Pat Mayo provides his preview and makes his early 2023 Travelers Championship Picks and his first look and research for this week’s PGA TOUR stop.
2023 Travelers Championship – Selection and preview | Player selection + research | Statistics/tools
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2023 Travelers Championship – DraftKings Picks | Own projections
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2023 Travel Championship: Field
156 Players | Top 65 & tie make the cut
First tee: Thursday 12 June
Defending champion: Xander Schauffele
2023 Travelers Championship: Key Stats
- Acquired stroke: approach
- Par 4s gained 400-450 yards
- Achieved opportunities
- Strokes Gained: Off The Tee
Mayo’s key statistics powered by FantasyNational.com
2023 Travelers Championship: Course
- Course: TPC River Highlands
- Couple: 70
- Quantity: 6,841
- Green: Bentgrass (with Poa mix)
2023 Travelers Championship: Past winners
- 2022: Xander Schauffele -19
- 2021: Harris English -13
- 2020: Dustin Johnson -19
- 2019: At Reavie’s -17
- 2018: Bubba Watson -17
- 2017: Jordan Spieth -12
- 2016: Russell Knox -16
2022: Xander Schauffele (-19, two frees by JT Poston and Sahith Theegala)
- A pair of open-play 63s allowed him to cruise into the weekend (six strokes better than both Poston and Theegala in the first two days)
- The top four in the final standings were all top seven in proximity achieved on shots from over 200 yards
2021: Harris English (-13, playoff win over Kramer Hickok)
- English shot no worse than 68 for the week and saved his best for Sunday (65, which allowed him to close the two-shot deficit from Hickok before winning the playoff)
- Six of the top nine putters for the week finished top nine in the final rankings.
2020: Dustin Johnson (-19, one free by Kevin Steelman)
- Johnson was nine back after Thursday (69), but he closed the gap with a 64 on Friday and fired the second-best round of the week on moving day (61)
- Only five of the top-10 finishers got fairways on the course
2019: Chez Reavie (-17, four frees by Keegan Bradley and Zack Sucher)
- Reavie went into cruise control on Sunday (69) after carding three straight rounds of 66 or better (63 on Saturday, when he got six shots on Bradley and eight on Sucher)
- Eighteen of the top 20 winners win in Good Drives (note: half of them lost distance)
2018: Bubba Watson (-17, three free by Paul Casey, Stewart Cink, JB Holmes and Beau Hossler)
- Watson carded a pair of 63s (Friday and Sunday), the latter of which allowed him to come back from six down (Casey led through three rounds).
- Twenty-three of the top 25 in the final rankings had stroke putts (Cink and Hossler posted top-five weeks with the putter en route to T-2 finishes)
Get full Travelers Championship tournament history on FantasyNational.com
Traveler’s Championship Track History
FantasyNational.com
2023 Travelers Championship: Notes
After Pebble Brach GL, TPC River Highlands is the shortest course in the regular PGA TOUR rotation. Another Pete Dye course measuring just 6,841 yards, this course boasts eight par 4s that measure between 400-450 yards while playing as a par 70. There are also two par 4s that gets under 400 yards. Most notable is No. 15, a driveable, 296-yard hole that over 90% of the field approaches from the tee box.
With its minimal length, TPC River Highlands opens the door to almost any playing style. That’s how you get Dustin Johnson and Brendon Todd together in a final group, like Bubba Watson and Chez Reavie winning in consecutive seasons.
Looking back at the top-five finishes over the past seven years, it’s clear that regardless of driving distance, approach and putting are the two most important factors at the top of the rankings. As is the case with most courses that become birdie fests, SG: OTT has been twice as important as SG: ATG, with players hitting nearly 70% of the fairways at TPC River Highlands against a PGA TOUR average of 62%. So the big hitters don’t even have to call back with their drivers. Basically, the golfer who can hit their wedges the closest will win.
Looking at the approach distance plot (thanks, Fantasy National), you will see that the majority of iron comes from 175 and above. This is the opposite of most courses.
One thing to consider when looking at past events is the change in greens. For years, the Bentgrass putting surfaces were some of the slowest on the PGA TOUR. Four years ago they were reconstructed with Bentgrass (mixed with Poa Annua) putting surfaces and the greens are now on the faster side of things. Normally these putting surfaces are a decent size adjustment to the field as there are very few Northeast tournaments, but with the US Open just outside of Boston, many will already be acclimated. The grass isn’t exactly the same, but it’s about as close as you’ll find to this event the week before.
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Although this is a Pete Dye course, there has been significant crossover between the top of the rankings in the Valspar Championship, Riviera and Phoenix over the years. And that goes beyond Bubba Watson, who has won three times at both Riviera and TPC River Highlands. Paul Casey has experienced success at all three. Ditto with Dustin Johnson. Kevin Streelman and Jordan Spieth have won the Valspar and the Travelers in their careers. I’m not entirely sure why, maybe it’s a shot-shaping issue, but there are many players in the field this week who have experienced great success on the three courses but very rarely have played at the Travelers Championship.
Pete Dye courses on the PGA TOUR:
- TPC Sawgrass (THE PLAYERS Championship)
- Harbor Town (RBC Heritage)
- TPC River Highlands (Travelers Championship)
- TPC Louisiana (Zurich Classic)
- Austin Country Club (WGC Match Play)
- TPC Stadium Course at La Quinta (two rounds at The CareerBuilder)
- Crooked Stick (2012/2016 BMW Championship)
- Whistling Straits (2015, 2010, 2004 PGA Championship)
- Kiawah Island (2021 PGA Championship)
SG: Pete Dye Odds last 24 laps
FantasyNational.com
TREND TO DRAG
2022: Schauffele ($10,000) won in what turned out to be a true stars and scrubs week. He was one of three with a five-figure price tag to finish top 10 on the DraftKings leaderboard … five of those top 10 checked in at $7,300 or less.
2021: Three of the 10 highest-priced golfers didn’t make the cut, and only one of those high-priced options (Brooks Koepka) finished top 15 on the final DraftKings leaderboard.
2020: It was all-or-nothing at the top of the board … of the nine players priced over $9,000, four scored over 100 DKFP and three did not play the weekend. Choose wisely!
2019: Reavie ($8,400) was the most expensive player to finish with 100+ DK points in a week dominated by the low to mid tiers. In fact, only one golfer (Jason Day) priced over $9,500 was a top 15 DraftKings scorer for the week
2018: If you broke even, you printed money. Five of the seven golfers who reached triple-digit DK points were priced $7,100-$8,300. If you paid, you paid for nothing: Four of the 11 golfers priced at $9,000+ missed the weekend.
2023 Travelers Championship: Selected
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Sahith Theegala
The advanced finishes have evaporated, but the consistent results still remain. And now he comes back to the crime scene. Theegala entered the 18th with a one-stroke lead over a year ago and proceeded to wedge a hole into the bunker and lose to Xander Schauffele by two. Time for redemption. He rallied at the US Open after a poor opening round to earn a top-30 finish, mostly based on his irons. And when you look at the courses where he’s done the best in his career so far, it’s pretty much the same as Bubba: Augusta, Riviera, Copperhead and TPC Scottsdale.
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Pat Mayo is an award-winning video host and producer of long and short form content, and host of The Pat Mayo Experience daily talk show. (Subscribe to video or sound). Mayo (@PME) won the 2023 Fantasy Sports Writing Association Podcast of the Year and was a finalist for three 2023 FSWA Awards (Best Podcast, Daily Fantasy Writer of the Year, Golf Writer of the Year). His 27 FSWA nominations lead all writers this decade and are second most ever.
Mayo has been recognized across multiple sports (Football, Baseball & Golf), media (Video, Writing & Podcasting), genre (Humor) and game formats (Sports Betting, Daily Fantasy and Traditional Season Long Fantasy).
I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is ThePME) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. While I have expressed my personal views on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the views of DraftKing. and does not constitute a representation that a particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment to build lineups. I may also implement other players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not employed by DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.