Best Bets for the 2024 Travelers Championship

The follow-up week to a major championship can always be a volatile one. After the PGA Championship, our first event was the Charles Schwab Challenge in which we saw 200-1 longshot Davis Riley railroad a field that looked like they were hungover from the previous week’s festivities. Conversely, at the RBC Heritage after the Masters, we saw Masters winner and event favorite Scottie Scheffler take down the field, surviving some tougher final-round conditions. 

The Travelers has produced some wild winners and results over the years, and 2023 champion Keegan Bradley would certainly fall into that category. Bradley missed the cut the week prior at the US Open and was in somewhat miserable form before coming to Hartford and winning by multiple strokes. However, if we’re being honest, Bradley’s win has still been more the exception than the rule.  

Over the past four years, this event has given us three winners (Schauffele, Reavie and English) who performed well at the year’s third major and used that momentum to book a win at this much easier and more straightforward venue. Bradley’s hometown narrative (he grew up in New England) is also something that will be hard to replicate, as this event has been a special one for him since he gained access to the PGA. 

Regardless, with many of the top players potentially having their focus dialed down a bit, it is an event where we can look to take advantage of some inflated odds down the field.

Some other quick notes about the event:

• It’s a 72-man field with no cut; sponsor’s exemptions this week include Billy Horschel, Adam Scott and Webb Simpson, who has yet to produce a top-20 result on the year.
• Rory McIlroy withdrew after his late-stage implosion at Pinehurst last week. McIlroy intends to take the next few weeks off and tee things up again in Scotland in July.  
• The course has gone through some renovations for 2024, although nothing too drastic; it may play a touch harder than it did last season when Bradley won at 23-under-par.
• The weather this week looks inviting, although the wind is supposed to pick up on the weekend and potentially make the course a lot tougher than it usually is. 

The Travelers 2024 Betting Odds

With McIlroy having withdrawn, we’re down to two heavy favorites in the field this week, Xander Schauffele and Scottie Scheffler. Schauffele has closed the gap a bit on Scheffler but does remain the clear second in price at +750. 

Things open up quite a bit after those two, with four players currently off between +1200 to +2000. Viktor Hovland will be a name to watch after he missed the cut last week, just a month after he finished T3 at the PGA Championship. Tony Finau and Hideki Matsuyama both remain strong in the outright market after top-10 finishes last week as well. 

2024 Travelers Top-10 betting odds (DraftKings):

Course Preview for the 2024 Travelers Championship

TPC River Highlands — Cromwell, Connecticut

Par 70, 6835 yards; Greens: Bentgrass / Poa

Designer: Pete Dye (1982); Renovation Bobby Weed (1989)

Past winners (and odds): 

• 2023: Keegan Bradley +10000
• 2022: Xander Schauffele +2000
• 2021: Harris English +3500
• 2020: Dustin Johnson +3000
• 2019: Chez Reavie +7000

TPC River Highlands is an older Pete Dye-designed venue from the 1980s that emphasizes approach play and putting. At just over 6,800 yards, it’s also about 70 yards shorter than the Par 70 the players saw last week and a completely different test of golf. 

The majority of the par 4s all fall in between 400-450 yards, so off-the-tee pay becomes rather mundane at this track. A decent shot from the tee box will get a player in a good position to go at these Poa greens, which can be receptive with any rain or moisture — as we found out last season. 

Because of the length of the course and the lack of penalty areas or doglegs off the tee, the majority of approaches here will come under 150 yards, making wedge play of huge importance. That, along with putting, tends to be the two most important stats to track at this venue. 

The venue did go through some changes for this season. They adjusted a handful of tee boxes, narrowed a few landing spots and may grow the rough-up a bit more in places to penalize poor approaches and drives. However, those changes likely won't make a huge difference, and the course is still set to play well under 6,900 yards. 

Correlation-wise, TPC River Highlands certainly compares well with other shorter tracks like Waialae Country Club, Port Royal and even Pebble Beach. The Poa greens means it’s also been a favorite of some West Coast specialists. Names like Kevin Streelman, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Chez Reavie, who have all had plenty of high finishes at Pebble Beach, have also found great success around River Highlands. 

The Travelers Best Bets

Below are my favorite betting targets for the week. I’ve created an entire card you can peruse at the end and also added unit sizing for each play, which I’ll track as we go through the plays. 

While many are pure outright plays, I do like playing many of these names in the placing department as well — and I’ve included placing options for some names if you are constructing your own betting card and want exposure to both options (or only want to bet some players for a place).

Additionally, if you have the ability to make each-way bets (win and place bets in one) then I’ve included that option for some players as well where the odds are relevant. 

For more information on how each-way bets work you can click here. 

Patrick Cantlay Outright (+2000; DraftKings)

• 0.8 units outright

Patrick Cantlay may be coming off the best major performance of his career, but it’s been the week(s) after the major where he tends to shine the brightest. The American has made a living racking up top finishes at events played the week or two after a big event, with TPC River Highlands being one of his best stops. 

Over the past two and half seasons alone, he’s finished T2, T3 and T3 at the RBC Heritage (played directly after the Masters) and also posted T13 and T4 finishes at the Travelers (played directly after the US Open). He’s also managed T2 finishes at the Rocket Mortgage in 2022 and the Fed Ex St. Jude in 2023, the first events he played in after the Open Championship in those respective seasons.  

Jun 16, 2024; Pinehurst, North Carolina, USA; Patrick Cantlay plays his shot from the second tee box during the final round of the U.S. Open golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Katie Goodale-USA TODAY Sports

While TPC River Highlands is likely neck and neck with Hilton Head for Cantlay’s favorite stomping grounds, his upside on this tricky little course is undeniable. He shot a 60 here back in 2011 as a rookie and closed last season with rounds of 61 and 67. The ball-striking for Cantlay has been up and down for much of the year, but the 5.5 strokes he gained on approach last week was a season-high. Moreover, the confidence with the putter Cantlay showcased is the same kind we saw from him back in February when he got himself in a nearly impenetrable spot at Riviera, only to be outdone on Sunday by a bout of food poisoning and a Hideki Matsuyama A-Bomb. 

Cantlay’s number has come down a bit since the McIlroy withdrawal. However, if anyone is taking some kind of small satisfaction from seeing the Northern Irishman not show up this week, it’s likely Cantlay, who has been feuding behind the scenes with McIlroy for a while now. Either way, the number is still plenty big enough to take on a player who seems to thrive when the lights are at their dimmest. 

Tony Finau Outright (+3000; FanDuel)

• 0.6 units outright

Now at age 34 and with a more mature game, Finau’s the exact sort of veteran we have seen prosper at TPC River Highlands over the past decade or so. Names like Bubba Watson (39 and 36), Dustin Johnson (36), Chez Reavie (37) and last year’s winner Keegan Bradley (37) all remind us that this short venue has been kind to veterans and requires the sort of patience that a more experienced mind seems better-suited to handle. 

While last year’s winner missed out on the weekend at the US Open, the past two champions at River Highlands both finished top five at the US Open directly prior. It’s a trend that I expect may be more commonplace as the years progress, given the added stature this event has received of late with it becoming a signature event (with over $3 million going to the winner). 

It’s worth noting that Finau didn’t get around River Highlands well early in his career, but it’s equally worth mentioning that it has been a bit of a different story for him of late. The T13 he produced here in 2022 was a career-best, and his last eight competitive rounds on this course have now produced three rounds of 66 or better. There is also the potential that this event may play somewhat tougher than it has in past iterations with heavier winds scheduled for the weekend. 

Given Finau’s overall experience levels and the current way he’s hitting his irons (second in approach, last 24 rounds) a tougher venue with a winning score closer to 14-16 under par seems like it will be right up his alley and perhaps provide the added boast he needs to get across the finish line for his first win of the season. 

Sahith Theegala Each-way 1/5 Top 8 (+3000; bet365) 

• 0.5 units outright / 0.5 units place

Theegala impressed in his second visit to TPC River Highlands back in 2022, posting rounds of 64 and 65 that season to eventually finish in T2. Much like 2023 winner Keegan Bradley, who finished runner-up in 2019 at this tournament four years before his win, Theegala feels like a player who has unfinished business at this event. He had a bit of a poor break on the 18th hole that year, which led to a heartbreaking double bogey that dropped him one behind eventual winner Xander Schauffele. 

https://x.com/PGATOUR/status/1541177957925920768

Now with a win under his belt from the 2023 Fortinet Championship, Theegala enters this year’s tournament off a US Open where he battled back from a terrible opening round 77 to not only make the cut (with a 68 on Friday) but climb up to a respectable T32. 

Much like the first two picks, he’s also made a habit of showing up in these weeks after majors, posting a T5 (2023) and a second place (2024) finish the week after the Masters at the Heritage. Given how often he pops for top-10 and top-five finishes (10 top 10s on the PGA dating back to the start of 2023), I like spreading out some of our units in an each-way bet so  we can capture at least some of his upside should he fall just short of that victory mark again. 

Denny McCarthy Each-Way 1/4 Top 5 (+6000; bet365)

• Top 10 (+400; Fanduel)
• 0.30 points outright / 0.30 points place
• 0.4 points top 10

McCarthy is exactly the sort of longshot we have seen come into TPC River Highlands in the past and run the table. Even going back to the days of putting wizard Frederick Jacobson (2011) and Kevin Streelman (2014), who birdied seven holes in a row that season to win, we’ve seen players who are most apt with wedges and putters in their hands destroy this course despite a lack of distance or even accuracy off the tee. 

McCarthy shot 60 to open this event last season, and while he did ultimately fade to T7 for the week this is a player we have seen burn the edge of landing an official PGA win multiple times now. On top of the close call here last season, he’s now lost two playoffs, one of which happened just three months ago in Texas when he went unconscious and birdied seven holes in a row to force a playoff. 

McCarthy’s performance last week doesn’t necessarily jump off the chart, but the 31-year-old held strong at the lengthy Pinehurst, producing a T32 finish that included a second round 67 where he gained an impressive 2.3 strokes on approach. When you include a stronger performance around and on the greens last week, he looks like a player who could potentially pay off some big odds with a first-career win. 

Thomas Detry Each-way 1/5 Top 8 (+10000; bet365) 

• 0.25 units outright / 0.25 units place 

I’ll take one more flyer this week on Thomas Detry, who is another player coming off a fantastic US Open. The Belgian can be shaky under pressure, but he held up well on Sunday after a third-round 76 dropped him out of contention. 

What impressed me the most about Detry was his iron play, which took a huge step forward at Pinehurst, gaining him 5.1 strokes on approach for the week — the best mark of his PGA career to date in that area. Detry’s putting prowess alone makes him feel like a great fit for TPC River Highlands and he comes in brimming with confidence with the putter after gaining 7.1 strokes on the tough US Open greens. 

Jun 16, 2024; Pinehurst, North Carolina, USA; Thomas Detry prepares to putt on the first green during the final round of the U.S. Open golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

Overall, he’s done his best work on the PGA on similar short-yardage tracks, posting top-five finishes at both Pebble Beach and Port Royal in Bermuda and has excelled on Poa greens at both Pebble and Torrey Pines early in the season. If he can bring the same level of approach play we saw last week, it’s certainly possible he gets himself into contention here and pays off with a big placement cash. 

The Travelers Placement Bets and Matchups

SungJae Im Top 10 +330 / Top 20 +130

• 0.8 units top 20 / 0.2 units top 10

Im is ultimately not a player I think will ever be suited for the tougher environment of a US Open, but he certainly can — and has — made a career out of great finishes on these shorter PGA tracks where the conditions are much more civil. Before the US Open, he’d been far better with his scoring clubs, so a quick rebound on TPC River Highland’s greens, where he’s putted well in the past (+2.3 strokes putting in 2023; +5.6 strokes putting in 2019), should almost be expected.  

Im’s iron play concerns me enough not to venture to him in the outright market; although his number is bigger there than we’ve seen at some of these signature events in the past. Still, he didn't play as poorly as his missed cut last week suggests, as most of his lost strokes came on the greens. That’s enough for me to want some exposure to him even if it is just as a placement target or in a matchup bet. 

Tournament Matchup: Xander Schauffele over Scottie Scheffler (+130; DraftKings)

• 0.25 units

Let’s have a little fun with our last bet of the week and see if we can’t make a little profit by taking down a matchup against the No. 1 player in the world. Scheffler’s putting issues reared their ugly head again at Pinehurst, as he lost 6.0 strokes putting over four rounds on his way to a lackluster T41 finish. 

Certainly, one poor start is not cause for concern from a long-term point of view, but at the same time we have seen him go through ugly, multiple-week slumps on the greens before. It’s also worth noting that while Schauffele has tended to thrive at this venue (and is coming off a T7 last week), Scheffler has generally putted poorly at River Highlands, having gained under a stroke putting here in each of the past three seasons. 

Betting Card for The Travelers Championship

Full Card: 4.20 units wagered

• Cantlay Outright +2000 0.8 units
• Finau Outright +3000 0.6 units
• Theegala Each way +3000 0.5 / 0.5 units
• McCarthy each-way +6000 / top 10 +400 0.3 /0.3 /0.4 units
• Detry Each-Way +10000 0.25 / 0.25 units
• Im Top 10 +330 / Top 20 0.2 +130 / 0.8 units
• Schauffele over Scheffler +130 0.25 units