Daily Fantasy PGA Picks for DraftKings - Travelers Championship

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Travelers Championship

TPC River Highlands - Cromwell, CT

Par 70 - 6,841 Yards

The seasons final major championship is in the book after Jimmy Walker hoisted the Wanamaker Trophy as the 2016 PGA Champion. Walker became the 4th first time major winner of the season(Willett, DJ, Stenson, Walker) making it just the 5th time in history this has happened. If you are a fan of parity on the PGA Tour, there is no better time in golf than right now! Let's move on to next week.

This week the PGA Tour head to the TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut for the 2016 Travelers Championship. The course is a Par 70 setup that isn't very long at 6,841 yards. Players of all makeups have a shot here which opens up the field in a big way from a DFS standpoint. There have been bombers and accuracy players who have had success here but one thing has been common through the years. The guys at the top of leaderboard hit a ton of greens and make plenty of birdies. For this reason I will be weighting Par 4 Scoring, Birdie or Better %, GIR and Proximity from 125-150 and 150-175 Yards. The winning score has been between -12 and -20 over the past five years so scoring will be huge this week. Let's take a look at some picks.

 

Below is a list of the key stats I am using in  my model on the cheatsheet this week:

 

• Strokes Gained: Approach
• Strokes Gained: Around the Green
• Par 4 Scoring Average
• Birdie or Better %
• Proximity from 125-150 Yards
• Proximity from 150-175 Yards
• Greens in Regulation

 

If you have any questions leading up to lineup lock Thursday morning you can reach me in a variety of ways. Leave a Q below in the comment section and I will get you an answer. You can hit me up in the new chatroom here at DFSR(It's crazy busy with MLB talk so try and private message me for specific PGA Q's). I will also be joining Doug on the Wednesday Podcast to discuss the tournament each week. Also on Wednesday, you can join me for a live Google Hangout over at Slurv.com. I am always available on Twitter as well(@jager_bombs9). Good luck this week!

 

High End Targets ($9,000+)

Bubba Watson
Vegas Odds - 15/1
Draftkings - $12,300

Even as the favorite and only $800 more than the next tier of golfers, Bubba will be extremely hard to fade this week. He absolutely loves the event and the course and has a sick course history here. Since missing the cut in his first trip here in 2006, Bubba has made eight straight cuts including two wins(2015, 2010) and five Top 10 finishes. Outside of the history I love that he is 100% allin with this event. He committed to the Travelers despite having to miss the Opening Ceremonies at the Olympic games in Rio. The one thing that scares me is his current form. Since his win at the Northern Trust and runner up the next week at the Cadillac Championship he hasn't finished inside the Top 10 in eight events. I feel this changes this week and even if Bubba doesn't win he will be inside the Top 5 in DraftKings scoring.

 

 

Matt Kuchar
Vegas Odds - 19/1
Draftkings - $10,600

Well, the Majors are over so it's time to get back on Matt Kuchar. You may also get him at his lowest ownership in over a month after a brutal missed cut at the PGA Championship last week and his scarce tournament history. He played here lots with minimal success early in his career and has only played TPC River Highlands twice in the last seven years(T31-2014, T8-2012). He definitely fits the mold for this course and sits 4th in my stats model with a 14th rank in SG:T2G, 34th in SG:Approach, 8th in Par 4 Scoring and 24th in BoB%.

 

Webb Simpson
Vegas Odds - 29/1
Draftkings - $10,000

When looking at the top tier this week I am really concentrating most of my exposure to the $10K+ guys. They all play this course more often and actually fit my weighted stats model much better. I think Webb Simpson makes a fantastic play this week as he seems a bit over priced but fits the bill across the board on my cheatsheet. He comes back tot he Travelers excellent course history after missing the last two years. He has made six of six cuts in his career including a 5th place finish in his last trip in 2013. He ranks 2nd in my weighted stats with a 12th rank in SG: T2G, 11th in SG: Approach, 26th in SG: Around the Green, 7th and 25th in Proximity from 125-150 and 150-175 yards respectively. Webb has also been playing well in the summer making five of his last six cuts with two Top 10's and four Top 20 finishes. If there is a chance that Webb will be overlooked at this price I will be heavily overweight.

 

 

Also Consider - Zach Johnson

 

 

Mid Tier Targets ($7,000 - $8,900)

Brendan Steele
Vegas Odds - 56/1
Draftkings - $8,500

This is one of my favorite plays of the week. I think he will be terribly low owned this week after his second straight missed cut last week. It was a much stronger field but he was $6,000 and has now seen a huge $2,500 price jump. He hasn't missed three straight cuts since his awful 2013 season. He has also seen some pretty good results with a T5, T9 and T15 after his last three times missing back to back cuts. Statistically he ranks 25th overall highlighted by a 9th rank in Ball Striking. He has made four cuts in five trips to TPC River Highlands with finishes of T25, T5, T13, and T13. Great value at $8,500 and safe in all formats.

 

Brian Harman
Vegas Odds - 51/1
Draftkings - $7,700

If you are a subscriber to my cheatsheet and a lover of golf stats like I am, you will understand my long and hard contemplation of Harman vs. Bradley. Looking at the stats it appears to be a landslide for Keegan this week but not so fast. The two stats that stand out to me that sway me to Harman this week are Par 4 Scoring and Birdie or Better %. Harman ranks 26th in Par 4 Scoring while Keegan ranks 142nd and Harman ranks 48th in BoB% and Keegan ranks 112th. Harman also has a bit better course history after finishing 3rd last year and making all five cuts in his career at the Travelers.

 

Ryan Moore
Vegas Odds - 61/1
Draftkings - $7,800

If you are looking for the course horse this week Ryan Moore is your  guy. He missed the Travels last year but made eight cuts in the nine previous years with five Top 5 finishes. Outside the wins he has very similar history as Bubba despite being an opposite type of player. Moore is short off the tee but very accurate while Bubba lives off his 300+ yard drives and creative shot making ability. In  his last trip to TPC River Highlands back in 2014 Moore finished T5 and played very a very balanced game shooting -1 on the Par 3's, -5 on the Par 4's and -6 on the Par 5's. Expect much of the same this week as he should be able to get back into form on a course he has done everything but win at.

 

Also Consider - Marc Leishman

 

Low End Target (Min Price - $6,900)

Chez Reavie
Vegas Odds - 126/1
Draftkings - $6,200

The stats darling himself. At a low price tag of $6,200, Reavie sits 3rd in my overall weighted stats rankings. He ranks 24th in SG:T2G, 10th in SG:Approach, 5th in Good Drive %, 13th in Proximity, 18th in Par 4 Scoring and 5th in Scrambling. What more could we ask for this week? Maybe a few more birdies but at this price a Top 25 will work. He has done this at the Travelers twice in his last three trips and made the cut in all three. He fits perfectly into a stars and scrubs GPP lineup and can even be considered in cash games.

 

Also Consider - Kyle Stanley

 

The PGA Championship Update Thread

 

 

 

Want to see how these picks and more fit into lineups for the Travelers Championship? Chris is selling lineups only $5. He covers DraftKings & FantasyAces Cash Games & Tournaments. Fill out the form below or click here to purchase using PayPal. This is a separate service than our traditional monthly membership.

Chris Durell has been playing Daily Fantasy Sports for three years and fantasy in general for more than a decade. He is active player in college football, NFL, NBA and of course PGA. He lives in Saskatchewan, Canada with his wife and two daughters. You can follow him on Twitter at @jager_bombs9 for advice, strategy, answers to any PGA questions and how he copes with the winters up north.