Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2025 Travelers Championship

Travelers Championship Fantasy Sleeper Report

J.J. Spaun battled the elements and some rotten luck to win the U.S. Open on Sunday… just his second PGA TOUR level title.

At the second hole, the Californian hit a seemingly perfect approach – the ball hitting the pin. But, this being Oakmont Country Club, it rolled away across the green, down a slope, and ended up in the fairway about 50 yards away. Spaun looked to be out of contention when the players went off for a lightning break, which also brought heavy rain to Pittsburgh.

But Sam Burns and Adam Scott fluffed their lines at a waterlogged Oakmont, whereas Spaun was loving life – he made four birdies on the back nine in otherwise treacherous conditions.

Embed from Getty Images

A 64ft putt on the last, when a two putt would have sufficed, was the icing on a particularly sweet cake for Spaun, who has long been a talented sort but was yet to add to his solitary PGA TOUR win at the 2022 Texas Open.But the wait it over… and Spaun will forever be remembered as the only man to finish under par as Oakmont bared its teeth at the 2025 U.S. Open.

It will be a while before he’s available at odds of 150/1 again, for sure, and this week at the Travelers Championship the focus is on those at the other end of the betting market.

This is the final Signature Event of the year, which brings with it an elite field and a huge purse of prize money. Scottie Scheffler, the defending champion, will be vying for honors once more against the likes of Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, and Collin Morikawa. But TPC River Highlands is such a simple golf course that the elite are less likely to separate themselves from the field, and with consistent rain in the forecast, a perennial birdie fest could get even easier in soft conditions.

For context, Jim Furyk posted a round of 58 here less than a decade ago, while Cam Young fired a 59 last year – the winning score will almost certainly breach -20 or lower, and if the rain doesn’t soften the surfaces, it could be considerably lower than that this time around. Because TPC River Highlands is little more than a wedge shootout. The players will club down, find fairways, and then leave themselves approaches in the 100-175 yard range over and over again on the buffet of Par 4 holes at this Par 70 layout.

So who will hit their ball closest and make the most putts? Here’s five that might in our 2025 Travelers Championship sleeper shortlist.

[membership level=”0″]

Already a member?  Sign in Here.

[/membership]

[membership level=”1,2,3″]

Hideki Matsuyama – 50/1 – Dig into the U.S. Open statistics, specifically for round four, and you stumble across some real signs of encouragement for Hideki Matsuyama.

The Japanese star hasn’t been playing particularly great by his high standards of late, but a fine ball striking turn on Sunday – he gained +4.08 on the field, which was the second best effort amongst elite company – offers up hope. It’s particularly positive given that Matsuyama has only played eight rounds at TPC River Highlands, and four of those were two strokes or lower than the day’s scoring average.

Odds of 50/1 about a proven winner, showing signs of renaissance ahead of a trip to a venue he enjoys? Yes please…

Ben Griffin – 55/1 – You can’t keep a good man down, and Ben Griffin continues to march on with the hottest of hot hands. Since the end of April, Griffin has won two PGA TOUR titles – the Zurich Classic and the Charles Schwab Challenge, finished second to Scheffler at the Memorial Tournament, and posted two major top-tens.

All of which offers the question why is he available to back at 55/1 this week? Who cares what the sportsbooks’ reasoning is, we’ve got a red-hot performer on board for a fantastic price.

Daniel Berger – 66/1 – Although only time will tell, it appears as though Daniel Berger may have solved his putting woes at Oakmont last week. He had the yips on the greens prior to that, missing a catalogue of putts to miss the cut at the Charles Schwab Challenge and Memorial Tournament.

But Berger gained +0.76 on the field at the U.S. Open, and while his performance wasn’t perfect by any means, he did strike the ball well – as he has done for months on end. With two top-five finishes in four attempts at TPC River Highlands, a return to the venue perhaps could not be better timed.

Si-Woo Kim – 66/1 – This just feels like a Si-Woo Kim week, so it’s a surprise to see that he only has a best of T11 at TPC River Highlands to his name. But he’s won at correlating venues like TPC Sawgrass, Waialae, and Sedgefield, which offers the possibility that a stronger turn in Connecticut is viable.

Si-Woo gained strokes on a world-class field in every tee-to-green department at the U.S. Open, having his first cold week on the greens in some time. If he can marry that better ball striking with the putting he had shown prior to the Oakmont jaunt, the Korean can contend.

Akshay Bhatia – 70/1 – It would be fair to say that Akshay Bhatia took kindly to TPC River Highlands on debut 12 months ago, posting a scoring average of 65.5 on his way to a T5 finish. The leftie was level with Scheffler and one adrift of leader Tom Kim with a round to play, so this feels like the sort of venue where he can add to his burgeoning reputation.

T3 at the correlating PLAYERS Championship in March, Bhatia remains an inconsistent type… but one with a tremendously high performance ceiling, particularly at venues he loves.

[/membership]

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

Fantasy Golf Predictions This Season (2024-2025)

Cover photo via Instagram