Stacy Revere/Getty Images. Pictured: Brian Harman.
The week after a major can always feel like a letdown. The fields can suffer with many top players opting to take a week off.
This week’s Travelers Championship should still have some juice, with big names like Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, and Patrick Reed in the field.
It should, however, make for an interesting juxtaposition of styles after last week’s U.S. Open. Players will be flying across the country from Torrey Pines in San Diego all the way to Connecticut for this week’s event at TPC River Highlands. While length and strength dominated at Torrey Pines, the Travelers should be much more focused on shot-making and precision.
By Sunday afternoon, we should see a very different leaderboard, with a radically different type of golfer set up well to compete at TPC River Highlands.
(All odds provided by DraftKings)
Brendon Todd (+7000)
Golf analytics experts DataGolf use a tool that measures which skills best fit each course on Tour. After the bombers had their fun at Torrey Pines last week, the data overwhelmingly favors driving accuracy this week at TPC River Highlands.
We’ll start then with the Tour’s driving accuracy leader, Brendon Todd. In 77 rounds this season, he has hit 730 of 980 possible fairways, good for nearly 75 percent.
He put his accuracy to good use last year at this event, finishing in a tie for 11th. He’s a strong value to finish near the top again this week.
Brian Harman (+2000)
Harman attracted some eye-balls last weekend for an ugly four-putt from inside six feet, but let’s not allow that to obscure the good week he had at Torrey Pines. The former Georgia Bulldog finished T19, shooting 72 or better all four days. That performance followed a top-10 finish at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Harman’s previous start.
He enters the Travelers playing well and is well suited for the course. He’s among the Tour leaders in driving accuracy and has fared well at TPC River Highlands in the past. He’s finished in the top 10 each of the last two times he’s played the event, placing T8 in 2019 and T6 in 2018.
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Abraham Ancer (+2800)
Sticking with the Tour’s most accurate drivers, Ancer ranks sixth in driving accuracy this season. He’s missed his last two cuts, including the U.S. Open last week, but was playing some of the best golf of his life prior to that skid. Ancer made the cut and finished in the top 30 in each of his prior ten tournaments, peaking with three straight top 10s including the PGA Championship.
He’s had success at the Travelers in the past, finishing T11 last season and T8 in 2019.
Paul Casey (+1800)
The conversation about past success on this course starts and ends with Casey. DataGolf credits him with the most True Strokes Gained of any participant in this week’s field in past rounds at TPC River Highlands (among those with at least five rounds played at the course).
He’s made six consecutive cuts at the Travelers, with last year’s T32 finish his worst in that time. That six year stretch also includes four top fives and two runner-up finishes.
Despite that success, he’s yet to collect a victory in this event. He’s among the favorites this week for a reason, having played Torrey Pines at -5 in his two weekend rounds.
Chase Seiffert (+1800 to Top 10)
Shifting from one of the favorites to a mega-underdog, let’s look at Chase Seiffert. He’s played well at this event in the past. DataGolf shows he’s gained the most strokes on the field, compared to expectations, at TPC River Highlands. Much of that is likely due to his T9 finish in 2018, when he entered the field as the 691st ranked golfer in the world.
After a week off without the U.S. Open on his schedule, Seiffert is worth a bet as a flier to continue his strong play at a course where he has played well in past seasons. His driving accuracy (61st on Tour) should also come in handy this weekend.
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