The PGA Tour is in Cromwell, Conn., this week for the 2022 Travelers Championship, which is hosted by TPC River Highlands. It’s a star-studded field despite being the week after the U.S. Open, including Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth.
Below, we search for the best value prop bets among the 2022 Travelers Championship odds and make our PGA Tour picks and predictions.
Teeing it up this week are 6 of the top-10 players in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. Scheffler tops the rankings at No. 1, followed by Justin Thomas and McIlroy at Nos. 3 and 4, respectively. Patrick Cantlay is 6th, with Xander Schauffele and Sam Burns 9th and 10th.
TPC River Highlands is a shorter course compared to some of the other tracks played on tour, emphasizing the importance of approaches into greens over driving distance. It’s a par 70 playing at 6,852 yards, with one of the best finishes from holes 15-18.
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Travelers Championship – Top-5 picks
Odds provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated Tuesday at 12:21 p.m. ET.
Patrick Cantlay (+320)
Cantlay has finished inside the top 15 in each of his last 4 trips to TPC River Highlands, so this course fits his eye nicely. He battled back at the U.S. Open with a final-round 69 to finish T-14, riding some momentum into this week. I like his chances to crack the top 5 at Travelers.
Rory McIlroy (+240)
Few players in the world are playing better than McIlroy right now, who tied for 5th at the U.S. Open a week after winning the RBC Canadian Open. He also has 3 top-20 finishes at the Travelers Championship in his last 3 trips, and he’s playing better now than he was in any of those seasons.
Other T5 contenders (in order from longest odds to shortest):
- Brian Harman (+900)
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Travelers Championship – Top-10 picks
Sam Burns (+190)
Burns has steadily gotten better on this course with each trip, improving from T-43 to T-24 to T-13 last year. A final-round 76 sent him tumbling down the leaderboard last weekend, but he was playing well before that slip-up Sunday.
Tony Finau (+350)
Finau has missed the cut 3 years in a row here. He’s not going to make it 4, and instead, he’ll contend for a win in Cromwell. His best finish was T-17 here in 2016, which he’ll improve upon by making it into the top 10 with a bounce-back week after missing the cut in Brookline.
Jason Day (+600)
Day usually plays well here, with 3 top-12s in his last 4 years, including T-10 last year. He’s made the cut in each of his last 5 starts, too, so he’s playing better now than he has all season. Take him as a long-shot play to finish in the top 10 for the 2nd year in a row.
Travelers Championship – Top-20 picks
Brendon Todd (+330)
Todd isn’t long at all off the tee, but that won’t hurt him on a course where there isn’t a par 4 over 500 yards. His accuracy with the driver will help him at TPC River Highlands, as it did the last 2 years when he finished T-30 and T-11.
Kevin Kisner (+425)
Kisner tied for 5th here last year and was T-15 in 2019, sandwiching a missed cut in 2020. He’s a deadly putter and while he’s not in great form – 4 straight missed cuts – his odds reflect that.
Other T20 contenders (in order from longest odds to shortest):
- Mackenzie Hughes (+425)
Travelers Championship – Matchups
Suggested play is golfer in bold.
Brian Harman (-110) vs. Seamus Power (-110)
Harman is playing well right now and seems to love River Highlands, with 3 top-10s in his last 4 appearances. Power tied for 19th last year, but that was his only finish inside the top-35 here.
Harold Varner III (-120) vs. Webb Simpson (+100)
Before missing the cut at the U.S. Open, Varner had finished inside the top-30 in 5 of his previous 6 starts. He’s striking the ball well, as evidenced by his 29th ranking in Strokes Gained: approach, which puts him in a good spot heading into Travelers week.
Keegan Bradley (-125) vs. Aaron Wise (+105)
Bradley faded a bit on Sunday of the U.S. Open but it was a terrific showing from the Boston native. He’ll remain in New England this week where he tied for 2nd in 2019 before missing the cut the last 2 years. He’s been sharp in recent months.
Travelers Championship – Top European
Rory McIlroy (+135)
The player with the next-closest odds is Power at +450, so McIlroy is the heavy favorite to be the low European. I really like his chances, too, knowing his history on this course and with the lack of European talent in the field.
Travelers Championship – Top Asian
K.H. Lee (+380)
Lee tied for 13th at Travelers in 2019 and while he’s not the favorite in this group – Sungjae Im is +175 to be the top Asian finisher – Lee thrives in birdie fests like this one. He won the AT&T Byron Nelson in back-to-back years, this season at 26-under.
Travelers Championship – First-round leader
Sam Burns (+3000)
Burns was near the top of the leaderboard after Round 1 last year with an opening 66 on Thursday. He wound up finishing T-13, his 2nd straight top-25 here, so I’m willing to sprinkle a bit on him to lead after Round 1.
Mackenzie Hughes (+9000)
Hughes held a 3-shot lead after Round 1 in 2020 after shooting a 60 on Thursday at TPC River Highlands, a year after tying for the 1st-round lead with a 64 in 2019. He’s obviously a mega long shot to lead after the first round, but it’s worth a small wager.
More expert prop bet predictions
Group C winner: Keegan Bradley (+270)
For the same reasons I like Bradley to beat Wise in their head-to-head matchup, I think he’s a good bet to win Group C with Brooks Koepka (+320), Tommy Fleetwood (+380), Davis Riley (+380) and Aaron Wise (+380). Riley and Wise are playing well, too, but Koepka may not be in the field due to his reported departure to LIV Golf, and Fleetwood has only played here once.
Will there be a playoff? Yes: (+300)
Since it was renamed the Travelers Championship in 2007, there have been 6 playoffs in 15 years – including an epic 8-hole playoff last year. I like the chances of another playoff taking place this week.
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Golfweek:
- Report: Four-time major champion Brooks Koepka is leaving the PGA Tour for LIV Golf
- Scottie Scheffler sets PGA Tour record for most money earned in a single season
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