth-place finish at the U.S. Open last week and displayed some gritty putting, along with great driving on a tough setup. Lee’s problem is really all about the experience — or lack thereof. TPC River Highlands is not hard, but Lee has yet to play it on the PGA and has struggled with some of the more technical tracks his first time through. From a projection standpoint, he is starting to climb a bit on Stokastic but is not as far ahead of others in this range as one might expect for a player who looks to be over 15% owned. From a pure ownership standpoint, Lee is likely to be one of the most targeted in this range and makes for a good fade target on that basis alone.
Mid-Range Pivot: Adam Scott
Projected DFS Golf Ownership: DraftKings: 11.1% | FanDuel: 9.4%
It was rough couple of rounds for Scott at the Los Angeles Country Club, as he could never get it going with his irons or putter. The good news is that he is better rested than the field and is still not far removed from a four-event stretch where he posted three top-10s. Scott has shown real strength on the greens all season, and his poa putting stats are some of the best in the field. Like many past winners at TPC River Highlands, he has been a great West Coast player during his career and has a win at Riviera and multiple solid finishes at Torrey Pines. His PGA DFS projections are right near Lee’s on Stokastic, but after his missed cut, Scott seems likely to come in with half the ownership of Lee in large fields. The shorter course should favor Scott, who looks like a great GPP pivot.
Low-End PGA DFS Fade: Denny McCarthy
Projected DFS Golf Ownership: DraftKings: 15.3% | FanDuel: 14.9%
McCarthy continued his good play last week at the U.S. Open, posting a tie for 20th. His recent form has been stellar, and it was just three weeks ago that he lost in a playoff at the Memorial, a tournament he could have won with a par on the last hole. McCarthy should set up well for TPC River Highlands on the surface, but he has never had success here. Last season he posted a fifth at the Memorial and a seventh at the U.S. Open and then promptly came to the Travelers and missed the cut by multiple strokes. McCarthy has putted well at TPC River Highlands, but everything else has been a disaster. He has played four of the last five weeks on the PGA and showed some regression with his approach play at the Los Angeles Country Club. At 15% ownership, his PGA DFS projections are steady but not really strong enough to support that kind of popularity in large fields, especially considering the solid names surrounding him.
Low-End Pivot: Brian Harmon
Projected DFS Golf Ownership: DraftKings: 8.8% | FanDuel: 2.2%
In terms of their profiles as players, there is not a ton of difference between McCarthy and Harmon. They are both high-end putters who struggle off the tee but can get really hot with their short to mid irons at times — and are serious dangers to on short courses when they do. McCarthy has looked close of late, but it is worth noting that Harmon is the two-time winner of the group and has a vastly superior record at this venue and event. He has posted top-10 finishes at TPC River Highlands in four of the past five seasons and comes into this year’s tournament having gained multiple strokes on approach in three of his last four starts. They are both projecting for similar outputs in Stokastic’s PGA DFS projections, but Harmon’s course history is going well under the radar, as McCarthy is projected to be nearly twice as popular. That makes Harmon a great pivot at these levels and a player to look to in large-field GPPs.
