The Travelers Championship Best Bets and Golf Odds

The Travelers Championship Best Bets and Golf Odds:

Three months ago, J.J. Spaun let what would have been his career milestone slip away as he flew the island green on the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass and lost THE PLAYERS Championship playoff to Rory McIlroy. 

He did not let his next opportunity slip away as he finished birdie-birdie on Sunday to win the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club. After going out in 40 (5-over par) on the front nine, Spaun shot 3-under on the back nine which culminated by making a 64-foot birdie (2nd in Strokes Gained: Putting for the week) on the final hole to win by two strokes over Robert MacIntyre and three strokes over Viktor Hovland, our nearest pursuer. 

Spaun, a pre-tournament price as high as 125/1, was the lone player to finish under par with a score of 1-under 279 as Oakmont proved to be the difficult layout that we all anticipated it to be. 

This week, Spaun (50/1) will be part of the final “Signature event” on the PGA TOUR this season at the Travelers Championship just outside of Hartford, CT. 

Scottie Scheffler, who was not at his best last weekend at the U.S. Open still finishing T-7, leads the field to defend his Travelers title at 3/1. 

Rory McIlroy (11/1) has not been at his best on the course or in the press room over the last couple of months or so. 

Xander Schauffele (16/1) won here at the Travelers in 2022.

Collin Morikawa (18/1), Patrick Cantlay (25/1), who has finished 4th and 5th here the last two years, Ludvig Åberg (25/1), Justin Thomas (30/1), and Viktor Hovland (33/1) make up the next rung on the odds board. 

Other former Travelers winners in this week’s field include 2023 champ Keegan Bradley (40/1), 2021 champ Harris English (60/1), and 2017 champ Jordan Spieth (45/1). 

The Event 

The Travelers Championship was established in 1952 as the Insurance City Open before it became known as the Greater Hartford Open for most of its existence from 1967-2003. Legendary entertainer Sammy Davis, Jr was a fixture at the Tuesday/Wednesday pro-ams in Hartford and his name was attached to the event from 1973-1988. TPC River Highlands has been the permanent venue for the tournament since 1984. The Greater Hartford Community Foundation manages the event. Travelers, which is one of the largest insurance companies in the United States, took over the sponsorship in 2007 after Canon and Buick were associated with the event for many years.

Multiple time winners at the Travelers include Billy Casper (1963, 1965, 1968, 1973), Bubba Watson (2010, 2015, 2018), Arnold Palmer (1956, 1960), Paul Azinger (1987, 1990), Phil Mickelson (2001, 2002), Peter Jacobsen (1984, 2003), and Stewart Cink (1997, 2008).

The Travelers is customarily (since 2007) held the week after the U.S. Open on the PGA TOUR schedule, but managed to attract consistently solid fields year after year, even before becoming a “Signature event.” In both 2017 and 2018, the tournament earned the PGA TOUR’s Players Choice Award, which is voted on by PGA TOUR members for its services, hospitality, and quality of both the course and overall event. 

The Greater Hartford area continuously supports this event, as The Travelers consistently ranks just behind the Waste Management Phoenix Open in attendance. 

The Field

72 players will be part of this week’s Travelers Championship field:

The Course

TPC River Highlands is in Cromwell, CT, which is approximately 12 miles south of Hartford. Robert Ross and Maurice Kearney were the original designers in 1928, and the track was founded as the Middletown Country Club. It became the Edgewood Country Club from 1934-1984 before being purchased by the PGA TOUR and officially becoming TPC of Connecticut before being renamed TPC River Highlands in 1989. It was re-designed by Pete Dye in 1984 and remodeled in 1989 by Bobby Weed, a Dye protégé, with assistance from consulting then-PGA TOUR pros Howard Twitty and Roger Maltbie.

The course is a Par 70 of 6,844 yards, the shortest course on this year’s PGA TOUR schedule.

Jim Furyk set the course record here in the final round of the 2016 Travelers by shooting a 58, the lowest round in PGA TOUR history.

TPC River Highlands is a tight (30-yard average fairway width) and short tree-lined parklands that sits on a bluff above the Connecticut River. Wind is the main defense here though and the winning score averages out to be in the mid-teens under par.

There are only five water holes, and some bunkers (69 in total on course remain) were removed in a 2015 renovation to create more fairway short pitch shots into the greens. The fairways and rough are Bentgrass/Poa Annua (Kentucky Bent/Fescue mix in the 4″ penal rough), and the greens (5,000 sq ft average – 5th smallest on TOUR; 12 ft which is average speed on the stimpmeter) are also a Bentgrass/Poa Annua mix. In terms of the type of player this course favors, there really isn’t a prototype. Shorter hitters have won here as well as bombers. As always, ball striking and hitting greens with regularity are usually a good recipe for success and River Highlands is no exception in that regard.

Here is the official scorecard for the 2025 Travelers Championship (courtesy of PGATOUR.com):

The front nine is straightforward and there are few hazards off the tee. The tough finishing stretch from holes 15-18 is what has made this event have so many close and competitive Sunday finishes. This stretch of holes is typical of Pete Dye courses as he loves tempting players to hit toward hazards on drives and approach shots. Hitting toward the hazards increases the risk, but also provides a reward with an easier shot into the greens.

Holes 15-17 all play around a four-acre lake. The 296-yard Par 4 15th is a great risk-reward hole. It tempts players to go for the three-tiered green with water surrounding on the left side and a forested hilly area with bunkers on the right. Eagles will be carded here along with double bogeys. The 171-yard Par 3 16th hole is in the most wind-affected area of the course and is completely over water, where you cannot be long. The Par 4 17th is 431 yards and wraps around the pond with a difficult tee shot and an approach shot towards the back-to-front sloping green.

Here are some of the other Pete Dye designs that feature on the PGA TOUR:

Austin Country Club – WGC Dell Matchplay since 2016
Crooked Stick – 2012 and 2016 BMW Championship.
Harbour Town Golf Links – RBC Heritage
Ocean Course – Kiawah Island – 2012 & 2021 PGA Championship
TPC Louisiana – Zurich Classic of New Orleans
TPC Sawgrass – The Players Championship
TPC Stadium, PGA West – The American Express since 2016
Whistling Straits – 2010 and 2015 PGA Championship

Of the other Dye courses, Harbour Town and TPC Sawgrass have the most correlation to TPC River Highlands. Other correlated courses include Colonial, Pebble Beach, Sedgefield, Innisbrook, and Waialae. 

WFSB 3, the CBS affiliate in Hartford, put together hole-by-hole flyover videos of TPC River Highlands. A look at ‘Hole 1’ at the TPC

A look at ‘Hole 1’ at the TPC – YouTubeWe’re taking a look at ‘Hole 1’ ahead of the Travelers Championship.www.youtube.com

Weather

Per the AccuWeather forecast, it is going to be a weekend warmup in the Greater Hartford area with rain likely for Thursday to perhaps soften the course for the rest of the weekend. 

Travelers Championship Recent History/Winners

2024: Scottie Scheffler (-22/258); 4/1*
2023: Keegan Bradley (-23/257); 90/1
2022: Xander Schauffele (-19/261); 20/1
2021: Harris English (-13/267); 35/1**
2020: Dustin Johnson (-19/261); 30/1
2019: Chez Reavie (-17/263); 70/1
2018: Bubba Watson (-17/263); 33/1
2017: Jordan Spieth (-12/268); 10/1***
2016: Russell Knox (-14/266); 50/1
2015: Bubba Watson (-16/264); 14/1 ****
2014: Kevin Streelman (-15/265); 150/1
2013: Ken Duke (-12/268); 150/1 *****
2012: Marc Leishman (-14/266); 125/1
2011: Fredrik Jacobson (-20/260); 45/1
2010: Bubba Watson (-14/266); 40/1******

Playoff win vs. Tom Kim – *
Playoff win vs. Kramer Hickok – **
Playoff win vs. Daniel Berger – ***
Playoff win vs. Paul Casey – ****
Playoff win vs. Chris Stroud – *****
Playoff win vs. Corey Pavin & Scott Verplank – ******

Statistical Analysis

The greens at TPC River Highlands are some of the smaller ones on TOUR, so players must be sharp with the irons here.

Strokes Gained Approach – Average Per Round (2025 PGA TOUR season)

1. Scottie Scheffler 1.362
2. Shane Lowry 1.021
3. Sepp Straka 0.986
4. Collin Morikawa 0.860
5. Viktor Hovland 0.748
6. J.J. Spaun 0.726
7. Xander Schauffele 0.690
8. Ryan Fox 0.618
9. Tommy Fleetwood 0.608
10. Nick Taylor 0.601
11. Justin Thomas 0.601
12. Russell Henley 0.596
13. Patrick Cantlay 0.559
14. Tom Hoge 0.542
15. Bud Cauley 0.508

TPC River Highlands, for the most part, forces players to keep the driver in the bag. Players will club down to avoid the thick rough and because most of these fairways are bottlenecked a little past the 300-yard mark anyway. 

Strokes Gained Off The Tee – Average Per Round (2025 PGA TOUR season)

1. Rory McIlroy 0.779
2. Scottie Scheffler 0.704
3. Taylor Pendrith 0.624
4. Kevin Yu 0.571
5. Ludvig Åberg 0.531
6. Collin Morikawa 0.498
7. Corey Conners 0.490
8. Daniel Berger 0.443
9. Sungjae Im 0.435
10. Robert MacIntyre 0.420
11. Aaron Rai 0.401
12. Keegan Bradley 0.381
13. Davis Thompson 0.376
14. Patrick Cantlay 0.327
15. Byeong Hun An 0.326

The highest concentration of the approach shots here will come anywhere from 100-150 yards. 

Proximity to the Hole – Average Yards Gained Per Round – 100 to 125 Yards (Last 24 Rounds)

1. Tom Hoge 11.68
2. Ryan Fox 8.66
3. Justin Thomas 8.10
4. Bud Cauley 7.57
5. Adam Hadwin 7.40
6. Sepp Straka 7.29
7. Denny McCarthy 6.04
8. Andrew Novak 5.47
9. Lucas Glover 5.28
10. Shane Lowry 5.02
11. Kevin Yu 5.00
12. Keegan Bradley 5.00
13. Daniel Berger 4.69
14. Brian Campbell 4.63
15. Scottie Scheffler 4.51

Proximity to the Hole – Average Yards Gained Per Round – 125 to 150 Yards (Last 24 Rounds)

1. Collin Morikawa 11.29
2. Tom Kim 8.09
3. Gary Woodland 7.32
4. Lucas Glover 6.96
5. Sepp Straka 6.75
6. J.J. Spaun 6.79
7. Stephan Jaeger 6.66
8. Thomas Detry 6.36
9. Maverick McNealy 6.14
10. Keegan Bradley 6.06
11. Eric Cole 5.97
12. Russell Henley 5.53
13. Andrew Novak 5.49
14. Patrick Cantlay 5.34
15. Tony Finau 5.21

In 2023, the scoring average per round was -1.60 strokes under par and even easier last year at -2.37. Birdie opportunities are never “gimmes” on Pete Dye layouts, but they are plentiful. 

Birdie Or Better Percentage (2025 PGA TOUR season)

1. Justin Thomas 26.50%
2. Sepp Straka 26.29
3. Scottie Scheffler 25.53
4. Harry Hall 25.45
5. Sam Burns 25.00
6. Akshay Bhatia 24.57
7. Collin Morikawa 24.49
8. Kevin Yu 24.14
9. Sungjae Im 23.99
10. Patrick Cantlay 23.96
11. Matti Schmid 23.92
12. Rory McIlroy 23.83
13. Viktor Hovland 23.81
14. Stephan Jaeger 23.48
15. Russell Henley 23.26

On a Par 70 layout, there are 12 Par 4s and they are wide-ranging here from 296 to 481 yards.

Strokes Gained Par 4s – Average Per Round (Last 24 Rounds)

1. Scottie Scheffler 1.78
2. Tommy Fleetwood 1.29
3. Sam Burns 1.21
4. Justin Thomas 1.11
5. Robert MacIntyre 1.09
6. Patrick Cantlay 1.05
7. Cameron Young 1.02
8. Ben Griffin 1.01
9. Harry Hall 0.97
10. Ludvig Åberg 0.96
11. Rory McIlroy 0.81
12. Luke Clanton 0.80
13. Daniel Berger 0.75
14. Maverick McNealy 0.74
15. J.T. Poston 0.72

TPC River Highlands has rated as the second-toughest course over the last five years to gain strokes around the greens. The course also features a variety of tiered, small green complexes and collection areas, making chipping from short grass and tight lies particularly challenging.

Strokes Gained Around The Green – Average Per Round (2025 PGA TOUR season)

1. Sungjae Im 0.574
2. Hideki Matsuyama 0.513
3. Russell Henley 0.438
4. Min Woo Lee 0.435
5. Keegan Bradley 0.386
6. Si Woo Kim 0.380
7. Christiaan Bezuidenhout 0.315
8. Brian Campbell 0.301
9. J.T. Poston 0.300
10. Harry Hall 0.296
11. Michael Kim 0.293
12. Jordan Spieth 0.293
13. Jason Day 0.291
14. Mackenzie Hughes 0.265
15. Scottie Scheffler 0.255

The greens at TPC River Highlands are Bentgrass/Poa Annua (predominantly Bentgrass commingled with Poa that is less bumpy than the Poa seen on the west coast). 

Strokes Gained Putting – Average Per Round – Bentgrass/Poa Annua (Last 24 Rounds)

1. Sam Burns 0.87
2. Matt Fitzpatrick 0.80
3. Aaron Rai 0.70
4. Xander Schauffele 0.67
5. Harry Hall 0.65
6. Brian Campbell 0.60
7. Harris English 0.58
8. Mackenzie Hughes 0.53
9. Sam Stevens 0.50
10. Scottie Scheffler 0.49
11. Max Greyserman 0.45
12. Andrew Novak 0.45
13. Sungjae Im 0.39
14. Adam Scott 0.35
15. Thomas Detry 0.34
16. Luke Clanton 0.34

Players who play well on one Pete Dye layout tend to play well on most, if not all, of them. 

Strokes Gained Total – Pete Dye designs (Last 36 Rounds)

1. Scottie Scheffler 99.3
2. Brian Harman 64.4
3. Justin Thomas 63.4
4. Xander Schauffele 58.3
5. Daniel Berger 58.1
6. Patrick Cantlay 54.9
7. Wyndham Clark 47.4
8. Hideki Matsuyama 45.9
9. Rory McIlroy 42.2
10. Tom Hoge 40.5
11. Tommy Fleetwood 39.7
12. Sungjae Im 37.3
13. Russell Henley 35.4
14. Collin Morikawa 34.4
15. Sepp Straka 31.8

Selections

Collin Morikawa 18/1 FanDuel
Morikawa finished just T-23 at last week’s U.S. Open, but led the field for Strokes Gained: Approach, Strokes Gained: Tee To Green, and Strokes Gained: Ball Striking to go along with ranking second for Greens In Regulation. So why did he finish just T-23? Well, because he lost nearly nine strokes with the putter, which was his worst performance on the greens in nearly five years and his worst ever since being a member of the PGA TOUR. Prior to last week at Oakmont, he had gained on the greens in three consecutive starts. 

Keegan Bradley 35/1 DraftKings
Bradley finished T-33 last week at Oakmont but was 4th in the field for Strokes Gained: Around The Green. He has a great history here at TPC River Highlands, having won the Travelers in 2023 and finishing runner-up here in 2019. Prior to last week’s U.S. Open, he posted two Top 10 finishes – seventh at the Memorial and eighth at the PGA. In order to justify selecting himself, or perhaps even qualifying on points, the Ryder Cup captain is going to need to win soon, and this looks like one of the more likely spots for him to do so.

Russell Henley 40/1 DraftKings
Henley grinded out a Top 10 (T-10) finish at the U.S. Open last weekend and has now finished inside the Top 10 in three of his last five majors. He earned the biggest win of his career earlier this year, winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March. J.J. Spaun leaped over him last week for an automatic Ryder Cup qualification spot and Henley’s primary goal this year was to make the team for the first time. Henley has been in the Top 3 heading into the final round three times on seven appearances, and he is a much better player now than in those past years.

Cameron Young 50/1 Circa Sports
Young finished T-4 last week at the U.S. Open for his best major championship result in three years. He has finished inside the Top 7 in three of his last five events, and his game seems to be coming around again as he seeks his first PGA TOUR victory. Young was ninth here at the Travelers last year.

Daniel Berger 50/1 FanDuel
While he has not played the Travelers since 2019, Berger was the runner-up here, losing in a playoff to peak Jordan Spieth, in 2017 and was fifth here in 2016. Last time out on a Pete Dye design, Berger finished third in the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town back in April. 

Tom Hoge 125/1 BetMGM
Hoge missed the cut on the number at the U.S. Open last weekend, but did gain 4.5 strokes with his ball striking last week, which would have rated Top 5 in the field. He finished third here last year, and a short course that puts a premium on iron play should be right in his wheelhouse, like his lone PGA TOUR victory at Pebble Beach in 2022. Placement markets, matchups, and/or other futures will be up Wednesday at VSiN.com/picks.