Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions – 2025 Travelers Championship

Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions for the 2025 Travelers Championship

2025 Travelers Championship Fantasy Preview

When the players left the field at Oakmont on Sunday due to the threat of lightning, it looked for all the money like the U.S. Open would be won by either Sam Burns or Adam Scott. So much so that after ten holes on Sunday, DataGolf gave J.J. Spaun a win probability of just 2.2%.

But as the players re-emerged in soaking wet conditions that Scott would later describe as ‘borderline unplayable’, the Australian and Burns’ title hopes were dampened like the cooling air in Pittsburgh.  Spaun had played his front nine in +5, and made it look as if his race was run. But a softer Oakmont on the back half seemed to please him more, as four birdies in his final seven holes saw Spaun come home in just 32 shots.

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As Burns and Scott found themselves in calamitous positions hole after hole, Spaun was left with a 64-foot two putt for a first major title and just his second PGA TOUR victory all told.  Potentially nerve racking, Spaun cut out the drama – sending his skidding across the sodden eighteen green, the ball tracked and curved straight into the hole… the Californian had won by two shots from Robert MacIntyre.

He was the only man to finish the week under par as Oakmont lived up to its billing as the ‘toughest golf course in the world.’ At least TPC River Highlands, home of the Travelers Championship this week, will be rather more forgiving…

Last Week’s Fantasy Results

Our Top three to come out of Oakmont were Bobby Macintyre (2nd), Scottie Scheffler (T6), and Russell Henley (T10). Overall, all twelve of our picks made the weekend on both reports.

Not a bad showing at Oakmont, but nowhere did we see JJ Spaun coming.

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The 2025 Travelers Championship Field

This is the final Signature Event of the year, so the last chance to bank some big bucks outside of the majors.

The players ranked 1-9 in the OWGR are all expected to tee it up at TPC River Highlands: that’s Scheffler, McIlroy, Schauffele, Morikawa, Thomas, Aberg, Henley, Straka, and Matsuyama. Whether any of them withdraws following the exertions of Oakmont, we’ll have to wait and see.

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MacIntyre and Viktor Hovland – close but no cigar in the U.S. Open – are expected to head to Connecticut, as are former winners at this venue in Keegan Bradley and Harris English. Sam Burns, who has twice gone close to winning in as many weeks, will be hoping the third time is a charm, while Spaun and Ben Griffin are also on heaters that they would love to convert into silverware.

This Week’s Course Preview

The characteristics of TPC River Highlands make it sound like a challenging proposition. It’s a tight Par 70 (6,852 yards), with tight, doglegging fairways and plenty of tree-lines to cut off the route one angle of attack.

The Bentgrass/Poa mix greens are on the small side too, so in theory this layout has the dimensions of a tough tee-to-green test. However, that hasn’t tended to be the case in recent time. Cameron Young joined the 59 Club here in 2024, while Jim Furyk plotted his way to a round of 58 here back in 2016.

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The winning scores of the Travelers have been -22, -23, and -19 over the past three years, so for all those characteristics, TPC River Highlands is very much there for the taking.

With water only in play on five holes and just 69 bunkers on the real estate – around half that of Oakmont, the field this week will simply club down, find fairways, and then engage in a wedge-and-putt shootout to determine the winner. Just three holes averaged over par here in 2024, and even then it was only the sixteenth – a well-guarded Par 3 of 171 yards – that really tested the players.

Failing to make birdie or better at the two Par 5s at six and thirteen is a borderline disaster, while the drivable Par 4 fifth – which played to just 296 yards last year – had a birdie-or-better to bogey-or-worse ratio of higher than 3:1.

Weather Forecast for Cromwell, CT

The simplicity of TPC River Highlands could be made all the easier by a weather forecast predicting rain every day from Monday through to Friday. How much falls each day remains to be seen, but this is likely to be a rain-softened track that meets the players.

It’s a game of two halves, with Thursday and Friday expected to offer up rain, possible thunderstorms, and winds in the 10-11mph range. But by the weekend, the early forecast is suggesting much calmer conditions, with sunshine, lower winds, and temperatures in the vicinity of 86 degrees.

CROMWELL WEATHER

Last Year’s Results from the Travelers Championship

There’s been a whole bunch of events into which Scottie Scheffler has entered as the defending champion, and the Travelers Championship will be no different in 2025. The world number one was never off the pace, finding himself just two shots adrift of leader Tom Kim at the halfway stage.

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A round of 64 on Saturday – the same day that Young fired his 59 – saw Scheffler and Akshay Bhatia take up their positions one shy of Kim heading into the final round. The Korean was not unduly fazed by being chased by his good friend Scheffler, and went toe-to-toe with the major champion – a sole bogey at eight a rare blemish on a card of 66.

Scheffler went one better with 65, and so a clutch birdie at 18 from Kim set up a playoff finish. Here, it would be Scheffler whose winning instincts would play out, as he made par at the first replayed hole to land the title from his visibly-disappointed opponent.

Where to Play Fantasy Golf for this Week’s the 2025 Travelers Championship

Ordinarily, DFS gamers would be advised to take it steady with their staking at the Travelers Championship, a small field Signature Event that comes a week after a major.

But with a unique roster build this week – more on that later, perhaps there’s scope to take on a couple of single-entry contests at different price points.

• GOLF TOUR $30k Caddie: For lower budget players, this $5 entry game still offers plenty of possible rewards, including that handsome $3,000 top prize.

• GOLF TOUR $40k Dogleg: It will cost you $33 to take part here, but you’ll be battling only 1,413 teams for the $4k top prize… with stacks of other payouts of $100 or more available.

This Week’s Fantasy Notes for the 2025 Travelers Championship

In the space of three years, the Travelers Championship was won by Bubba Watson, Chez Reavie, and Dustin Johnson… three more diverse golfers you couldn’t wish to meet. Although high-class drivers of the ball are handed something of an edge at TPC River Highlands, the true edge-maker comes in relentlessly hitting wedges to birdie putt range – over and over again.

For context, the first four players on the leaderboard in 2024 – Scheffler, Kim, Tom Hoge, and Sungjae Im – ranked sixth, second, first, and fourth respectively in the field for SG: Approach.

There really isn’t anything else of consequence to consider, with previous successes at TPC River Highlands helpful alongside courses of a similar profile: TPC Sawgrass, Harbour Town (RBC Heritage), and Waialae, home of the Sony Open, most of interest.

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Our Top 5 (and Top 2 Sleeper) Fantasy Picks and Odds to Win the 2025 Travelers Championship   

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Top 5 Picks/Odds to Win the 2025 Travelers Championship  

Top Tier Pick # 1

Viktor Hovland (Odds: 35/1, FPPG: 64.5, Salary: $9,000)

A rain soaked TPC River Highlands will likely descend into a wedge-and-putt shootout, which will greatly impact upon Scottie Scheffler’s ability to separate himself from the field this week.

That’s not to say he won’t win – he clearly loves this layout, as his results here attest, but soft, easy conditions just tip the balance of favour back towards the field as opposed to his tee-to-green genius.

Rory McIlroy and others towards the top of the salary cap appear to be in a funk of some kind, so maybe the smart strategy is to pack our roster with players from in and around the mid-tier pricing.

Viktor Hovland caught the eye at Oakmont – he was there or thereabouts at the top of the leaderboard throughout the tournament, gaining a sizable cumulative +8.28 on the field on approach.

Solo third at the U.S. Open is a handy lead-in to the Travelers. Hovland has played 12 rounds at TPC River Highlands since 2020, with four those at two strokes or better on the day’s scoring average – the Norwegian likes this place.

Key Stats:

• SG: Approach – 6th
• Proximity to Hole – 15th
• Birdie Average – 20th

Top Tier Pick #2

Sepp Straka (Odds: 33/1, FPPG: 74.9, Salary: $9,200)

A wedge fest is absolutely the playground of Sepp Straka, who has quietly become one of the most prolific winners on the PGA TOUR.

The Austrian’s record at TPC River Highlands is surprisingly mediocre – just one top-ten return in six trips is a shock, but he’s a better player now than ever before and, besides which, he’s shot some excellent rounds at the venue… just not connected four of them in the same week.

A missed cut at Oakmont is no disaster – he was +1.39 on the field on approach anyway, and he’ll have extra time to prepare for a trip to a venue that should be far more to his liking. A winner at the Truist Championship and solo third at the Memorial Tournament, Straka has plenty of strong form in his rear-view mirror.

Key Stats:

• Birdie Average – 2nd
• SG: Approach – 3rd
• Proximity to Hole – 5th

Mid-Tier Pick #1

Russell Henley (Odds: 50/1, FPPG: 73.6, Salary: $8,800)

Although his TPC River Highlands record doesn’t look stellar on paper, Russell Henley is sneaky good at this venue. In eight of his last 16 rounds at the track, Henley has scored at two strokes or better than the day’s scoring average – so there’s certainly scope here for him to connect four strong rounds and contend for the title.

Henley ground his way to T10 at the U.S. Open, but he’s another that will surely enjoy the switch to a wedge-fest in Connecticut. A winner in March, with two Signature Event top-tens and a U.S. Open T10 to his name, Henley is knocking on the door of another big breakthrough.

Key Stats:

• Proximity to Hole – 5th
• SG: Approach – 14th
• Birdie Average – 23rd

Mid-Tier Pick #2

Shane Lowry (Odds: 40/1, FPPG: 67.8, Salary: $8,300)

Shane Lowry spent most of his time at Oakmont Country Club turning the air blue… it’s fair to say he’s not a fan of the venue. The Irishman will have no such qualms about TPC River Highlands, where his most recent trips have yielded 9-19 finishes.

That’s a solid platform upon which to build, because Lowry – U.S. Open apart – has been playing some really good golf of late, with gains of +1.97 or more on the field on approach in three of his last five outings. Those are eye-catching numbers from a tremendous wedge player…

Key Stats:

• SG: Approach – 2nd
• Proximity to Hole – 3rd
• Par 4 Birdie or Better Leaders – 30th

Low-Tier Pick

Harris English (Odds: 60/1, FPPG: 65.0, Salary: $7,700)

Harris English has a love-hate relationship with TPC River Highlands; he’s a former winner here, and yet in his last seven trips he’s missed two cuts and finished T60 or lower on three other occasions.

But this is something like the best version of Harris English, with the 35-year-old racking up plenty of positive vibes in 2025 so far.

A winner of the Farmers Insurance Open, English has finished T2 at the PGA Championship, T12 at The Masters, and delivered a host of other top-20 turns.

With confidence renewed, expect better from English at a track he has previously won at.

Key Stats:

• SG: Putting – 25th
• Driving Accuracy – 43rd
• Total Birdies – 68th

Sleeper Pick for the 2025 Travelers Championship

Rickie Fowler (Odds: 80/1, FPPG: 69.3, Salary: $7,200)

As chaos ensued at Oakmont, Rickie Fowler might have been watching on from home having a good chuckle to himself.

Sure, he’d like to have been playing in the U.S. Open, but there was plenty to be gained at not having your confidence shattered by a hellacious two or more days at the coalface.

Fowler’s current formline reads 7-16-MC-15, so he’s certainly ticking the boxes as a sleeper pick at the moment, with T7 last time out at the Memorial Tournament his most complete performance in some time.

Patchy form at TPC River Highlands has just given way to a run of 20-13 in his last two trips, with four of his last 12 rounds at the venue played at two strokes or more lower than the day’s scoring average.

Key Stats:

• Putts Per Round – 32nd
• Driving Accuracy – 51st
• Approaches from 150-200 yards – 64th

Alternative Sleeper Pick for the 2025 Travelers Championship

Andrew Novak (Odds: 125/1, FPPG: 62.2, Salary: $6,700)

A tough, grinding U.S. Open isn’t exactly where you’d pinpoint Andrew Novak’s best work coming, so he’ll surely enjoy the switch to TPC River Highlands this week.

He’s another who, while showing little at the venue so far, heads there in 2025 as the best version of himself – Novak’s wedge play should yield plenty of birdie opportunities for him.

This has been the best season of the 30-year-old’s career, with a maiden PGA TOUR title – albeit in the pairs Zurich Classic – matched by a narrow playoff loss at the RBC Heritage and two other third-place finishes.

When it clicks, Novak is all in… his profile fits the bill at TPC River Highlands, too.

Key Stats:

• Approaches from 150-175 yards – 22nd
• Total Birdies – 37th
• Proximity to Hole – 57th

This Week’s Sample Fantasy Lineup

Note: Sample lineups provided as examples only.  Be sure to mix-and-match to best fit individual contests.

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Fantasy Golf Predictions – This Season 

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