Daily Fantasy Golf Expert PGA Picks This Week

The Travelers Championship follows up on what was an eventful US Open. Jon Rahm won his first major championship last week in style, but won’t be in the field at TPC River Highlands, which is located in Cromwell, Conn., and the host venue for the Travelers Championship. While the newly minted OWGR No. 1 won’t be here, the Nos. 2- and 6-ranked players will be playing in Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson. Both men flashed near the top of the leaderboard for points on the weekend — DeChambeau was especially deep at one point—but will be looking for a better result here. We’ll be looking to find the top plays and daily fantasy golf picks this week for DraftKings and FanDuel contests with the help of Awesemo’s expert DFS golf projections.

The Travelers Championship has been the regular post-US Open stop for a few years now and goes back to its regular place on the schedule here (after the US Open was postponed until Sept in 2020). TPC River Highlands will be a much different test for the players as it’s 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 here and even was the site of a round of 58, posted by Jim Furyk in 2016, who was around 46 years old at the time.

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TPC River Highlands Stats and Info

A Par-70 course that often plays under 6,900 yards; features smaller greens that have Poa/Bentgrass greens and does have water in play on five holes
Seven of the Par 4’s here measure in at 400-450 yards, making short-iron play essential here; 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 5-7% higher than the tour average
Approach stats are the most vital to focus on here, and four of the last five winners have gained +5.0 strokes or more on Approach in the week of their win

Putting Splits

TPC River Highlands has a blend of Poa/Bentgrass greens so I’ve used a combo of both green types for the splits this week. As for comparables these could play somewhat similar to what we saw out West last week at Torrey Pines, but likely will be a couple speeds slower on the stimp. Use caution with these in your daily fantasy golf picks; they aren’t the be-all, end-all, but they make for a nice tiebreaker.

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Negative Poa/Bent Annua Putting Splits, Last 50 Rounds

Brooks Koepka: -6 strokes on Poa/Bent, +20 strokes on all other surfaces
Chris Kirk: -3 on Poa Annuagrass, +10 on all other surfaces
Marc Leishman: -8 on Poa Annuagrass, +8 on all other surfaces

*+ equals total strokes gained | – equals strokes lost

Positive Poa Annua Putting Splits, Last 50 Rounds

Adam Scott: +28 on Poa Annuagrass, +2 on all other surfaces
Brandt Snedeker: +29 on Poa Annuagrass, +8 on all other surfaces
Jason Day: +20 on Poa Annuagrass, +2 on all other surfaces

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Daily Fantasy Golf Picks for DraftKings & FanDuel

Patrick Cantlay: Grades: A+ Values: B

Cantlay comes in off a decent US Open where he grinded his way to a T15 finish. The American didn’t have his best ball-striking performance at Torrey Pines, as he lost strokes on approach for the week, but his scoring clubs certainly looked good. Cantlay gained over +3.0 strokes putting and around the greens, his second straight high-end performance in those areas. Cantlay has fought back well after a slump that saw him miss four cuts in a row, and could certainly go hunting for another win here at the Travelers Championship, a venue where he shot 60 as an amateur back in 2011.

Despite the slight drawback in iron play last week, there are no red flags around Cantlay here, as he comes in ranked second in SG: Tee to Green over the last 50 rounds, and has been one of the most consistent players on the PGA Tour off the tee of late, ranking third in SG: OTT stats over that same span. If the scoring clubs stay hot this week, we should also expect Cantlay to contend. He ranks out with the third-best points projection in the Awesemo daily fantasy golf projections this week — despite being just the fourth-most expensive player — and has a far better value score in the Awesemo model than the two men ranked priced $11K. Cantlay’s playing great golf and should continue to be on your PGA DFS radar this week.

The Stats:

Ranked second in SG: TTG stats and third in SG: OTT stats over the last 50-rounds; +16 strokes putting on Poa/Bent greens over the last 50-rounds
Ranks first in SG: Par 4 scoring and is seventh in Par 4 efficiency from 400-450 yards

Projected PGA DFS ownership: DraftKings: 18.4%

Harris English: Grades: B Values: A, B

English comes in off another hugely successful US Open. The American finished T4 at last year’s US Open, and was somehow able to better that mark at Torrey Pines last week, grabbing a solo third-place finish. His week was defined by a Sunday 68 (second best round of the day), and by some superb ball-striking that saw him gain +4.6 strokes with his irons — the most he’s gained on approach since Fall of 2019. English had regressed a bit after his breakout win at the Tournament of Champions in January, but he’s bounced back rather nicely at the start of the summer, and has now made eight of the last nine cuts on the PGA Tour.

He didn’t play in this event last season but has played the Travelers Championship seven times previous in his career and finished T7 at this venue back in 2014. English has the highest points projection (on the Awesemo model) of anyone under $8.5K in salary on DraftKings this week, but he really stands out in the value section. His value score in the model is the highest of anyone with a price $8K or more. The ownership here will obviously be higher than we’d like, but his price here doesn’t reflect his improved play over the past month or so. Taking the easy value selection is sometimes the best play and that certainly seems to be the advice we’re dishing out on English this week.

The Stats:

Ranks 15th in birdies gained over the last 50 rounds and 11th in that same stat over the last 24 rounds
Has gained +25 strokes on Poa/Bent grass greens over the last 50 rounds and ranks 16th overall in SG: Putting over that same span

Projected PGA DFS ownership: DraftKings: 22.5%

Tune into the PGA DFS Strategy Show for the best Travelers Championship daily fantasy golf picks at 1 p.m. ET.

Low-Owned PGA DFS GPP Flier

Matthew Wolff

Despite him finishing T15 at the US Open last week and leading the field in birdies, Wolff doesn’t appear destined to be a popular pick at the Travelers Championship. The American has struggled with off-the-course issues but appeared to be in very good spirits at the US Open, which acted as both his comeback spot and as therapy for Wolff, who was very open in talking to the media. Despite being out of form for most of 2021, it’s telling that Wolff still ranks 13th in Birdies or Better gained over the last 50 rounds, and has proven he’s very capable of competing at easier venues like TPC River Highlands, landing wins at the 3M Open, and second-place finishes at the Rocket Mortgage and Shriners Hospital Open — all events where the winner got to 18-under or better.

Wolff was his dominate self off the tee last week and when his driver is working, the rest of his game usually flows well. He’s a strong Poa/Bent grass putter — gained 13.4 strokes on Bent/Poa srfaces over the last 50 rounds — and looked in good form with the flatstick at the US Open. At well under 5% ownership here, there’s no better high-end pivot play for me, as any carryover in momentum/confidence could carry him to massive week.

Projected PGA DFS ownership: DraftKings: 3.2%

DraftKings Top Three Under Five

I am targeting three players here that I ultimately think will end up under (or close) to 5% ownership in bigger DraftKings GPPs. We’re searching for boom/bust players here with an almost 100% focus on upside.

Patrick Rodgers ($6,900)

I’ll stick on Patrick Rodgers for one more week here. The American has looked more consistent in his last few starts and got back in a groove with his putter at the US Open where he finished T31 (his best ever major finish). He’s got a great track record at the Travelers, too, and has made five of his last six cuts here— including a T3 from 2016.

Hank Lebioda ($6,700)

Lebioda continues to play extremely consistent golf and walks into this week’ event having made four cuts in a row. He took a dip in ball-striking in his last start at the Palmetto, but picked things up with his putter and short game. He’s been very consistent on approach though this year and ranks 11th in SG: APP stats over the last 50 rounds. His price continues to be too cheap and makes him a great under $7K target.

Luke Donald ($6,400)

Donald has been able to turn back the clock in his last few starts and looks like an interesting DFS target here at under $6.5K on DraftKings. He’s gained over +1.0 strokes on approach now in four straight starts and won’t be hampered by his off-the-tee issues at the short TPC River Highlands, which has easy-to-hit fairways. Don’t be shocked if he grabs another decent week here as we’ve seen lighter-hitting veterans (Furyk in 2016) be able to grab some monster weeks at this venue.

Check out Jason Rouslin’s expert PGA DFS Top 5 Value Picks and other daily fantasy golf picks for the Travelers Championship this week.

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