value picks – Syndication Server

The best way to ensure a consistent return on your investment when betting golf is to pair your outright picks with a broader series of safer prop bets. Below, we look at the best matchup, placing and first-round leader bets to make for the 2020 Travelers Championship this week at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Conn.

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2020 Travelers Championship: Matchup bets

Odds provided by BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Tuesday, June 23 at 11 p.m. ET.

Justin Rose vs. Paul Casey (-118)

Casey will appear in his first event since the PGA Tour resumed play, while Rose has finished T-3 and T-14 in two events back. Course history is on Casey’s side in the battle of Englishmen, as he has gained an average of 2.46 strokes per round on the field across 20 rounds played here, according to Data Golf. Rose has averaged 1.37 SG per round, but hasn’t played here since 2013.

Matthew Fitzpatrick vs. Marc Leishman (-105)

Fitzpatrick is coming off a T-14 finish last week, while Leishman took the week off following a missed cut at the Charles Schwab Challenge. The Aussie won this event in 2012 and already has a PGA Tour win in 2020 at the Farmers Insurance Open.

Xander Schauffele vs. Patrick Reed (+105)

Reed is coming off a missed cut on the heels of a T-7 finish at the Charles Schwab Challenge. Schauffele is favored in the head-to-head matchup following a disappointing T-64 finish of his own last week. Reed has had much better success here, highlighted by a T-5 showing in 2017, and is catching plus-money.

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2020 Travelers Championship: Placing bets

Top American Player: Brooks Koepka (+1400)

Koepka is listed at +2000 to win this tournament and is taking only a very small hit when narrowing his top competition to Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Thomas, Webb Simpson and Patrick Cantlay. Koepka’s seventh-place finish last week was better than all but Simpson.

Top 5: Bubba Watson (+750)

Watson seeks to tie a tournament record with a fourth career victory at TPC River Highlands. Two of his three wins came in the last five years, and he has scored in the 60s in seven of eight rounds since play resumed.

Top 10: Doc Redman (+1600)

The 22-year-old excels on par 4s from 400-450 yards and on approach shots from 150-175 shots to represent a strong course fit as he seeks his first top-10 finish since a runner-up at last year’s Rocket Mortgage Classic. He gained 1.95 strokes per round on approach last week and can slice his way through this 6,841-yard venue.

Top 20: Hudson Swafford (+1200)

Ranked 134th in the Golfweek/Sagarin world rankings, Swafford jumped quite a bit with a T-9 finish in a strong field at the Waste Management Phoenix Open in February. He’s a strong putter on Bentgrass greens and he hits a lot of greens at these short courses.

2020 Travelers Championship: First-round leader bets

Corey Conners (+6600)

One of the best ball-strikers on Tour and a short-course wiz who can make sure he leaves himself with only short putts to limit his greatest weakness. Fired a second-round 63 last week and has scored in the 60s in six of eight rounds since the return.

Ryan Moore (+9000)

Few are more experienced here than Moore, who has played 44 rounds with an average of 1.75 strokes gained per round. He opened with a 64 at the Charles Schwab Challenge before shooting a Friday 74 to miss the cut.

Dylan Frittelli (+9000)

Frittelli opened the RBC Heritage with a 65, but it was quickly overshadowed by a Sunday 62 that earned him the early Round 4 lead. These are high odds for someone who shot the round of the day his last time out.

2020 Travelers Championship: Tournament specials

Winner NOT in final pairing final round: +175

There’s no easier bet to make than this one. These incredibly strong fields in the first two weeks since the PGA Tour returned have led to some high-profile and crowded weekend leaderboards and the last two winners came from outside of the final group. The tournament winner can even enter Sunday tied for the lead and/or playing from the second- or third-to-last pairing for this bet to cash.

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2020 Fantasy baseball sleepers: Closers

Ty Buttrey, Los Angeles Angels

Buttrey is expected to start the 2020 season behind Hansel Robles on the Angels’ closer depth chart. Robles has struggled this spring, however, and new manager Joe Maddon will have little allegiance to a player who converted 23 of 27 save opportunities in 2019.

The soon-to-be 27-year-old Buttrey appeared in 72 games last season but converted just 2 of 6 save opportunities. Still, he had a better strikeout rate than Robles and could certainly earn a shot if Robles takes his spring issues into the season. The Angels are expecting to be much better in 2020 after a busy offseason, and Robles’ leash will be kept tight while closing for a team with playoff aspirations.

Luke Jackson, Atlanta Braves

Jackson begins the 2020 season in a middle- relief role, while Mark Melancon and Will Smith occupy the late-inning roles. Jackson ranked inside the top 20 of qualified relievers last season in both strikeout rate (33.7%) and ground-ball rate (60.5%).

The 28-year-old converted just 18 of 25 save opportunities in 2019, but he did gain a reasonable amount of experience. He may need only to overcome Melancon, who hasn’t saved more than 12 games since 2016, with Smith preferred for the set-up role.

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Dellin Betances, New York Mets

Betances, who’s recovering from a torn Achilles which limited him to 2/3 of an inning with the New York Yankees last year, is still targeting Opening Day for his return to a major league mound. Used almost exclusively as a set-up man by the Yanks, Betances has converted 36 of 55 save opportunities over his career. He has an elite strikeout rate year-over-year and he induces more soft contact than hard. Betances will be available to replace Edwin Diaz if the latter’s 2019 struggles persist in the early going of 2020.

Andrew Miller, St. Louis Cardinals

Another veteran with considerable ninth-inning experience, Miller will start the season behind Giovanny Gallegos for closer duties. Gallegos, 28, pitched to a 2.31 ERA across 74 innings and 66 games last season, but he’s just 2-for-6 in career save opportunities. Miller has mostly been a set-up man the last four seasons, but he has 59 career saves and just 16 blown chances. He’s available at the end of drafts and will get enough work even in middle relief to provide value from the RP slot with strong ratios and high strikeout totals.