The Travelers Championship returns to TPC River Highlands for another Signature event in the 2024 PGA TOUR season. Find bigger golf odds at the best sports betting sites to increase your potential payouts. Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, and Xander Schauffele project as the favorites for this year’s Travelers Championship.
The Signature Events keep on coming, and true to the PGA TOUR’s 2024 vision, they’ll look to continue momentum from last week’s U.S. Open into the 2024 Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut. Sportsbooks have already dropped Travelers Championship betting options for this weekend.
The electric crowd atmosphere never disappoints in Connecticut. Although a par-70, TPC River Highlands offers ample birdie opportunities and true tests that reward the best ball strikers.
As the conversations surrounding rolling back modern golf ball technology, TPC River Highlands is a quintessential example of why this has become so necessary. Time has passed this 6,835 yard course by, as what was once a quintessential plodders paradise has fallen victim to the bomb-and-gouge approach. Longer hitters have begun to cut off angles, going over the top of this tree-lined layout for ample driver-wedge birdie opportunities. Even still, Pete Dye’s TPC River Highlands continues to reward elite ball strikers who bring a streaky putter into tournament week.
Let’s run through the key facts and info about TPC River Highlands ahead of the 2024 Travelers Championship.
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Scroll to the bottom for complete outright odds. Here are the favorites with odds shorter than 20-1 when sportsbooks release them Monday.THE FIELD AT A GLANCE
The PGA TOUR’s best will remain on the east coast for one more week, with a short trip from Pinehurst to New England next on deck. The Travelers has always been a favorite amongst PGA TOUR players, and has gained some serious momentum since the fragmentation of the PGA TOUR and LIV. Tapped with Signature Event status, virtually of the PGA TOUR’s best will flock to Cromwell, Connecticut with an electric Northeast crowd awaiting.Of the top-50 eligible OWGR players, all inside the top-30 will be in the field this week. Min Woo Lee and Nicolai Hojgaard are the only eligible players who have elected to skip. That means we have yet another loaded field headlined by Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, and Ludvig Åberg to look forward to. Each of these PGA TOUR stars return in great recent form with proven past high finishes at this event.
New England’s own, Keegan Bradley is back to return his 2023 Travelers Championship victory after an emotional win here last year in front of a supportive crowd. Xander Schauffele and Harris English also represent past Travelers Championship winners set to tee it up in this limited field event.
INTRODUCTION TO TPC RIVER HIGHLANDS
A bit less speculation and guesswork lies ahead for the Travelers Championship than the last few weeks. The confines of TPC River Highlands bring plenty of familiarity. This year marks the Travelers’ 72nd year on the schedule with TPC River Highlands hosting since 1984.If we affectionately refer to the WM Phoenix Open as “The People’s Open,” then we may want to dub the Travelers “The People’s Championship.” Attendance ranks second only to TPC Scottsdale each year. That adds a stadium atmosphere and makes for an exhilarating viewing experience down the final stretch. The Travelers doesn’t have the pedigree of the Genesis, but it’s done an excellent job of attracting the game’s best players – a credit to the energy created each year. It’s no coincidence that for that reason, The Travelers has been tapped as a Signature Event for the second consecutive year, continuing the momentum from last week’s U.S. Open with another loaded field with heightened stakes.
Playoffs have been a mainstay at The Travelers, with five contests extending beyond regulation over the last 13 years. In addition to the marathon between English and Hickok in 2021, the 18th sets the scene for many infamous “walk-off” hole outs, notably from Spieth in 2017.
Patrick Cantlay’s breakout moment came on these grounds in 2011 when he shot the course record 60 as an amateur, still in college at UCLA. That record did not last long, however, as Jim Furyk came back in 2016 and fired a 58. Mackenzie Hughes also opened the 2020 Travelers with a Thursday 60. This course can be a birdie maker’s dream when the irons and putter click. Despite all the low single-round scores, 2023 marked the only instance over the last 11 years in which the winning score surpassed -20.
COURSE HISTORY AND COURSE COMPS
Course History is stickier at TPC River Highlands than the average TOUR course. I’m beginning my research by striking through any players who failed to post a top-40 finish in their prior starts. Course specialists used similar game plans each year to produce consistent results and find themselves in contention.Looking at the recent Travelers results, six players have multiple T15 finishes over the last five years. That list includes: Rory McIlroy, Brian Harman, Patrick Cantlay, Scottie Scheffler, Keegan Bradley, and Jason Day. Generally speaking, strong iron play prevails, judging from this group, but the varying profiles of players who found repeated success here suggests that there are many different ways to attack this course.
Eight players avoided missing the cut in each of the last five years (min. three appearances): Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland, Andrew Putnam, Patrick Cantlay, Mackenzie Hughes, Harris English, and Sungjae Im.
The top 10 players in terms of overall course history at TPC River Highlands are: Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy, Brian Harman, Hideki Matsuyama, Keegan Bradley, Scottie Scheffler, Sahith Theegala, Jason Day, and Russell Henley.
Course Comps
Short positional courses are a dime a dozen on the PGA TOUR. They tend to bring the most correlation from a comp standpoint, with similar emphasis on position off the tee and separation with short-to-middle irons. In the case of TPC River Highlands, many other courses of a similar profile have proven themselves indicators of success.Strongest Comparisons
Colonial CC seems the top comp in my eyes. It features the exact same average green size and rough length, plays under 7,200 yards, and uses heavy tree lining to force positional layups off the tee. Spieth has won at both events, and Kevin Kisner, Zach Johnson, Harris English and Brooks Koepka have each also found repeated success at both.TPC Deere Run is another great comp course. It also plays as short and positionally on similar Bentgrass greens with a layout which rewards a combination of SG: OTT and Birdies or Better Gained. TPC courses bring plenty of design consistency, and the philosophy of a fan-friendly atmosphere with ample scoring opportunities should translate.
Of all the Pete Dye comps, the presence of penal rough and ample hazards has me lean towards TPC Sawgrass as the top one. Harbour Town also serves as a solid reference and has been a strong indictor earlier in the season.
Other Course Comps
If we use Bubba Watson as a barometer for course fit (he has three wins here) then Riviera CC, Innisbrook Resort, and (to a lesser extent) TPC Scottsdale also stand as interesting reference points.Given the recency, positional emphasis, and same Bent-Poa northeast greens, Oakdale Golf & Country Club – host of the RBC Canadian Open two weeks ago – also serves as a reliable comp course.
Combine performance across this list and the top 10 players in Comp Course History here are: Scottie Scheffler, Ludvig Åberg, Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman, Russell Henley, Sam Burns, Keegan Bradley, Justin Thomas, and Sungjae Im.
KEY STATS TO CONSIDER WITH TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP ODDS
- SG: OTT
- SG: APP
- Birdies or Better Gained
- SG: ARG
- Prox 125-175
- SG: T2G (<7,200-Yard Courses)
- Par 4: 400-450 / Par: 4: 0-350
- SG: TOT (Pete Dye Courses)
- SG: Putting (Bent & Poa)
- Course & Comp Course History
In recent weeks, there’s been an emphasis on the importance of Total Driving (Driving Accuracy + Driving Distance) in lieu of SG: OTT. This week, I’m going heavy on SG: OTT. The top-10 players in SG: OTT entering this week are: Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Ludvig Åberg, Viktor Hovland, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Collin Morikawa, Sahith Theegala, Wyndham Clark, and Byeong Hun An.
Any short Pete Dye course puts an emphasis on iron play. Just behind SG: OTT for me this week is SG: APP. The top-10 entering this event are: Scottie Scheffler, Corey Conners, Tom Hoge, Xander Schauffele, Shane Lowry, Tony Finau, Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Ludvig Åberg, and Si Woo Kim.
Given Pete Dye’s tricky green-side complexes, SG: ARG still ranks highly, despite the high volume of birdies expected. Just nine players rank top-30 in both SG: Ball Striking and SG: ARG – Hideki Matsuyama, Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas, Tommy Fleetwood, Collin Morikawa, Andrew Putnam, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Si Woo Kim, and Adam Hadwin.
Birdies And Specific Distances
We don’t normally find so many holes at one course concentrated to one range. This week, we see eight holes funneled between 400-450 yards. Those who excel from this range should have a leg up. That top 10 includes: Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland, Jason Day, Rory McIlroy, Stephan Jaeger, Xander Schauffele, Ludvig Åberg, Hideki Matsuyama, and Tommy Fleetwood.Coinciding with this funneled hole distribution, there is a significant concentration of approaches from 125-175 yards, with nearly 50% of approaches coming from this range. The top 10 mid-to-short iron players in this week’s field are: Scottie Scheffler, Chris Kirk, Matthieu Pavon, Wyndham Clark, Kurt Kitayama, Adam Schenk, Andrew Putnam, Chris Gotterup, Russell Henley, and Seamus Power.
With so many low individual scores posted over the years, TPC River Highlands has become a birdie maker’s delight. It presents a great opportunity for streaky players to separate themselves if the irons and putter click. The top 10 players to keep an eye on for Birdies or Better Gained are: Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Viktor Hovland, Rory McIlroy, Byeong Hun An, Ben Griffin, Xander Schauffele, Corey Conners, Tom Hoge, and Ludvig Åberg.
To summarize, I’m looking for players who excel in Prox. 125-175 and Par-4: 400-450 scoring, and also possess above average history at TPC River Highlands as well as other comp courses. Ten players meet that criteria: Scottie Scheffler, Corey Conners, Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Ludvig Åberg, Russell Henley, Sahith Theegala, Viktor Hovland, and Hideki Matsuyama.
Correlations
Looking at the correlation charts this week, we see quite a few stat categories that profile TPC River Highlands as a unique test compared to the average PGA TOUR course. Par-3 Scoring, Par-5 Scoring, and P4: 450-500 have proven less consequential at this event, and each falls from their usual place in the top 10.The number of short par 4s means we instead see a premium concentrated on P4: 400-450 and P4: 0-350. Ten holes play between these two ranges, so players who take advantage should position themselves to stockpile the most birdie chances.
Just outside the top 10, we notably see Driving Distance and Doubles Avoided bringing historical success. Distance does not come to mind on a 6,800-yard course, but it’s proven a very good “nice to have” for players like Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau, Jason Day, and Charley Hoffman historically at TPC River Highlands. Doubles Avoided also feels like a tertiary stat. But, on a course that baits you into taking shots over hazards and forces layups from tee shots that fall out of position, it makes sense that we want players who keep big numbers off of their cards.
Just five players in the field rank above average in each of the above 10 key stat categories: Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Ludvig Åberg, Viktor Hovland, and Sahith Theegala.
Congratulations again to last week's winners @FSU & Golf @RancheroNole and @Bobcat07
Mrs. BFT maintains the overall season lead
