Travelers Championship preview and tips: Jon Rahm and Matt Fitzpatrick ready to come to the boil
- Martin Colwell
- 20 June 2023
The tournament after a Major can be something of a comedown, but the Travelers Championship is a high-end event that has Tipstrr golf pundit Martin Colwell purring over the potential betting value.
After the US Open in Los Angeles, the PGA tour heads back across to the east coast this week, with TPC River Highlands, Cromwell, Connecticut hosting this high-profile tournament.
A par 70 and 6,852 yards in length, the course is very short for a USGA Tour event that has elevated status and so attracts a top-class field, and we can expect low scoring with a winning score somewhere between -15 and -20.
It is a tree-lined parkland course with strategically placed bunkers to foil big hitters off the tee, along with just five water hazards.
The lack of recent rain could see some overnight watering of the course, which usually suits those that are out in the early morning waves.
Planet Sport Bet Special: Money Back if your picks lead at end of any round but lose overall
Scottie Scheffler is once again favourite at 13/2. His putting improved last week but was still way off where it needs to be. The simple equation is that if the world number one's flatstick warms up, then he wins.
That said, Scottie may be feeling the effects of playing a lot of tournaments lately and so I would leave him alone at these odds this week.
And then we have Jon Rahm at a double-digit price. Rahmbo has not been playing as much as the other top guys lately and so may arguably be fresher than Scheffler and Rory McIlroy.
The Spaniard messed up his chances last week with one poor round, but still finished off well to claim a top ten spot.
Suggested bet: Jon Rahm each-way to win the Travelers Championship
McIlroy is similarly priced and it will be interesting to see how he will respond to last week's near miss, and the wise option might be to give him a break this week.
Also on 12/1 is Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay, whom I have to classify as non-winners at present and so I will bypass both of them.
We then jump to 18/1, when we find Viktor Hovland, who struggled a bit last week before rallying for a top twenty finish, and as a winner of the Memorial three weeks ago he can be a factor here.
Of those lower in the betting, Matt Fitzpatrick showed signs of coming back to his best at the U.S. Open, which makes his current odds of around 33/1 appear to me to be solid each-way value.
Suggested bet:
Matt Fitzpatrick each-way to win the Travelers Championship
Hideki Matsuyama was striking the ball beautifully last week, but the putts would not go in. He is on 45/1 this week and if he gets the putter going will be in contention.
Sahith Theegala almost won this tournament in 2022, when he just messed up on the closing holes when looking set for his maiden victory.
He played well last week and will be motivated to try to win here after his disappointment last year, so the 50/1 available looks to a decent each-way shout.
Suggested bet:
Sahith Theegala each-way to win the Travelers Championship
Brian Harman has been placed in this tournament the past four times it has been played at this course.
While I do not think that he currently has enough of a game to beat the top guys over four days, he could be good value as first-round leader at 60/1.
