Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2023 Travelers Championship

2023 Travelers Championship Fantasy Sleeper Report

For a man who described himself as ‘too angry’ to win on the PGA TOUR, Wyndham Clark sure has found some poise in the past six weeks or so.

He showed glimpses of his new-found composure when beating a decent field at the Wells Fargo Championship back in May, and doubled down on that with the best moment of his golfing career to date (and possible ever): winning the U.S. Open on Sunday.

Clark was handed an assist by Rickie Fowler’s self-sabotage, but you could not fault his cool under pressure on Sunday as he made a number of up-and-downs to finish the day on level par – given that nobody in the top-five could better that, it was enough for Clark to win by one shot from Rory McIlroy.

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In the past nine months, he’s now earned more than $10 million and climbed around 200 places in the world rankings. Sometimes, working on your mind can reap just as many benefits as grinding on your short game.

Clark will join an all-star cast for the next of the PGA TOUR’s elevated events – the Travelers Championship – this week. A $20 million purse has concentrated the minds and so pretty much every big name on the TOUR will make their way to TPC River Highlands in Connecticut for Thursday’s start.

A funky little test awaits them. At 6,852 yards for its Par 70, TPC River Highlands is one of the shortest tracks you will see at the top level of golf, but that’s not to say it can be overpowered by the bombers. Cleverly placed trees and sharp doglegs, as well as some juicy rough, mean that most in this field will need to pay their dues at what is a less-than-driver course.

Some holes at TPC River Highlands reward those who are brave enough to take them on, but for the most part this is about trying to find fairways and making birdie from there – the approach that yielded a round of 58 to Jim Furyk here back in 2016.

There are different ways to go about it, as a winner’s board that features the names Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Harris English and Chez Reavie attests. Whatever your natural style, you need to scramble well at TPC River Highlands and make plenty of putts from 15ft and inside.

We would expect the best players in the world to fight out these designated events, but at a layout that takes driver out of the hands of most, the elite tend to lose one of their key difference-makers – that opens the door to a longer odds winner.

With that in mind, who makes the cut for our 2023 Travelers Championship sleeper shortlist?

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Fantasy Golf Predictions This Season (2023-2023)

Si-Woo Kim – 55/1 – An outstanding ball-striker whose focus is on accuracy rather than distance, Si-Woo Kim is one of those players that can plot their way around TPC River Highlands with aplomb.

He’s been boom-and-bust at this track before – some missed cuts, plus T11, T25 and T26 – but the Korean is playing so well right now that he has to be favored to deliver a more assured performance.

T39 at the U.S. Open wasn’t headline-making (although it’s worth noting how many fairways Kim found), but T2 at the Byron Nelson and solo fourth at the tree-heavy Memorial Tournament certainly are.

Harris English – 60/1 – It would have been a huge shock had he done so, but Harris English had a chance to win the U.S. Open heading into the final round – confirmation of his recent improvements.

That T8 finish follows T3 at the Wells Fargo and T12 at the Charles Schwab Challenge, so evidently English’s game is in fine shape.

A noted scrambler and solid putter, his recent uptick in form has come about thanks to some excellent approach play – that confidence, carried to a venue where he has won before, should serve English nicely.

Eric Cole – 120/1 – When we see a less-than-driver golf course is on the horizon we check out the form of Eric Cole, who is mediocre off the tee but excellent thereafter.

By not having to hit big drives at TPC River Highlands, Cole can instead focus on accurate approach play, reliable scrambling and a consistently good putting stroke.

He’s still learning his craft at the top level, but two top-10s since the end of April, a T15 at the PGA Championship and a cut made at the U.S. Open are all signs of Cole’s progress.

Austin Eckroat – 120/1 – A player that has taken extraordinary steps forward lately can go even further towards his maiden PGA TOUR title this week.

Austin Eckroat took to the conditions at the U.S. Open with absolute ease, recording a T10 finish in a very rare start at a major.

That followed T2 at the Byron Nelson and T16 at the Charles Schwab, with his last five outings built upon a foundation of simply striking the ball better than the average player in the field.

He’ll need to bring his U.S. Open level of performance to Connecticut to win the Travelers Championship, but Eckroat has a far better chance than odds of 120/1 imply.

Justin Suh – 175/1 – Form at TPC Sawgrass can be considered a useful starting point for TPC River Highlands, and Justin Suh’s T6 there earlier in the season was certainly eye-catching.

Since then he’s bagged two major top-30s at the U.S. Open and PGA Championship plus T16 at the Charles Schwab, so Suh’s game is moving forwards in the right direction at some pace.

Suh has put up green numbers in three of his last four starts on approach, and given that his putting stroke is reliably good that can only be cause for optimism.

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Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions? Check out our full fantasy preview for the Travelers Championship here.

Cover photo via Instagram