Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2016 Travelers Championship

The Sleeper Report: Fantasy Golf Sleepers, Long Shots, and Undervalued Picks for the 2016 Travelers Championship

The 2016 Travelers Championship Fantasy Sleeper Preview

The last of the majors is now over for 2016, and the PGA TOUR season will hit the home stretch as we look forward to the playoffs following a tremendous victory by Texan Jimmy Walker in the PGA Championship.  With three events and the Olympics to go between now and the first stop of the FedExCup playoffs, the players now head to Cromwell, Connecticut for the Traveler’s Championship.

This tournament was first established in 1952 and has been played at TPC at the River Highlands since 1984.  The par-70, 6,844-yard course has always been a big draw for spectators and typically boasts the second-highest attendance behind the Waste Management Open.

The venue has given up tons of scoring in the past decade, with the average winner’s score coming in at 16 strokes under par.  Kenny Perry’s aggregate score of 258 in 2009 broke the course record.  A majority of those wins were of the close variety, with four needing extra holes and another four being decided by a single stroke.

Last season, it was Bubba Watson earning his second career win here and eighth overall as he beat out Paul Casey after two playoff holes.  Watson nearly blew his chance at nailing down the victory after allowing Casey to make up three strokes over the final five holes before putting him away with a birdie on the third straight visit to the 18^th.  With the win, Watson joined Paul Azinger (1987, 1989), Phil Mickelson (2001, 2002), Peter Jacobson (1984, 2003), and Stewart Cink (1997, 2008) as multiple time victors since the event was played in Cromwell.

The field is relatively strong this week despite being sandwiched between a major and the Olympics. No. 6 Bubba Watson is joined by No. 14 Patrick Reed, No. 16 Louis Oosthuizen, No. 17 Brooks Koepka, No. 19 J.B. Holmes, No. 20 Matt Kuchar, No. 21 Zach Johnson, and No. 24 Jim Furyk from the Top 25 in the Official World Golf Rankings.  The trio of Watson, Reed, and Kuchar will be joined by Rickie Fowler to form one of, if not the most, formidable Olympic golf teams for the United States ever.

The duo of No. 159 Bryson DeChambeau and No. 143 Jon Rahm will also be joining the field this week and representing the future of golf.  Rahm has had three Top 10’s, including a second and third, over a mere six events this year, and DeChambeau placed in the Top 25 at both the Masters and U.S. Open while nearly grabbing a victory at the RBC Heritage in April, where he tied for fourth.

It was a very strong top of the leaderboard last week in the PGA Championship, with not many sleepers making their way towards the top, but there were still a few names – Daniel Summerhays, Tyrell Hatton, Padraig Harrington, Emiliano Grillo – who managed to get into the Top 15 without much love from the public.  Below are a few golfers who could do just that in Connecticut when the dust has settled at TPC at the River Highlands.

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The 2016 Travelers Championship Fantasy Sleeper Report

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The Travelers Championship Fantasy Sleeper Report

Mix and match these players with your usual rosters (or play them separately) to get the most out of your picks this week.

Martin Laird – Vegas Odds 66/1 – Laird had a rough beginning to the summer, failing to miss the cut in three consecutive events between May and June, but has fixed whatever was going wrong and has flirted with his fourth PGA TOUR win twice over his past four outings.  He got back into form with a 21^st at the Quicken Loans Nationals, followed that with a fifth at the Barracuda Championship, and was the runner-up in Canada with a score of 11-under after hitting 79.17% of GIR over the four days.  After a 33^rd at this event back in 2011, Laird had not played here for three years before nailing down a solid performance last season, netting a tie for 15^th after finishing three consecutive rounds with a score of 67 while gaining 1.671 strokes on the field with his putter.  The Scotsman can hold his own off the tee (299.2 yards per, 27^th on TOUR), which is always important at this course, while ranking 53^rd in GIR (67.01%) and doing well on par threes (3.03, 33^rd on TOUR).  It was 2013 when Laird last took home a trophy, but he is in great form right now and should have another solid week at River Highlands.

Russell Henley – Vegas Odds 90/1 – Henley has been all over the place over his last 10 starts, making it to the weekend half of the time during that stretch, but was able to get into the Top 36 in each one of those cuts made.  He should be feeling pretty good after last week at the PGA Championship, where he threw up three rounds of 68 and finished in a tie for 22^nd among the toughest field in golf.  The 27-year-old has both the length (294.9 yards per drive, 53^rd on TOUR) and accuracy (64.28%, 42^nd on TOUR) off the tee to easily traverse this course, which he has never played as a professional.  He should also have plenty of scoring chances thanks to hitting 67.92% GIR (35^th on TOUR) which has led to 0.326 strokes-gained putting (37^th on TOUR).  Henley is very explosive in both a positive and negative way, but is a great pick coming off of his solid outing last week.

Retief Goosen – Vegas Odds 100/1 – Goosen does not have quite as many starts as most players on the PGA TOUR, but he has made the most of his 13 appearances, with 11 cuts made and 10 consecutive trips to the weekend before failing to do so last week in New Jersey.  Before his early exit at the PGA Championship, he had totaled 15 strokes under par and earned consecutive Top 14’s over his previous three events.  Unlike the typical mold of big hitters doing well at this course, Goosen gets things done with his short game, gaining 0.529 strokes putting (18^th on TOUR) and 0.458 strokes around the green (5^th on TOUR) as he has posted a scoring average of 70.608 (44^th on TOUR).  The 47-year-old out of South Africa has seven PGA wins, 14 European TOUR trophies, and two majors over his career as he looks to continue a great 2016 campaign at the Travelers Championship.

Chris Stroud – Vegas Odds 100/1 – Nobody out there would ever consider Stroud a dominant golfer on the PGA TOUR, while many casual fans may even fail to recognize his name if it came up on the leaderboard, but this 34-year-old Texan has always performed well at this course and will look to get his name out there with another big outing this week.  Stroud has made the cut here in each of the last six seasons, and seems to get better with each visit.  He’s average a finish of 10^th place in his last three outings in Cromwell, and had his only career runner-up here back in 2013.  He’s holding his own overall in 2016 as well, sitting just outside of the FedExCup playoffs in 132^nd with 14 cuts made over 24 events (58%) and three Top 25’s.  Stroud’s best asset is his putter as he currently ranks 63^rd in Strokes Gained -Putting (0.178), and will need that as he looks to make it seven straight made cuts here.

Chez Reavie – Vegas Odds 150/1 – We’ve always been fans of Reavie, and he’s been putting together a season which has him firmly in the playoffs with a current FedExCup ranking of 77^th.  It’s by far his best year since finishing in 10^th back in 2011; he’s made it to the weekend with consistency (16-for-23, 70%) and had his first two Top 10’s since grabbing five in that 2011 campaign.  Much of the success he has had in 2016 stems from accuracy both off the tee (67.80%, 14^th on TOUR) and when approaching the green (67.49% GIR, 41^st on TOUR).  His proximity to the hole (33’8”) is 13^th best on TOUR, and his approaches from the 150-200 yard range are among the best out there.  As long as Reavie can keep a solid putting stroke going this week, he can add to his three consecutive cuts made here since 2012.

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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.