Travelers Championship Expert Picks and PGA Tour Bet Slips

The 2022 Travelers Championship is the first event bridging the U.S. Open to The Open Championship. Our PGA Tour betting experts offer up their top picks for the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands.

TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, CT once again plays host to the Travelers Championship. This is the first time in three weeks that golf bettors can rely on some course history information following Rory McIlroy’s victory at the RBC Canadian Open and Matt Fitzpatrick’s breakthrough win at the U.S. Open.

McIlroy comes into this week as one of the co-favorites alongside Scottie Scheffler. Harris English will defend his 2021 title.

Editor's note: Justin Thomas withdrew from the Travelers Championship Wednesday morning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfdjgSpUrvQ

Below, our PGA Tour betting experts offer up their top picks for the 2022 Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands. Picks made by Esten McLaren, Jon Metler, and Jordan Anderson.

Travelers Championship Expert Picks

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Travelers Championship Picks to Win

Pereira (+5000 via PointsBet)

Mito Pereira missed the cut at the U.S. Open to snap a streak of four straight top-20 finishes highlighted by his T-3 showing at the PGA Championship. While he again battles the likes of Thomas, McIlroy, and Scheffler, the 46th-ranked golfer in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) shouldn’t have such high odds in this field. He’s receiving a nice boost based solely off of last week’s result at a much tougher golf course.

Pereira is 63rd on the PGA Tour this season in driving accuracy but 21st in strokes gained: off-the-tee. He’s also 12th in SG: tee-to-green and first in par-4 efficiency: 400-450 yards. His poor driving performance at the U.S. Open was the first time in eight events with a negative accuracy rating.

The Chilean managed to still gain 1.06 strokes on the field per round with his putter over 36 holes at the U.S. Open. He can lean on that strength at TPC River Highlands while playing more conservatively off the tee. - McLaren

Burns (+1900 via FanDuel Sportsbook)

To me, Sam Burns represents the best combination of price, current form, and course history, in addition to being a proven winner on the PGA Tour. We are so quick to jump on a +2000 price point for Xander Schauffele, hoping this is the week when Burns is trading at close to the same price and has three wins this season.

Burns has participated in the Travelers Championship three years in a row, improving on his previous performance each time. He finished T-13 last year and in his career at TPC River Highlands, he has averaged 1.33 SG: total per round.

Burns was in contention to win the RBC Canadian Open two weeks ago, and if not for the +6 on Sunday, he might have had a much better finish at the U.S. Open. At +1900, I am extremely happy with the price I am getting on Burns. - Metler

Cantlay (+1400 via PointsBet)

Patrick Cantlay has been trending toward a victory with a second place finish at the RBC Heritage, T-3 at the Memorial Tournament, and a sneaky T-14 result last week at the U.S. Open.

Cantlay has not finished worse than T-15in his past four trips to this tournament and is a Pete Dye course specialist. He has gained 37.4 strokes on these tracks in his past 24 rounds. That is first in this field. Cantlay also shot a 60 at TPC River Highlands as an amateur.

He improved in each round last week on a challenging Country Club course and led the field in strokes gained off the tee on Sunday.Look for Cantlay to bag his first victory of 2022. - Anderson

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Travelers Championship Longshot Picks

Hossler (+20000 via Caesars Sportsbook)

Beau Hossler was a late addition to the field for the Travelers Championship following the withdrawal of Patrick Rodgers. As such, we’re getting inflated odds this week on a golfer with good course history and who has been in good form this year.

Hossler tied for second at the 2018 Travelers Championship and tied for 10th last year after a missed cut in 2020. Overall, he has gained 1.05 total strokes on the field per round across 17 career rounds at this venue.

Hossler has also made five straight cuts entering this week, and he has two top-5 finishes this year. He isn’t a good statistical fit, admittedly, but we can capitalize on the high odds given his current form and course history. - McLaren

Dahmen (+10000 via DraftKings Sportsbook)

I would be hard-pressed not to buy a Joel Dahmen ticket after what he showed us at the U.S. Open, especially at a price of +10000.

In 14 rounds played at TPC River Highlands, Dahmen has averaged 0.75 SG: total. Dahmen is having his best season on the PGA Tour, and his ball striking last week at the U.S. Open was spectacular. Last week, Dahmen averaged 2.00 SG: approach and 0.59 SG: off-the-tee at The Country Club.

Dahmen has caught my attention this week, especially because of the number that DraftKings has posted on him. Dahmen is much shorter at FanDuel where he is +7000, and at Caesars where he is +6500. - Metler

Svensson (+28000 via FanDuel)

I am infatuated with betting on Adam Svensson, and I won’t apologize. 

Svensson ranks 60th on Tour this season in SG: approach, 35th in good drives gained, and T-14 in approaches from 150-175 yards – all key statistics this week. 

He has finished T-7 at the Sony Open and T-9 at the very challenging Honda Classic, so you can play him in derivative placing markets, but if you think I’m missing out on Surrey, British Columbia’s finest at 280-1, you’re nuts. - Anderson

Travelers Championship Top Matchup Picks

Cantlay (+105) vs. Thomas (via DraftKings)

I’m not interested in the +1400 odds for Cantlay to win the Travelers Championship but I’m happy to take the plus money in a head-to-head matchup against Thomas.

Cantlay tied for 14th at the U.S. Open to Thomas’ T-37 result. The reigning FedEx Cup winner was in much better form all week off the tee and on the greens. While Thomas has been better from tee to green and off the tee this season, Cantlay has a dramatic advantage in history at TPC River Highlands.

Cantlay finished T-15 or better in each of the last four runnings of this event and has gained an average of 1.31 total strokes on the field across 24 career rounds at this venue. Meanwhile, Thomas missed the cut in 2017 and 2020 to bracket finishes of T-56 and T-36. He has gained just 0.32 strokes on the field across 22 career rounds at TPC River Highlands. 

Take advantage of the odds favoring the recent major winner. - McLaren

Bradley (-110) vs. Spieth (via DraftKings)

In this matchup, Keegan Bradley should be juiced as a heavier favorite instead of carrying a price point of -110. However, this will never be the case when facing Jordan Spieth. Spieth is too popular and draws too much attention for the sportsbooks to favor Bradley in this matchup. If they did, they would be flooded with Spieth liability.

The better golfer this season is Bradley, who averages 1.20 SG: total on the year compared to Spieth, who averages 0.92 SG: total. Bradley has not only had a better season, but he is also in excellent form coming off of his T-7 finish at the U.S. Open, where he averaged 2.73 SG: approach. 

At a price of -110, I believe Bradley represents excellent value against Spieth. - Metler

Todd (-120) vs. Kim (via DraftKings)

Putting success has propelled many to victory here and Brendon Todd ranks fifth on Tour in SG: putting this season. 

He also has been fantastic on approach of late, gaining strokes in five of his past six events. 

Todd nearly won here before blowing up on the back-nine in a T-11 finish in 2020 and should prevail over an inconsistent Si Woo Kim who has yet to be in contention this year. - Anderson

Travelers Championship Top Prop Picks

Will there be a playoff? Yes (+333 via BetMGM)

This is a fun one and while the odds are being boosted at some sportsbooks, the best price can still be found at BetMGM.

Five of the last 12 runnings of this event went to a playoff and five others were decided by a single stroke. While this is one of the strongest fields ever for the Travelers Championship, we can question the commitment of the top names coming out of the U.S. Open and preparing for The Open Championship.

Even in Bubba Watson’s three-stroke victory in 2018, four golfers tied for second. - McLaren

Top English Player: Fleetwood (+200 via FanDuel)

As Tommy Fleetwood's main competition this week will be Aaron Rai and Matt Wallace, this nationality prop has an extremely weak field. Many of the nationality props will begin to be watered down as more golfers make the jump to the LIV Golf Invitational Series.

Fleetwood's performance this season has been well balanced, despite not standing out in any particular area. The Englishman is gaining strokes in all four major categories, and he is averaging 0.97 SG: tee-to-green.

Although I was somewhat discouraged when I saw DraftKings open Fleetwood at a price of +150 for this prop, I knew I had to jump in when I saw FanDuel post a +200. - Metler

Lee Top-5 FRL (+1400 via BetMGM)

If you’re giving me 14-1 on TPC K.H. Lee to finish in the top 5 on the first day, I have no choice but to empty my wallet. 

Lee ranks T-27 in first-round scoring average this season. He was tied for the first-round lead at the Memorial and led outright at the WM Phoenix Open. 

He led after Round 1 in this event in 2019 and has an affinity for TPC courses. Look for Lee to creep up the leaderboard Thursday afternoon after he tees off at 12:40 p.m. ET - Anderson

Picks to Fade

Scheffler

Though no golfer has been in better form this season than Scottie Scheffler I’m not interested in backing him at TPC River Highlands as a co-favorite with odds as low as +900. At this price, McIlroy is a much better option. Otherwise, feel free to look further down the board.

Scheffler played this event each of the past two years but with a missed cut in 2020 and a T-47 finish last year. McIlroy and Thomas both rank better than Scheffler this season in SG: tee-to-green and SG: off-the-tee. Both also outrank Scheffler in driving distance and Scheffler has only a narrow edge over Thomas in driving accuracy. - McLaren

Fleetwood

Xander Schauffele is typically my low-hanging fruit but that’s getting old, and I don’t like to root against one’s success. 

However, Fleetwood is consistently priced low for someone who *checks notes* has never won in America. He has great hair, but lackluster outright results.

Sorry, Tommy, can’t do it. - Anderson

Where to Bet on the Travelers Championship

Here are our top-rated sportsbooks:

FanDuel SportsbookCaesars SportsbookDraftKings SportsbookPointsBetBetMGM

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