Fantasy Golf Odds, Picks & Predictions – 2016 Travelers Championship

Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions for the 2016 Travelers Championship

The 2016 Travelers Championship Fantasy Preview

The last major is now behind us and fantasy golf fanatics now have the Olympics and FedExCup playoffs to look forward too.  This week, the TOUR remains in the Tri-State area as Bubba Watson seeks out his title defense from last year’s Travelers Championship triumph at TPC River Highlands.

Interestingly enough, six of the last ten Travelers champions we’re first time winners and Bubba Watson comes in not only as a rare defending champion but also as a two-time winner on this particular course as well.  In total, 56 players from last week’s PGA Championship will tee it up in Connecticut this week and six total players will leave the Travelers to head over to Rio for the Olympics, including Watson, Reed, and Kuchar from the USA team.

For some of you year-long fantasy golf players, this is the time to make some crucial end of season decisions to move your squad into the money zone.  For others who only play week-to-week, there are some great satellites, qualifiers, and quick shots at $100,000 to keep you in the money for the rest of the 2016 season.

Last Week’s Fantasy Results

A lot of rosters we’re shaken up last week and our Horse Pick Dustin Johnson had a very rare missed cut after consistently posting over 100 fantasy points per game all season.  It’s been a while since our horse pick missed the weekend and unfortunately when that happens, lineups get smashed.  However, this is why we offer alternative roster samples without our horse pick to offer some sort of hedge against this happening.

Jimmy Walker would have been the ideal addition to a roster, but he certainly surprised everyone with his win and unfortunately as happy as we are to see Jimmy pick up a major the sad news is that we did not have him as one of our top picks.  You just can’t always pick the long shots.  We won with the underdog Vegas two weeks ago but got beat up pretty hard last week; it happens.

We’re picking up the pieces from the PGA Championship and moving on to TPC River Highlands for a chance to win some serious money back.

The 2016 Travelers Championship Field

Overall not a bad field this week and a lot of big names and fantasy studs will leave us scratching our heads on “who to pick.”  The headliner of course will be Bubba Watson who will try to defend his title against last year’s runner up Paul Casey, and other strong performers like Branden Grace, Patrick Reed and Matt Kuchar.

Jon Rahm has been making a lot of noise since joining the TOUR and his T2 at the RBC Canadian Open gave him temporary TOUR status for the rest of the season.  Other notable fantasy contenders in the field include Furyk, Finau, DeChambeau, and Berger.

Els, Oosthuizen, and Cabrera will join Furyk as the group of veterans along with some fresh fantasy faces making noise as of late including List, Hurley III, and Chappell will all be out there trying to earn some last minute FedExCup points in an attempt to get into The Barclays.

This Week’s Course Preview

TPC River Highlands is one of the shortest courses on the PGA TOUR schedule, measuring in at roughly 6,840 yards and playing as a par 70.  Despite the short layout, we know from previous editions that Distance and Scrambling are two key stats for success here.  Last year’s winner, Bubba Watson, ranked 1st in both of those key statistics as well as T9 in Strokes Gained Putting.

A photo posted by TPC River Highlands (@tpcriverhighlands) on Jun 20, 2016 at 2:29pm PDT

Pete Dye revamped the layout at TPC River Highlands in 1982 which added a little more challenge, which can be seen in the lower scores over the past few years.

Even though he triumphed here twice, Bubba only found 69% of GIR and 30 of 56 fairways last year.  This further proves to us that guys with exceptional scrambling skills and power off the tee can get the job done this week

Weather Forecast for Cromwell, Connecticut

The only threat of rain this week appears to be on Saturday.  The rest of the week is shaping up to be hot and sunny and the rain shouldn’t have much affect on the event.  If you’re playing heads up fantasy like No Halftime (insert our new affiliate link here), then you may want to challenge some opponents who are playing in Round 3.

Last Year’s Results from the Travelers Championship

In Round 4 of last year’s Travelers Championship Watson was able to stay on top despite a charging Paul Casey to go on and win for his 8th time on the PGA TOUR.  It took two extra holes to get it done, but in the end, the lefty was the one holding the trophy.

Fans will remember that Bubba had a three-shot advantage with five holes remaining, but he ended up making bogey on 17 which opened the door for Casey who closed out an impressive fourth round 65 to get into the playoff with Watson.

With the win, Bubba improved to a 5-1 record when in playoffs which surprisingly enough includes his three-way playoff win at the 2010 Travelers.

Highlights | Bubba Watson wins in two-hole playoff at the Travelers Championship

In the final round of the 2015 Travelers Championship, Bubba Watson survived Paul Casey in sudden death playoff to capture his eighth PGA TOUR victory. . SUBSCRIBE to PGA TOUR now: http://pgat.us/vBxcZSh Welcome to the official YouTube channel of the PGA TOUR.

This Week’s Broadcast Schedule

• Television Broadcasts
  • Thursday-Friday, 3-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel).
  • Saturday-Sunday, 1-2:30 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS)
• Mobile Broadcasts 
• • PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 7 a.m.-3 p.m. (featured groups), 3-6 p.m. (featured holes). Saturday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. (featured holes).
• RADIO
  • Thursday-Friday, noon-6 p.m.
  • Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com).

Where to Play Fantasy Golf for the Travelers Championship this Week

The majors may be over but the million dollar events from DraftKings keep rolling in!  This time around it’s DraftKings first ever “survivor-style” Fantasy Golf World Championship.  Here are the details:

DraftKing’s Fantasy Golf $1 Million World Championship will play out as an elimination-style tournament spanning the course of the upcoming FedExCup playoffs.  This week is your chance to win one of 125 Qualifier Tickets by playing in one of the qualifier satellite leagues.  Needless to say, this one should be a good time.  You can find the full details here.

This Week’s Fantasy Notes for the Travelers Championship

As we mentioned in the course description, we know that Distance, Scrambling, and Strokes Gained Putting are key stats here at TPC River Highlands.  In fact, past-winner Bubba Watson led the field in Driving Distance at this event every year since 2013.  He seems comfortable off the tee here, but there is a little more than that required to get the job done.  Essentially, you cannot simply rely on power as your sole indicator this week.  Kevin Streelman won here in 2014, and power was not one of the stats that got it done for him (ranked 48th).

When rounding out your rosters this week, be sure to use our new Key Fantasy Golf Stats tool to sort the field for both Driving Distance (DD) and Driving Accuracy (DA) as both will come into play here at TPC River Highlands.  As noted earlier, you should also look for guys who excel at Scrambling (SCR %) this week.

Remember, this week on a hot, fast northeast course, we like players with excellent Scrambling abilities and this will be our go-to stat—before anything else.  Power and Putting will be next, and just to sprinkle in some others, we’re targeting Strokes Gained: Tee-To-Green and Greens in Regulation.

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Our Top 5 (and Top 2 Sleeper) Fantasy Picks and Odds to Win the 2016 Travelers Championship

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Top 5 Picks/Odds to Win the Travelers Championship

Horse Pick: ($12,500 – $11,000)

Bubba Watson (Golficity Odds 12/1 FPPG: 73.70 GPFP: 88.46 Salary: $12,300): This may just be an easy choice this week for your horse pick because Bubba essentially owns this course.  He’s the only player in the field whose scrambling stat we’re ignoring this week because he makes up for a lack of scrambling with a boatload distance and experience.  Last year he stormed in with confidence and fired an opening round 62 but yet, he still had to come from behind in the finale to take home the trophy.  If you’re looking for a true horse for the course, run with Bubba this week and spend the money.  In his career at TPC River Highlands he has two wins, a T2, a and a solo fourth.  Can you say “Fantasy Points?”

Tour Stats 2015-2016 Season

• Scrambling: 191st
• Driving Distance: 4th
• Greens in Regulation: 18th
• Strokes Gained: Putting: 134th
• Strokes Gained: Tee-To-Green: 8th

* Most Notable Stat: Driving Distance: 8th

Top Tier Pick ($10,000-$11,000)

Matt Kuchar (Golficity Odds 20/1 FPPG: 71.90 GPFP: 79.75 Salary: $10,600): Kuch hasn’t performed well on the big stages this year with disappointing showings in the majors, but outside of the big four he’s had consistently strong showings throughout the year, highlighted by his T3 at THE PLAYERS.  Matt ranks an impressive 18th on Tour in scrambling which should help lead him to a strong showing this week at TPC River Highlands.  Needless to say, we’d be shocked to not see Kuch in the mix come Sunday.

Tour Stats 2015-2016 Season

• Scrambling: 18th
• Driving Distance: 139th
• Greens in Regulation: 40th
• Strokes Gained: Putting: 20th
• Strokes Gained: Tee-To-Green: 14th

* Most Notable Stat: Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green: 14th

Mid-Tier Pick ($8,000-$9,900)

John Rahm (Golficity Odds 28/1 FPPG: 83.80 GPFP: 77.10 Salary: $9,800): Rahm showed a well-rounded game with his T2 at the RBC in Canada just two weeks ago, proving he can go toe-to-toe with the best in the world.  John doesn’t have enough PGA TOUR stats this year to calculate rankings but has shown plenty of power (averaging 302.9 off the tee) while also coming in strong with the flat iron (1.216 Strokes Gained Putting).  At under $10k Rahm is a strong buy this week.

Tour Stats 2015-2016 Season

Scrambling: N/A
Driving Distance: N/A
Greens in Regulation: N/A
Strokes Gained: Putting: N/A
Strokes Gained: Tee-To-Green: N/A

* Most Notable Stat: N/A

Low-Tier Picks

Justin Thomas (Golficity Odds 50/1 FPPG: 64.20 GPFP: 78.95 Salary: $7,800): Like Bubba, Justin is long off the tee, ranking 23rd on Tour in Driving Distance, but his accuracy off the tee does leave some question marks.  Regardless, Thomas is a top-tier performer when is game is on target and he consistently performs well against weaker fields which is evidenced by his win at the CIMB Classic last November.  At $7,800 we think JT is undervalued this week and so long as his short game is on Justin should pick us up a fistful of fantasy points this week.

Tour Stats 2015-2016 Season

Scrambling: 169th
Driving Distance: 23rd
Greens in Regulation: 94th
Strokes Gained: Putting: 153rd
Strokes Gained: Tee-To-Green: 67th

* Most Notable Stat: Longest Drives: 1st

Ryan Moore (Golficity Odds 55/1 FPPG: 58.60 GPFP: 46.85 Salary: $7,800): For the most part Moore has had a rough 2016, as highlighted by his inability to break the top 30 in his last seven starts this year.  His performance at TPC River Highlands however is a different story.  Ryan has placed in the Top 15 here in five of his last six starts, making him a true horse for the course.  Our advice is to ignore his recent play and take a gamble on this low-tier pick who could use this well-known track to gain some late-season traction.

Tour Stats 2015-2016 Season

Scrambling: 128th
Driving Distance: 180th
Greens in Regulation: 117th
Strokes Gained: Putting: 31st
Strokes Gained: Tee-To-Green: 93rd

* Most Notable Stat: Strokes Gained Putting: 31st

Sleeper Pick/Odds to Win the Travelers Championship

Luke List (Golficity Odds 125/1 FPPG: 60.05 86 GPFP: 68.84  Salary: $5,800): List comes into this week featuring a ton of power off the tee, which is most certainly why our GPFP indicators have him featuring a forecasted 68+ fantasy points.  Luke also put up a ton of fantasy points over the last two events (89 and 90.5 respectively) which included the challenging PGA Championship.  At only $5,800 Luke is by far the best sleeper in the field this week.

Tour Stats 2015-2016 Season

Scrambling: 39th
Driving Distance: 8th
Greens in Regulation: 57th
Strokes Gained: Putting: 139th
Strokes Gained: Tee-To-Green: 31st

* Most Notable Stat: Driving Distance: 8th

Salary Cap League Super Sleeper Pick/Odds to Win the Travelers Championship

Alex Cejka (Golficity Odds 175/1 FPPG: 59.5 GPFP: 47.85 Salary: $5,700): Cejka showed that he can perform well even against the strongest fields when he posted a 5th place finish at the PGA Championship last week.  Although he’s coming off some long odds this week, Cejka is still a steal at $5,700 and has the ability to perform well against the “weaker” field at TPC River Highlands.  Alex currently ranks 61st in the FedExCup standings so he’s a lock for The Playoffs but we’re sure he’s not planning on taking his foot off the gas this week.

Tour Stats 2015-2016 Season

Scrambling: 4th
Driving Distance: 163rd
Greens in Regulation: 42nd
Strokes Gained: Putting: 117th
Strokes Gained: Tee-To-Green: 47th

* Most Notable Stat: Scrambling: 4th

Sample DraftKings Lineup With Bubba Watson

Sample DraftKings Lineup Without Bubba Watson

Bonus “Mid-Tier Heavy” Sample Roster

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Last Week’s Top 5 Picks/Odds to Win the PGA Championship

• Dustin Johnson (Golficity Odds 10/1): MC
• Phil Mickelson (Golficity Odds 22/1): MC
• Matt Kuchar (Golficity Odds 40/1): T33 ($42,288)
• Lee Westwood (Golficity Odds 75/1): 85th ($16,500)
• Brandt Snedeker (Golficity Odds 60/1): T56 ($22,250)

Last Week’s Sleeper Pick/Odds to Win the PGA Championship

• Bill Haas (Golficity Odds 100/1): T56 ($22,250)

Last Week’s Salary Cap League Sleeper Pick/Odds to Win the PGA Championship

• Andy Sullivan (Golficity Odds 100/1): T49 ($25,000)

Fantasy Golf Predictions YTD (2015-2016)

[skill_bar heading=”Total Top 3s” percent=”9.80%” bar_text=”24 out of 245 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 10s” percent=”21.22%” bar_text=”52 out of 245 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Winners Picked” percent=”25.71%” bar_text=”9 out of 35 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Runners-Up Picked” percent=”22.86%” bar_text=”8 out of 35 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Made Cuts (Includes Sleepers)” percent=”75.51″ bar_text=”185 out of 245 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″]

Remember to visit our private Facebook group to discuss this week’s picks for the 2016 Travelers Championship with other Premium Members.

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Cover Photo via Instagram