Travelers Championship: Expert Picks

Tournament Information

Travelers Championship

Date: June 21-24

Course: TPC River Highlands

Purse: $7MM ($1.3MM to the winner)

FedEx points: 500 to the winner

2017 Winner: Jordan Spieth (-12)

Course: TPC River Highlands. Designed in 1928 (Robert Ross and Maurice Kearney) and later remodeled by Pete Dye (1982) and Bobby Weed (1989), this 6,841, par 70 course recently went through a makeover with some modifications to bunkers, tee boxes and greens. This might appear as a different course for golfers where they will see bigger greens with more pin positions, improved bank edges and drainage through the course. The course has a mixture of length, short, bunkers, rolling hills and lakes spread throughout, to sum it up, it’s a bit of everything. The final four holes stretch across a four acre lake and serve as the make or break holes for this course.

Starting 4

Daniel Berger (5^th selection this year). After a disappointing 75^th missed cut at the FedEx St. Jude where he won in 2016 and 2017, Daniel bounced back with a dominant 6^th place finish at the US Open behind a great Saturday where he shot 66. He comes to Travelers where he has finished 5^th and 2^nd over the last two years. Clearly he is dominant in June.

Paul Casey (3^rd selection this year). After taking some time off, Paul returned without missing a step – 5^th at Wells Fargo and then 16^th at the US Open. He comes to Travelers where he is the ONLY golfer with top 20 finishes each of the last three years here. 2nd in 2015, 17^th in 2016 and 5^th last year.

Bubba Watson (2^nd selection this year) After a missed cut at US Open, should we be concerned, honestly no. He made cuts in the previous ten tournaments with four top ten finishes. He won at TPC River Highlands in 2015 and finished 25^th in 2016, he missed the cut here after shooting a 75 on Thursday (the 67 on Friday wasn’t enough to recover). He’s currently 5^th in shots gained off the tee.

Marc Leishman (2^nd selection this year). He finished 9^th here in 2016 and 17^th last year. His last four have been so-so with one 2^nd place finish amidst some 40s and 60^th place finishes. He’s 47^thin total strokes gained.

Bench 2

Brendan Steele (4^th selection this year). A bunch of average finishes over his last five tournaments. He finished 17^th and 15^th the last two years here. 38^thin total strokes gained.

Keegan Bradley (2^nd selection this year). He has a 25^th and 8^th place finish the last two years here. 1^stin strokes gained approaching the green. He missed the cut at the US Open but had two top 25 finishes in the previous two tournaments.

2018 Stats (avg field of 133 golfers):

Starting 4: Average Finish 44th (33rd percentile)

Bench 2: Average Finish 45th (34th percentile)

Missed cuts: average of 1.4 per tournament