Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2024 Travelers Championship

2024 Travelers Championship Fantasy Sleeper Report

It takes a certain kind of player, and personality type, to thrive in the U.S. Open, and that became abundantly clear once more on Sunday.

Rory McIlroy has spoken in the past of his troubles adapting to the tough conditions, revealing a lack of perseverance when it comes to the necessary ‘fairways and greens’ mindset.

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Ironically, he showed tremendous patience from tee-to-green in testing conditions at Pinehurst, but it was putting that became his Achilles heel – pertinently, two gimmies inside three-feet that McIlroy missed to blow his chance of a first major win in a decade.

So step forward Bryson DeChambeau, who himself has admitted that his natural ‘bombs away’ mindset has prevented him from succeeding in the tournament on a consistent basis – even though he won it at Winged Foot in 2020.

As McIlroy floundered on the greens, Bryson set about cutting the two-shot deficit – despite sending drives left and right as he struggled to come to terms with a new head on the club (his previous one had been damaged on Saturday). 

But an extraordinary up and down from the bunker at the final hole, having missed the fairway and effectively having to bail out diagonally from the waste area, was enough to secure DeChambeau a second U.S. Open title.

How long McIlroy will rue throwing away the title only he knows, but he has a chance to get straight back into the saddle this week at the Travelers Championship – as does Scottie Scheffler, who almost missed the cut at Pinehurst in a surprise turn of events for the 4/1 betting favorite.

This will be the final Signature Event of the year (hooray, from a betting perspective), with no cut and four rounds of what is likely to be birdie-heavy golf at the easy TPC River Highlands.

It’s tight and doglegging in places, but this 6,852 yard Par 70 is a breeze for the most part – Jim Furyk, he of fairways and greens specialty, shot 58 here not that many moons ago.

The Bentgrass/Poa greens are receptive, there’s minimal rough to worry about, and even the holes that run parallel to water – especially the ‘Golden Triangle’ of 15-17 – don’t present too many problems. 

This is wedge and short iron heaven: hit fairways, or miss close to the edge of the short grass, and then hit your approach shot close – there’s not much more to it than that at TPC River Highlands, which explains why bombers have rubbed shoulders with some of the shortest hitters around in the winners’ circle here.

Of course, Keegan Bradley is neither of those things, but he can be elite on approach at times, and his mojo was certainly in place here 12 months ago when he cantered to a three-shot victory over the fairway-finding duo of Brian Harman and Zac Blair.

Despite a somewhat wild weather forecast, we’re expecting much the same this week – and the scheduling of the event, just a week after a gruelling major at Pinehurst, perhaps plays into the hands of those seeking a long-odds winner.

In that spirit, here’s our sleeper picks for the 2024 Travelers Championship.

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Keegan Bradley – 50/1 – Keegan Bradley won this event 12 months ago with a proverbial cigar lit, besting Scheffler, McIlroy and co by a considerable margin despite taking his foot off the gas on Sunday and coming home in +3.

It continues a love affair not only with TPC River Highlands, but short, tree-lined fare just like it. Bradley was T2 at Colonial just two starts ago, and also has a decent record at the likes of TPC Sawgrass and Torrey Pines, which can be considered correlating to some extent or another.

As mentioned, Bradley is in form – that effort at the Charles Schwab Challenge just a few weeks ago proof of that, and he gained +1.07 on approach against a high calibre field at the U.S. Open this week just gone. 

Tom Kim – 55/1 – Playing such good golf right now, it seems a certainty that Tom Kim will contend for a title in the next few weeks or months.

It’s helpful to know that he’s won at the Wyndham Championship and the Shriners – both at short enough layouts where elite approach play is the order of the day, and so good is his overall game right now that Kim has finished top-30 in the last two majors at Valhalla and Pinehurst; neither of which suit his natural game.

Instead, the Korean finds his edge when hitting fairways is at a premium, as well as lofting wedges as close to the pin as possible. Putting just as well as he is striking the ball right now, Kim is knocking on the door of a championship run.

Sepp Straka – 60/1 – The glass-like greens at Pinehurst were never going to be to Sepp Straka’s liking, but he should feel much more comfortable at TPC River Highlands.

T10 here in 2021, when he posted a pair of 66s, the Austrian also has previous at the likes of Colonial, Harbour Town, TPC Sawgrass, and TPC Deere Run – all supporting material to the idea that he should go well this week.

Lately, Straka has been incredibly accurate off the tee and classy on approach – his best putting performance, meanwhile, came on the Bentgrass/Poa mix greens of Quail Hollow.

Shane Lowry – 60/1 – Two rounds of 64 here last year confirm that TPC River Highlands is a layout that could play nicely to Shane Lowry’s strengths. 

The Irishman played some of his best golf of U.S. Open week on Sunday – a round of 69 ensuring he will take plenty of confidence to Connecticut.

Often accurate off the tee, and always high-grade on approach, Lowry has the basic tools to thrive this week – not to mention a welcome uptick with the flatstick of late.

J.T. Poston – 80/1 – T32 at a Pinehurst layout that doesn’t suit his natural style is a feather in the cap of J.T. Poston.

That especially becomes the case when we consider that in association with T12 at the Charles Schwab Challenge and T22 at the Memorial, we note that Poston is playing well at venues that do suit (Colonial) and even those that don’t (Muirfield Village).

Rounds of 62 and 64 here in 2022, on his way to a T2 finish, reveal Poston’s love of TPC River Highlands. Can he go one better in 2024?

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

Fantasy Golf Predictions This Season (2024)

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