The week after the third major of the year in the golfing world, the PGA Tour stages another Signature Event when the leading lights on their circuit head to TPC River Highlands for the Travelers Championship.
Scottie Scheffler is the defending champion after he won the title a year ago and he’ll be looking to keep hold of the crown against a pretty decent field on a course where we can see shootouts develop from time to time.
Recent Winners
2024 – Scottie Scheffler
2023 – Keegan Bradley
2022 – Xander Schauffele
2021 – Harris English
2020 – Dustin Johnson
2019 – Chez Reavie
2018 – Bubba Watson
2017 – Jordan Spieth
2016 – Russell Knox
2015 – Bubba Watson
The Course
It is TPC River Highlands that is staging the tournament again this week. You know what you are going to get from River Highlands. It is a par 70 which has been reduced by 17 yards so it only measures 6,844 yards so it isn’t long. You can use length to your advantage here as there are a couple of drivable holes but in the main this is a course which rewards those who drive the ball well and putt well regardless of how long they are off the tee.
The rough remains relatively significant this week at 4.5 inches but the players who are most likely to be in it are going to be a long way down there so I don’t think that will hamper them in any way. Accuracy is still going to be key around here though. A hot putter is never a bad thing either it has to be said. The forecast suggests there is going to be rain from the start so these leading players could be firing darts at soft greens so expect the scoring to be very low this week.
The Field
With this being the final Signature Event of the season we have a very strong field for what is the biggest PGA Tour event left in America prior to the FedExCup playoffs in a couple of months. The defending champion Scottie Scheffler is in the field as is the recently crowned US Open winner J.J. Spaun. The Masters champion is also teeing it up while Xander Schauffele is also in the field ahead of his title defence at The Open next month.
Aside from Scheffler, Spaun and Schauffele, the American charge will be headed by Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, Justin Thomas and Sam Burns while the Europeans to note along with McIlroy include Ludvig Aberg, Viktor Hovland, Tommy Fleetwood and Sepp Straka while internationals looking to win the event include Hideki Matsuyama, Si Woo Kim and Sungjae Im. Keegan Bradley and Harris English are among the former champions in the field.
Market Leaders
Scottie Scheffler is the favourite to win any tournament that he tees it up in these days and being the defending champion that was never going to be any different here. He probably didn’t go as well as he would have wanted in the US Open last week but is no bigger than 3/1 to make a successful defence of his title. It is hard to go against Scheffler in soft conditions. There is certainly a case to be made that he wins enough for 3/1 to be value but I just can’t bring myself to back someone that short in this company.
Rory McIlroy has looked like a man who has lost all of his motivation since he climbed the mountain when he won The Masters. His last two showings haven’t been anywhere near the standard that would be expected of him and it is hard to get behind him here. I’m sure the penny will drop somewhere along the line but until he shows interest again I can’t be backing him, although I readily accept we won’t be getting 14/1 on him very often.
The American pair of Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa are both next in the betting at 18/1 and on the face of it there is no reason why both can’t go well. Schauffele is a former champion here who backdoored his way to a top 10 finish at the US Open last week. Morikawa has gone well off the boil since that incident where he refused to do press after coughing up the chance of winning earlier in the season but he ticks plenty of boxes here. The form one isn’t one of them though so I’ll leave him alone. Schauffele is tempting but I prefer others.
Patrick Cantlay and Ludvig Aberg are the only other players in the betting market shorter than 33/1 this week. They are both 25/1 to get the job done. Cantlay has a solid record around here and will be fancied but his form is nothing like as strong as I’d like it to be. Aberg apparently suffered from a migraine in the second round last week which cost me money and I’m a little reluctant to rely on his health again so he isn’t for me.
Main Bets
Robert MacIntyre had a great week at the US Open last week and lost nothing in defeat. He was the fourth best putter in the field at Oakmont which is certainly no bad thing but his long game looked in really good order and I think he can go well here. He is driving the ball well and in these soft conditions he can go on the offense with his iron shots so there is a lot to like about Bob Mac this week. He was T16 on debut here a year ago and with those four rounds under his belt I’m expecting an improvement here so I like the Scot as a main bet this week.
Cameron Young landed a place for me at the US Open last week and I don’t really see a need to ignore him this week. He was actually the third best putter at Oakmont last week and that bodes very well because usually his strength is his long game and his putter can sometimes let him down. If he can have a putting week like he had in the US Open then he is entitled to be very dangerous this week. Young shot 59 here last year so we know he can handle the track and with some putting form on his side there is no reason he can’t contend here.
Outsiders
Nick Taylor has shown decent form in recent weeks and he looks overpriced even in this company. Taylor won in Phoenix last year which had a decent field and he is already a winner on the PGA Tour this season. He arrives here off the back of being fourth at The Memorial, T13 in Canada and certainly didn’t let himself down at all with a T23 at the US Open last week. Taylor ranked just outside the top 10 with the putter at Oakmont so he is another on my team who won’t have to untangle his mind on the greens this week. If he sets up birdie chances there is a good chance he’ll take a number of them so he is worthy of outsider selection here.
The other bet I like this week is Harry Hall. He might be advantaged more than most this week given that he was nowhere near the perils of Oakmont last week and that could make a difference. He is worthy of support anyway because his form this year has been very solid. He has finished in the top 25 of his last four events which were the Myrtle Beach Classic, PGA Championship, Charles Schwab Challenge and the Canadian Open and that week off last week could really help. Hall is second on the PGA Tour for strokes gained putting so the chances he creates there is a good chance he’ll convert so I’ll pay to see how many of those opportunities he puts into the hole.
Tips
Back R.MacIntyre to win Travelers Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 41.00 with Unibet (1/5 1-6)
Back C.Young to win Travelers Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 46.00 with Spreadex (1/5 1-6)
Back N.Taylor to win Travelers Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 81.00 with Sky Bet (1/5 1-6)
Back H.Hall to win Travelers Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 91.00 with William Hill (1/5 1-6)
Back him here:
