Next up on the PGA Tour is a stop in Connecticut for the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell. The course is a Par 70 with Bentgrass/Poa greens and there will be more of an emphasis on driving distance after putting was the focus last week. DraftKings Sportsbook is back with another picks pool. We’re going to go over the golfer NOT to select in each group.
Who will have better finishing position?
Group 1
- Rory McIlroy
- Bryson DeChambeau
- Justin Thomas
- 2 or more Tie
This is a tough group because right off the bat the golfer who stands out is World No. 1 Rory McIlroy. Rory finished T41 at -11 at Harbour Town last week and between these three, has been the poorest golfer in the group. DeChambeau has been an absolute beast all season. He hasn’t had a finish outside the top 10 five straight tournaments dating back to February with the Genesis. JT is hard to fade as well, he almost won at Hilton Head and is probably the most consistent golfer on tour right now. Maybe go with the tie? This is tough.
Group 2
- Jon Rahm
Brooks Koepka- Webb Simpson
- 2 or more Tie
Editor’s Note: Brooks Koepka has withdrawn from the Travelers after his caddy tested positive for Covid-19.
Simpson bounced back with the win at RBC Heritage last week, shooting a 65 or better in three of four rounds. Harbour Town was clearly an easy test for a lot of the top golfers. Koepka has slowly gotten back in form and ranks favorably on Par 4s in the 400-450 range, which should help him at TPC River Highlands. Rahm may have to be the odd-man out simply because he’s been struggling the past two tournaments since the season restarted.
Group 3
- Patrick Cantlay
- Xander Schauffele
- Dustin Johnson
- 2 or more Tie
Cantlay hasn’t played in a tournament since the Tour started back up. We’ve seen a few big time golfers struggle in that situation (Simpson at Colonial, Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im last week). Cantlay has done OK the past two times out at Travelers, finishing T15 in back-to-back years. Schauffele and DJ seem on the rise. Johnson did everything pretty much perfect outside of putting at Harbour Town. Xander’s ball striking was on point last week, another stat to keep an eye on. I’d fade Cantlay here.
Group 4
- Justin Rose
- Abraham Ancer
- Patrick Reed
- 2 or more Tie
I’d be terrified to fade Ancer in this group. Not only is he coming off a second-place finish at Heritage last week, he’s got two other top 10s and a few top 20 finishes this season at various events. We don’t need to worry about course history either; Ancer finished T8 last year at TPC River Highlands. Reed has good course history with a top 5 finish a few years back. Rose has never played this course, but enters with good form. He finished T14 at Heritage without having played Harbour Town. However, Rose may be the one to eliminate between the three.
Group 5
- Bubba Watson
- Tony Finau
- Collin Morikawa
- 2 or more Tie
This is the group that is toughest aside from the top group in my eyes. Watson has incredible course history having won the Travelers THREE times in the decade. Finau is a bomber and his SG: BS and SG: T2G stats make him an appealing DFS and betting option. Morikawa also hits a lot of these trends as well. The issue with Morikawa is around the greens. His putting has just been awful the past 36 rounds, ranking 134th. Because of that, I’d have to fade Collin, sorry bud.
Group 6
- Sungjae Im
- Paul Casey
- Jordan Spieth
- 2 or more Tie
Can we fade all of them? Just kidding. Sungjae stung me last week at Heritage by missing the cut. I’m worried about rolling him out again, but we’ve seen golfers bounce back. Casey is like Cantlay in that he hasn’t golfed in a big tourney event since February. It worries me a bit, but Casey has arguably the best course history at TPC River Highlands aside from Watson. Which brings us to Mr. Spieth. He won this even back in 2017. He also missed the cut last year. There’s not much in between. This is really tough too, but I’m fading Sungjae after the missed cut.
Group 7
- Matthew Fitzpatrick
- Gary Woodland
- Viktor Hovland
- 2 or more Tie
Hovland is one of my top DFS plays of the week, so to fade him would make no sense. He grades out favorably in some of the big stat categories for this week. Plus, outside of a round in each of the past two tournaments, Hovland has been lights out. Putting is a concern but it’s not an emphasis on this course. Fitz has been pretty consistent but hasn’t played the course and was iffy around the green. His putting was great, but he didn’t do much T2G. Woodland hasn’t played TPC River Highlands since 2016, finishing T38. Same as Fitz, not great around the greens recently. I’d fade Woodland.
Group 8
- Sergio Garcia
- Marc Leishman
- Joaquin Niemann
- 2 or more Tie
You best believe we aren’t fading Sergio this week after that run he made at Heritage. Outside of his putter, Sergio was fantastic on SG: T2G and SG: APP. With putting not as important, Garcia will be a trendy sleeper pick. Leishman has pretty good course history with a T21 finish or better in three of the past four stops at Cromwell. He missed the cut at Charles Schwab and skipped Harbour Town. Niemann made a run at Heritage last week with a 63 and 65 over the weekend. Again, like Sergio, did a lot of damage T2G, which is good. I’d fade Leishman if anything.
Group 9
- Ian Poulter
- Jason Kokrak
- Billy Horschel
- 2 or more Tie
Given his recent form, I don’t think we can fade Poulter in this group. So it’s down to Kokrak and Horschel. Kokrak missed the cut last week after finishing 3rd at Colonial. His short game leaves a lot to be desired. Horschel has been more consistent over the past 36 rounds, but has poor course history. I’d maybe give the slight edge to Kokrak, since his ball striking is solid. It’s close though. Poulter would be the easy pick to lead.
Group 10
- J.T. Poston
- Jason Day
- Kevin Kisner
- 2 or more Tie
Day is an interesting play. He’s missed four straight cuts (yikes). Day also has back-to-back T12 or better finishes at Travelers. So it’s recent form vs. course history. Day also isn’t the best ball striker. Again, another ball buster here. Kisner is a bit erratic with two MC in the past three tournaments. Poston is probably the safe play here. Poston was good at Heritage and his putter hasn’t killed him. Issue with his is three straight MCs at Travelers. This group is a mess.
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