Pat Mayo provides his preview and makes his early 2023 Travelers Championship Picks and his first look and research for this week’s PGA TOUR stop.
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2023 Travelers Championship — Picks & Preview | Player Picks + Research | Stats/Tools
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2023 Travelers Championship — DraftKings Picks | Own Projections
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2023 Travelers Championship: Field
156 Players | Top 65 & Ties Make The Cut
First Tee: Thursday, June 12
Defending Champion: Xander Schauffele
2023 Travelers Championship: Key Stats
- Strokes Gained: Approach
- Par 4s Gained 400-450 yards
- Opportunities Gained
- Strokes Gained: Off The Tee
Mayo’s Key Stats powered by FantasyNational.com
2023 Travelers Championship: Course
- Course: TPC River Highlands
- Par: 70
- Yardage: 6,841
- Greens: Bentgrass (with Poa mix)
2023 Travelers Championship: Past Winners
- 2022: Xander Schauffele -19
- 2021: Harris English -13
- 2020: Dustin Johnson -19
- 2019: Chez Reavie -17
- 2018: Bubba Watson -17
- 2017: Jordan Spieth -12
- 2016: Russell Knox -16
2022: Xander Schauffele (-19, two clear of JT Poston and Sahith Theegala)
- A pair of 63s to open play allowed him to cruise over the weekend (six strokes better than both Poston and Theegala in those first two days)
- The top four finishers on the final leaderboard were all top seven in proximity gained on shots from over 200 yards
2021: Harris English (-13, playoff win over Kramer Hickok)
- English didn’t shoot worse than 68 for the week and saved his best for Sunday (65, allowing him to close the two-shot deficit from Hickok before winning the playoff)
- Six of the top nine putters for the week finished top nine on the final leaderboard.
2020: Dustin Johnson (-19, one clear of Kevin Steelman)
- Johnson was nine back after Thursday (69), but he closed the gap with a 64 on Friday and fired the second-best round of the week on moving day (61)
- Only five of the top-10 finishers gained fairways on the field
2019: Chez Reavie (-17, four clear of Keegan Bradley and Zack Sucher)
- Reavie went into cruise control on Sunday (69) after carding three straight rounds of 66 or better (63 on Saturday, gaining six strokes on Bradley and eight on Sucher)
- Eighteen of the top 20 finishers gain in Good Drives (of note: half of them lost distance)
2018: Bubba Watson (-17, three clear of Paul Casey, Stewart Cink, JB Holmes and Beau Hossler)
- Watson carded a pair of 63s (Friday and Sunday), the latter of which allowed him to come back from six down (Casey led through three rounds).
- Twenty-three of the top 25 on the final leaderboard gained strokes putting (Cink and Hossler posting top-five weeks with the putter on their way to T-2 finishes)
Get full Travelers Championship Tournament History at FantasyNational.com
2023 Travelers Championship: Notes
After Pebble Brach GL, TPC River Highlands is the shortest course in the regular PGA TOUR rotation. Another Pete Dye course, measuring just 6,841 yards, this course boasts eight par 4s measuring between 400-450 yards while playing as a par 70. There are another two par 4s coming in below 400 yards, too. The most notable being No. 15, a drivable, 296-yard hole that over 90% of the field goes for from the tee box.
With its minuscule length, TPC River Highlands opens the door for almost any style of player. That’s how you get Dustin Johnson and Brendon Todd paired together in a final group, as well as Bubba Watson and Chez Reavie winning in consecutive seasons.
Looking back at the top-five finishers over the past seven years, it’s clear, regardless of driving distance, approach and putting are the two most important factors at the top of the leaderboard. As is the case for most courses that become birdiefests, SG: OTT has been twice as important as SG: ATG, and players hit almost 70% of fairways at TPC River Highlands against a PGA TOUR average of 62%. So, the big hitters don’t even have to dial back with their drivers. Basically, the golfer who can hit their wedges the closest is going to win.
Looking at the plotting on approach distance (thanks, Fantasy National), you’ll see the plurality of irons come from 175 and in. This is the opposite of most courses.
One thing to consider when looking at past events is the change in greens. For years, the Bentgrass putting surfaces were some of the slowest on the PGA TOUR. Four years ago, they were reconstructed with Bentgrass (mixed with Poa Annua) putting surfaces, and the greens now run on the faster side of things. Normally, these putting surfaces are a decent-sized adjustment for the field, as there are very few Northeast tournaments, but with the U.S. Open having just been outside Boston, many will already be acclimated. The grass isn’t exactly the same, however, it’s about as close as you’ll find for this event the week before.
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While this is a Pete Dye track, there has been a considerable crossover between the top of the leaderboards of the Valspar Championship, Riviera and Phoenix over the years. And it goes beyond Bubba Watson, who has won three times at both Riviera and the TPC River Highlands. Paul Casey has experienced success at all three. Ditto with Dustin Johnson. Kevin Streelman and Jordan Spieth have won the Valspar and the Travelers in their careers. I’m not entirely sure why, maybe it’s a shot-shaping issue, but there are a lot of players in the field this week who have experienced a lot of success at those three courses but very rarely played at the Travelers Championship.
Pete Dye Courses on the PGA TOUR:
- TPC Sawgrass (THE PLAYERS Championship)
- Harbour Town (RBC Heritage)
- TPC River Highlands (Travelers Championship)
- TPC Louisiana (Zurich Classic)
- Austin Country Club (WGC Match Play)
- TPC Stadium Course at La Quinta (two rounds at The CareerBuilder)
- Crooked Stick (2012/2016 BMW Championship)
- Whistling Straits (2015, 2010, 2004 PGA Championship)
- Kiawah Island (2021 PGA Championship)
DRAFTKINGS TRENDS
2022: Schauffele ($10,000) won in what proved to be a true stars and scrubs week. He was one of three with a five-figure price tag that finished top 10 on the DraftKings scoreboard … five of those top 10 checked in at $7,300 or cheaper.
2021: Three of the 10 highest-priced golfers failed to make the cut and only one of those high-priced options (Brooks Koepka) finished top 15 on the final DraftKings leaderboard.
2020: It was all-or-nothing at the top of the board … of the nine players priced over $9,000, four scored over 100 DKFP and three failed to play the weekend. Choose wisely!
2019: Reavie ($8,400) was the most expensive player to finish with 100+ DK points in a week that was dominated by the low-to-mid tiers. In fact, only one golfer (Jason Day) priced over $9,500 was a top 15 DraftKings scorer for the week
2018: If you went balance, you printed money. Five of the seven golfers who reached triple digits in DK points were priced $7,100-$8,300. If you paid up, you paid up for nothing: four of the 11 golfers priced at $9,000+ failed to play the weekend.
2023 Travelers Championship: Picks
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Sahith Theegala ($8,300)
The high-end finishes have evaporated, but the consistent results still remain. And now he gets to return to the scene of the crime. Theegala walked onto the 18th with a one-stroke lead a year ago and proceed to blade a wedge into the bunker and lose to Xander Schauffele by two. Time for redemption. He rallied at the U.S. Open after a poor opening round to churn out a top-30 finish, based mostly on his irons. And when you look at the courses where he’s done the best in his career so far, it’s basically the same as Bubba: Augusta, Riviera, Copperhead and TPC Scottsdale.
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Pat Mayo is an award-winning video host and producer of long and short-form content, and the host of The Pat Mayo Experience daily talk show. (Subscribe for video or audio). Mayo (@ThePME) won the 2023 Fantasy Sports Writing Association Podcast of the Year and was a finalist for three FSWA Awards in 2023 (Best Podcast, Daily Fantasy Writer of the Year, Golf Writer of the Year). His 27 FSWA nominations lead all writers this decade and are second-most all-time.
Mayo has been recognized across multiple sports (Football, Baseball & Golf), mediums (Video, Writing & Podcasting), genre (Humor), and game formats (Sports Betting, Daily Fantasy, and Traditional Season Long Fantasy).
I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is ThePME) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skills and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.