The PGA Tour returns to Cromwell, Conn. for the Travelers Championship, which typically features extremely low scoring on one of the tour’s shortest courses.
Field Level Media’s golf experts break down key tournament notes, odds and best bets for the event that begins Thursday at TPC River Highlands.
TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP
Cromwell, Conn., June 23-26
Course: TPC River Highlands (Par 70, 6,852 yards)
Purse: $8.3M (Winner: $1.494M)
Defending Champion: Harris English
FedExCup Leader: Scottie Scheffler
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday, 3-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 1-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3-6 p.m. (CBS)
PGA Tour Live: Daily feeds on ESPN+
Social Media: @TravelersChamp (Twitter)
NOTES
–Scottie Scheffler leads a field that includes six of the top 15 players in the Official World Golf Ranking after Justin Thomas (back) withdrew.
–English defeated Kramer Hickok in an eight-hole playoff last year, tied for the second-longest playoff in PGA Tour history. English finished T61 at the U.S. Open after missing the cut at the Memorial, his first event since the Hawaii swing due to hip surgery.
–Former University of Texas star Cole Hammer will make his PGA Tour debut as a professional. Ben James, the top-ranked junior in the country, is also in the field.
–One of three events thus far this season to play under 7,000 yards, TPC River Highlands is where Jim Furyk tied the tour’s 18-hole scoring record with a 58 in 2016.
–Morgan Hoffman will make his final start on his Major Medical Extension this week. TPC Highlands was also where Hoffman made his professional debut in 2011. He announced in December 2017 that he had been diagnosed with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.
BEST BETS
–Scheffler (+900 at BetMGM), who turned 26 on Tuesday, is trying to become the first five-time winner in a season since Thomas in 2016-17. He has been backed by the most winning bets at the sportsbook at 7.4 percent and is third with 7.2 percent of the handle.
–McIlroy (+1000) opened at +900 and admitted experiencing some fatigue as he competes for the fourth consecutive week. He followed a win at the RBC Canadian Open with a T5 at the U.S. Open to move to No. 2 in the world rankings.
–Cantlay (+1400) has finished T15 or better in each of his past four starts in the event. He is second at BetMGM with 9.6 percent of the handle supporting him.
–Sam Burns (+1800) is a three-time winner this season and was in contention last week before settling for a T27 after closing with a 76.
–Jordan Spieth (+2500), the 2017 event winner, entered the field on Friday. He has drawn the highest handle at BetMGM at 13.8 percent, making Spieth the sportsbook’s biggest liability.
–Joaquin Niemann is second at DraftKings with 5 percent of the bets and 7 percent of the handle backing him at +3000.
–Seamus Power (+5000) is the second-biggest liability at BetMGM, where his has drawn 5.2 percent of the bets and 6.1 percent of the handle.
–Davis Riley (+4000) is another popular longshot, having drawn 4.0 percent of the bets and 6.0 percent of the handle at BetMGM to be the third-biggest liability. Riley leads at DraftKings with 6 and 8 percent of the action, respectively, at +4000. He is +3300 at PointsBet, but still leads the sportsbook with 8.7 percent of the total tickets and is third with 10.3 percent of the handle.
–Sungjae Im is being offered at +2800 at PointsBet, where he is the biggest liability this week with 17.9 percent of the handle backing him.
–Field Level Media
