The PGA TOUR’s third major championship did not disappoint as Matt Fitzpatrick capped off an excellent Sunday with a U.S. Open victory. The season rolls along to Cromwell, Conn., where the 2022 Travelers Championship will be played at TPC River Highlands. Last year, we saw one of the most captivating thrillers in history when Harris English defeated Kramer Hickok in an eight-hole playoff.
TPC River Highlands is a 6,841-yard par 70 and has been a TOUR stop for 39 years. Home of the only 58 in TOUR history, it is possible to go extremely low at this Pete Dye design. However, TPC River Highlands does feature a difficult closing stretch with holes 16-18 all historically averaging scores over par.
The Travelers Championship will play host to 156 golfers this week. Some notable players in the field include number one player in the world, Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, and Brooks Koepka (for now).
For GPP contests on DraftKings, I will be breaking down the key stats (past 24 rounds) and selecting golfers from different price tiers to provide flexibility for a DFS lineup.
And if you missed it, we added two new metrics in our models — Perfect% and SimLeverage. You can find an explainer on those metrics here.
The cliff notes version is that you can use SimLeverage to quickly find leverage plays in tournaments, while Perfect% is great for finding the best price-considered plays for cash games.
For large-field tournaments, you can utilize our Lineup Optimizer to effortlessly create up to 150 lineups, or use our Lineup Builder if you like to hand-build your lineups.
This analysis may reference Strokes Gained, a set of proprietary metrics generated by the PGA TOUR using millions of data points to calculate how many shots, on average it takes a player to get the ball in the hole from every distance and situation.
Strokes Gained is now available in the FantasyLabs PGA Models.
Strokes Gained: Approach
Strokes Gained: Approach sits at the top spot in the stat model this week. The course is relatively short, and golfers with multiple types of skillsets compete here. Iron play is often the great equalizer allowing the shorter hitters to compete, and that should be the case again this week.
- High-end target: Sam Burns — $10,400 (1st in Strokes Gained: Approach)
- Mid-range target: Harold Varner III— $9,000 (3rd in Strokes Gained: Approach)
- Value target: Brendan Steele— $7,700 (11th in Strokes Gained: Approach)
Strokes Gained: Par 4
With only two par 5s on the course, the importance of par-4 scoring cannot be understated. Whoever plays the par 4s most effectively this week will put themselves in the driver’s seat.
- High-end target: Rory McIlroy— $11,000 (1st Strokes Gained: Par 4)
- Mid-range target: Sungjae Im— $9,700 (8th Strokes Gained: Par 4)
- Value target: Anirban Lahiri— $7,300 (10th Strokes Gained: Par 4)
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Strokes Gained: Ball-Striking
Ball-striking combines off the tee and approach and will be the stat I use to incorporate off-the-tee play this week. The over-emphasis on approach play will incorporate golfers who give themselves plenty of birdie looks in the event.
- High-end target: Rory McIlroy 11,000 (2nd Strokes Gained: Ball-Striking)
- Mid-range target: Tony Finau— $9,500 (6th Strokes Gained: Ball-Striking)
- Value target: Brendan Steele— $7,700 (1st Strokes Gained: Ball-Striking)
Course History
Course history has proven to be a major factor at TPC River Highlands. With seven golfers that have multiple wins at the course, familiarity could be the key at the Travelers Championship.
- High-end target: Patrick Cantlay— $10,200 (8th Course History)
- Mid-range target: Marc Leishman— $8,400 (4th Course History)
- Value target: Brendan Steele— $7,600 (2nd Course History)
Strokes Gained: Total Pete Dye Designs
TPC River Highlands is another prototypical Pete Dye track where many of the same golfers play well consistently.
- High-end target: Patrick Cantlay— $10,200 (1st Strokes Gained: Total Pete Dye Designs)
- Mid-range target: Sungjae Im— $9,700 (4th Strokes Gained: Total Pete Dye Designs)
- Value target: Si Woo Kim— $7,600— (2nd Strokes Gained: Total Pete Dye Designs)
