PGA TOUR Golf Sleepers: 4 Potential Travelers Championship Longshot Picks
The PGA TOUR returns east to Cromwell, Conn., as we move forward from the third major championship of the season with yet another elevated event, with a tournament-record $20 million purse and $3.6 million to the winner. The 2023 Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands is the perfect follow-up event to the U.S. Open with golf odds featuring a loaded field and high-octane crowd in store. Last week’s PGA TOUR golf sleepers article identified eventual winner Wyndham Clark as a top value play. So we’ll look to continue the momentum into the Travelers Championship.
TPC River Highlands’ ability to mitigate the distance advantage off the tee has historically been ripe for longshots to contend, so now is a great time to delve into four potential PGA TOUR golf sleepers at a course that is suited for underdogs to contend.
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TPC RIVER HIGHLANDS INTRODUCTION
It’s refreshing from a research perspective to return to a course we know so much about already, as we gear up for the 71st installment of the Travelers Championship. It has been contested at TPC River Highlands each year since 1984.
True to many of Pete Dye’s other notable positional designs like Harbour Town and TPC Sawgrass, TPC River Highlands is a positional course that offers a steady challenge with risk-reward holes despite its lack of distance.
At 6,841 yards, TPC River Highlands is annually the shortest course on the PGA TOUR schedule, but still has not produced a winning score beyond -19 over the last decade. Driving Accuracy and consistency with mid-irons from 125-175 yards are rewarded at The Travelers Championship. Performance on other comparable short and positional courses has also been a strong indicator of success at this event.
For a deeper dive into the course, read my Travelers Championship preview. Let’s get to our 2023 Travelers Championship picks, with a focus on longshots and PGA TOUR golf sleepers for your DFS lineups.
PGA TOUR GOLF SLEEPERS: Travelers Championship
From a betting perspective, longshots have had a great track record at the Travelers Championship, with five of the last 10 winners opening at 50-1 odds or longer. With one of the strongest fields in tournament history in store this week, there is plenty of value to be had in longshots towards the bottom of the betting board.
In terms of DFS, the short yardage creates a much wider pool of value players who are capable of contending. Given the combination of course layout and field depth, this is one of the most viable weeks of the year to delve deep into the $6K range on DraftKings.
Below, find my favorite value PGA TOUR golf sleepers and longshots for the 2023 Travelers Championship. Stats pulled across Last 36 Rounds unless otherwise noted. Each player is listed with best price in Travelers Championship odds.
Emiliano Grillo (, $7,300)
The No. 1 comp course I have jotted down for TPC River Highlands, given its short yardage, overlap of contenders, challenging scoring conditions, and premium on short-to-mid iron approaches, is Colonial CC. Naturally, I’m drawn to the 2023 Charles Schwab Challenge champion at a DFS price this short and outright odds this long.
Grillo’s course history at TPC River Highlands is unremarkable, but he has managed to gain strokes ball striking in all six prior appearances, highlighted by a T19 finish in 2018. Ball Striking has never been a concern for Grillo over the course of his career, but it’s his turnaround on the greens that’s allowed him to contend more regularly in 2023. He’s climbed up to a top-50 player in this field in terms of SG: Putting on comparable Bent/Poa blended greens.
With three top-7 finishes over his last seven starts, this sets up to be another suitable course fit for Grillo’s profile as an accurate ball striker with spike putting upside.
Justin Suh (, $7,200)
The 2022 Korn Ferry Tour player of the year has quickly ascended as one of the most consistently dominant putters on the PGA TOUR this season. He carries a streak of 10 consecutive events in which he’s gained 1+ stroke putting, good for No. 7 in SG: P over the last 36 rounds. His game has begun to trend from tee-to-green as well recently, with four consecutive top-40 finishes leading into this week.
Two of Suh’s best finishes this season – a T16 at the Charles Schwab Challenge and T6 at THE PLAYERS Championship – have come on top comp courses to TPC River Highlands. Elite putting upside has been a separator at The Travelers more so than other positional courses, as evidenced by recent wins from players like Harris English and Jordan Spieth on the merit of their flat stick alone.
Suh’s stat profile doesn’t exactly jump off the page, but that makes him one of my favorite leverage plays in DFS this week at moderate expected ownership.
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Chez Reavie (, $6,700)
Chez Reavie remains a fixture towards the bottom of Draft Kings pricing despite the consistent baseline he’s shown regardless of course fit. Reavie has made it through the cut in seven of his last eight starts with five top-40 finishes over that stretch. One of the most accurate drivers on the PGA TOUR (No. 20 in Fairways Gained), Reavie’s game is best suited for positional courses that remove an advantage from the longer hitters in the field.
He’s demonstrated his affinity for short positional courses most recently with a T11 finish at the RBC Heritage. Recent form aside, TPC River Highlands has brought out the best in Reavie’s game. A winner here in 2019, he’s piled up five top-25s over his last 10 appearances with just one missed cut over that span.
With his irons and putting continuing to click, Reavie is showing no signs of slowing down leading into the 2023 Travelers Championship.
Ryan Moore (, $6,200)
The player with the most strokes gained at the Travelers Championship over the last 50 rounds is not Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, or Brian Harman. It’s Ryan Moore. Moore has piled up seven career top-15s at the Travelers Championship. A course like TPC River Highlands, with its short layout and funneled approaches from the same range of 125-175 yards has been sticky for the same types of players to find repeated results, so I’m higher on course history than the market appears to be with this price.
Moore looked like his vintage self at the RBC Canadian Open in his latest start, finishing T25 at Oakdale Golf & Country Club, one of the top comp courses to TPC River Highlands. Ranking top-10 in both Prox 125-175 and Fairways Gained, Moore looks poised to add to add another made cut at the Travelers Championship to his resume, which is all we ask for at this low price on Draft Kings.
Best of luck if you choose to bet these PGA TOUR golf sleepers!
TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP ODDS
Shop the odds at the best sports betting sites for PGA TOUR golf sleepers and more highly-touted players here, including for top 10, top 20, etc.
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