Travelers Championship: Three Longshot Picks For TPC River Highlands
The PGA Tour returns to TPC River Highlands this week for the 2022 Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut.
Amidst turmoil, the PGA’s 2021-22 season rolls on as the Tour returns to Connecticut this week for the popular Travelers Championship at Pete Dye’s TPC River Highlands.
Just like at the RBC Canadian Open a few weeks ago, it is another strong field that will be teeing it up this week.
Whether this is a result of emergency PGA meetings, or simply due to convenience with a host of players traveling overseas next week in preparation for the upcoming 150th Open next month, is unclear.
Regardless, the 461 strength of field rating makes this week’s Travelers Championship the 5th strongest regular event of the year.
Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Sam Burns, Xander Schauffele, and Jordan Spieth are all in attendance this week.
The group of seven are the listed favorites to win this week’s Travelers Championship over on WynnBet Sportsbook.
Travelers Championship Favorites
(All odds courtesy of WynnBet)
- Rory McIlroy +1000
- Scottie Scheffler +1100
- Justin Thomas +1200
- Patrick Cantlay +1400
- Sam Burns +2000
- Xander Schauffele +2000
- Jordan Spieth +2500
The favorites are the favorites for a reason but that doesn’t mean that we can’t sometimes find a winner at longer odds.
Here are my favorite longshot picks of the week that could potentially come from further down the board and win at TPC River Highlands this weekend.
Three Longshot Picks
Seamus Power (+4500)
Power, who is fresh off a 12th-place finish at last week’s U.S. Open, is having a terrific season so far. The Irishman has picked up six top 20 finishes in 2022 and he is someone who can really excel on short tracks.
Seamus was 3rd at the Sony Open at the beginning of the year on another short layout, and he added a 9th place finish at Pebble Beach as well, so he is clearly comfortable on shorter designs.
The World number 36 had his best finish at the Travelers Championship last year when he finished T-19th.
The Irishman does the two things well that you need to do in order to contend in an event like this week’s, which is hit greens and putt well, he ranks 9th and 32nd on Tour in both areas this season.
Brendon Todd (+9000)
After a slow start to his season, Brendon Todd seems to have his game trending back in the right direction and now he gets to return to an event that he came close to winning just two years ago.
Brendon held the lead after the third round here in 2020 and went off in the final pairing alongside Dustin Johnson on Sunday before a disastrous closing round 75 ended his chances.
The three-time PGA Tour winner has finishes of 3rd, at the Charles Schwab Challenge, and 13th at the RBC Canadian Open, in his last two starts.
Todd gained strokes on approach in each of those starts and he has gained in that department in four of his five starts at the Travelers Championship.
Combine all that with his elite accuracy off the tee (5th), and usually reliable putter (5th), and you have the makings of a recipe for success.
Sepp Straka (+15000)
Straka has had a mixed bag of results over the past month and a half, which is surely contributing to the large number on offer this week. However, Straka doesn’t exactly need good form in order to show up out of the blue.
That was the case at the Travelers Championship last year when the University Of Georgia Bulldog turned up and finished 10th at TPC River Highlands, that result came on the back of three consecutive missed cuts for Straka coming into the week.
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Sepp’s last good showing came at the RBC Heritage in April where he finished 3rd on a layout that is not too dissimilar from what the field will see this week.
There is certainly risk with Straka, but he has already demonstrated what the upside is when things are going well and that risk is certainly worth taking on at the current number.