Travelers Championship power rankings: Top 10 at TPC River Highlands
Zach Johnson won’t be a sexy pick on most fans’ radar this week. The two-time major champion has dropped to 70th in the world ranking, and is currently just 95th in the FedEx Cup race. He’s made 11 cuts in 15 starts this year, but only turned four into top-25 finishes. Why the vote of confidence, then?
It all has to do with Johnson’s record at the Travelers Championship. He’s played this tournament 11 times in his career, made the cut 9 times, and has five top-25 finishes. Johnson also finished in sixth place at River Highlands in 2015. If anybody knows their way around this particular track, it’s Johnson.
Of course, he still needs to execute on the course, and in the bigger picture, not many courses set up better for Johnson’s eye than this. He’s currently ranked 12th on Tour in driving accuracy, and 27th in strokes-gained: around the green. That’s helpful, considering his pedestrian greens-in-regulation rate of just 62.59%, 166th on Tour.
Most other players with those stats would probably have a hard time finding their way into my sleeper picks, but there’s something about Johnson and the Travelers that just work well together. If he’s ever going to make a splash this season, it’ll be right here.