GOLFICITY BETS: The 2020 Travelers Championship Gambling Guide

Travelers Championship Tournament Preview

It’s been a great resumption to the PGA TOUR campaign for two quiet men who tend to go under the radar.

Daniel Berger, supremely talented but not an ‘elite’ player (for now), showcased his prodigious skills in victory at the Charles Schwab Challenge, and he was followed at the RBC Heritage last time out by Webb Simpson.

Despite being firmly ensconced in the world’s top 10 according to the OWGR for quite some time now, Simpson continues to go under the radar compared to more ‘fashionable’ players around him.

But the former US Open champion is elite, a player who when putting well is the match of absolutely anyone in world golf. His victory on Sunday, backed by a triumph at the Phoenix Open prior to lockdown, confirms that Simpson is very much among the best in the sport.

The ‘new normal’ for the PGA TOUR continues at pace this week with the Travelers Championship, where another high-class field will be looking to get their hands on the trophy.

Travelers Championship  Course Preview

There is an element of the old-fashioned about TPC River Highlands, a really short 6,841 yard Par 70 where the emphasis is on accuracy and strategy rather than unbridled brutality off the tee.

It’s true that Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson have won here on multiple occasions, but the general feel from the history books and past leaderboards is that accurate ball-strikers are in pole position to thrive at TPC River Highlands.

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The defending champion is Chez Reavie, a rather hefty clue to that end, while other shorter hitters – Knox, Streelman, Duke, Choi etc – have prospered at this golf course.

There are some tough sightlines off the tee, with thick tree coverage and lengthy rough creating a sense of jeopardy, and so once again irons off the tee will be the order of the day.

The Bentgrass/Poa Annua greens are of an average size, and while they are protected by some peril – Pete Dye took on a renovation project here in the 1980s – the general feeling is that TPC River Highlands is there to be taken when the wind is down….as Jim Furyk proved in 2016 when he carded a round of 58 here.

Travelers Championship Outright Winner

When you have a golf course that can be described as ‘tight and fiddly’, the likes of Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm don’t exactly jump off the page as potential winners at super-low odds.

And that’s why the relentless tee-to-green game of Bryson DeChambeau is really of interest to us.

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Much has been made of his gain in muscle mass, and he will no doubt look forward to the days he can play at more open golf courses and really let his driver fly.

But for now, the Scientist has done very well at tighter courses like Colonial and Harbour Town, and his supreme ball-striking makes him a real contender for the ‘W’ this week – forget the fact that this is, once more, a ‘less than driver’ golf course.

DeChambeau produced some outstanding iron play at the RBC heritage, and with some greens expected this week with baking hot sun and some rain in the forecast he could thrive more than most.

Travelers Championship Top 5 Finish Pick

You can get a quite generous +500 on Brooks Koepka, and that’s a nice price for an elite player who seemed to find something at Harbour Town.

With no round worse than 68, the major champion seems to have found the groove again and he will be looking to kick on in Connecticut.

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Oddly, many of his best performances have come on the east coast, and we know that Koepka has the flexibility in his game to hit booming drives or more precise irons off the tee.

With the game to win anywhere, Brooks for a top-five appears to be an advantage play this week.

Travelers Championship Top 10 Finish Pick

While not a foolproof strategy for success, there is a certain repetition in backing players that have shown consistent tee-to-green golf in recent times.

In that regard, Sergio Garcia delivered a masterclass at Harbour Town last time out, and so by that logic we have to get him onboard this week in one betting market or another.

The Spaniard putted much, much better on Sunday too, and so he will pack his bags for TPC River Highlands in excellent mood.

Travelers Championship Top 20 Finish Pick

Tidy GIR merchants are the smart plays in any of the ‘sub’ betting markets this week, and on that front they don’t get much more accurate than Corey Conners.

He ranks third for Greens in Regulation on Tour and inside the top-40 for Driving Accuracy, and some improved – albeit inconsistent – form with the putter gives hope that Conners has an edge on many this week.

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The Canadian will love the soft and slow Bentgrass greens, and we expect him to take full advantage at TPC River Highlands.

Travelers Championship Match-up to Watch

It can be very difficult to back up a winning week with something equally as substantial, and you sensed that Webb Simpson’s win at the RBC Heritage was a particularly poignant one on Father’s Day for a young man who has lost his own dad.

Finding the motivation to go in again may well be difficult, and we’re happy to side with a player he has been paired with in the matchups – Xander Schauffele.

We are fully paid-up members of the Schauffele fan club, and he will be a multiple-time PGA TOUR event winner within a couple of years.

This kind of test, where ball-striking is key and where scrambling is a necessary get out of jail card, should suit Schauffele to a tee, and one of the reasons he particularly appeals is that there will be plenty of birdie and par putts inside 10ft – a stat he ranks 13th on Tour for.

Who to Fade this Week

When we fade players, we do so in the knowledge that their chance of winning is less than their odds imply.

On that front, Rory McIlroy can be swerved this week given that he doesn’t represent 12/1 of value. He was this price for both the Charles Schwab and the RBC Heritage, and he failed to finish inside the top-30 of either.

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Without a top-10 to his name at TPC River Highlands, the profile of this layout does not bring the best out of the Irishman’s game, and we’re happy to fade McIlroy on the premise that his implied probability of winning this week is nowhere near that 12/1 mark.

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