DraftKings PGA DFS Picks: Travelers Championship Cash and GPP Strategy

This article is part of our DraftKings PGA DFS Picks series.

TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP

Purse: $20M
Winner's Share: $3.6M
FedEx Cup Points: 500 to the Winner
Location: Cromwell, Conn.
Course: TPC River Highlands
Yardage: 6,844
Par: 70
2024 champion: Scottie Scheffler

Tournament Preview

It's at this point in the PGA Tour season, after three of the majors have been played and we've reached the 17th and final Signature Event, that it starts to feel like we're about to enter the home stretch.

Editor's note: It's the final Signature Event but it's only the eighth one. The writer is attempting to be funny, however unsuccessfully, and trying to imply that there were a lot of Signature Events.

Yes, there is still a lot of golf left to play, including the Open Championship at Royal Portrush next month. But the point still stands that the 2025 season has only seven more events before the playoffs. We should see all the Tour's top players unite only twice over that span: this week at the Travelers and at the Open.

It may seem a bit much for the Tour to front-load all the Signature Events, cram them right next to majors, as the Masters, PGA Championship and now U.S. Open have all been followed by limited-field tournaments. But there is a sound reason: The Tour wants to clear the decks and allow as many of the rank-and-file to get into the remaining (bigger fields in their attempt to qualify for the playoffs. Only 70 get in, so it will be a very tight squeeze.

Defending champion Scottie Scheffler heads this Travelers field of 72. As dominant as Scheffler has been this season, he's won only one major, after tying for seventh at the U.S. Open. The Open Championship might be the worst fit for him, especially with Rory McIlroy targeting a virtual home game in Ireland for him to emerge from his post-Masters funk.

Travelers 2022 champion Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, 2017 winner Jordan Spieth and newly minted U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun join Scheffler and McIlroy as the headliners. The sponsor invites are a familiar and predictable quartet in Rickie Fowler, Gary Woodland, Tom Kim and young Luke Clanton in his second start as a pro. The only eligible players in the top 50 of the OWGR not entered are Justin Rose and the injured trio of Corey Conners, Billy Horschel and Sahith Theegala.

The Travelers Insurance Company has been affiliated with this tournament since its inception way back in 1952. It became the title sponsor in 2007 -- after years of Sammy Davis Jr. being the "title host" in the 1970s and '80s -- and has re-upped to continue at least through 2030.

TPC River Highlands came on the scene in 1984. It checks in at a mere 6,844 yards, the shortest course on Tour. The 1928 design by Robert J. Ross and Maurice Kearney, with a 1982 Pete Dye renovation followed by a 1989 Bobby Weed renovation, tries to choke off the longest hitters by pinching the fairways around the 300-yard mark.

Along those lines, they made some changes to six holes two years ago in an effort blunt scoring, after Keegan Bradley won in 2023 at 23-under. They did it without adding distance. They narrowed some fairways and shrunk some greens, though they didn't touch the final five holes, including one of the most fun holes on Tour, the drivable par-4, 296-yard 15th, which is among five holes on the course with water.

Overall, there are tree-lined fairways with four-inch-plus rough leading to smallish 5,000 square foot Bermuda/poa greens running about 12 on the Stimpmeter. Now, 12 is not slow, but after last week's 15ish at Oakmont, they might appear snail-like to the golfers. There are a mere 68 bunkers -- 100 fewer than Oakmont.

Nine of the holes are par-4s under 450 yards, another diametric opposite to Oakmont. That includes the first three on the course and the last two. There are just two par-5s and one of them is the 523-yard 13th. Only three holes played over par, the 481-yard 4th, the 411-yard 12th and the hardest hole on the course, the 171-yard 16th.

River Highlands was the scene of the lowest score ever recorded on the PGA Tour: Jim Furyk shot a 12-under 58 in the final round in 2016.

As a reminder, there is no cut in this Signature Event, offering an opportunity to be a little more daring in lineup construction. Some of the golfers will be playing for at least the fifth time in seven weeks and you have to consider fatigue, if not a little bit of disinterest. After this, many of them will break till the Scottish Open in four weeks. It's hard to avoid the big names in such a small field but not impossible.

As for the weather, it will be a hot week, with high temperatures in the upper 80s and low 90s, thought there's little chance of rain and winds should be light.

Fun Travelers factoids: The tournament is more than seven decades old, yet there have been only two host courses. From 1952 to 1983, they used Wethersfield Country Club. In 1984, they moved about six miles to TPC Connecticut (renamed TPC River Highlands in 1991), and they've played there ever since. ... The 2017 tournament is remembered for Spieth's famous chest-bump with caddie Michael Greller after his 60-foot hole-out from a bunker on the first playoff hole defeated Daniel Berger.

Key Stats to Winning at TPC River Highlands

The most important indicators every week are current form and course history. "Key Stats" follow in importance.

• Strokes Gained: Approach/SG: Tee-to-Green
• Approach shots from 125-150 yards
• Strokes Gained: Putting
• Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee/Driving Accuracy
• Par 4 Efficiency 400-450

Past Champions

2024 - Scottie Scheffler
2023 - Keegan Bradley
2022 - Xander Schauffele
2021 - Harris English
2020 - Dustin Johnson
2019 - Chez Reavie
2018 - Bubba Watson
2017 - Jordan Spieth
2016 - Russell Knox
2015 - Bubba Watson

Champion's Profile

One of the many things that makes Scheffler the best player in the world is his adaptability. He can play however the course dictates one should. He takes only what the golf course lets him have.

Last year, Scheffler ranked 30th in distance -- middle of the pack -- but third in fairways hit. From there, he ranked second in greens in regulation, eighth in SG: Approach and top-20 in both Around-the-Green and Putting. He won at 22-under, after a playoff with good friend Kim.

Kim's driving numbers were even more disparate: 44th in distance, first in accuracy. He also ranked first in GIR, third in SG: Approach and top-20 in both Around-the-Green and Putting.

They basically played the golf course the exact same way. Scheffler won because Kim blinked first. He had only 110 yards from the fairway on the first playoff hole but hit into a bunker and bogeyed. Scheffler parred.

Over the years, Bubba Watson and Dustin Johnson have won this tournament but so have Chez Reavie, Russell Knox and Kevin Streelman.

Two years ago, Bradley won at 23-under. Nine of the top-10 guys in SG: Approach and Tee-to-Green finished in the top-15 on the leaderboard. We almost always see a strong correlation between those two stats and overall success, but this was especially so.

Three years ago, Schauffele, definitely in the long-hitter camp, took his foot off the gas and ranked only 31st in driving distance. But he led the field in greens in regulation, and that is the biggest key on this second-shot golf course. Schauffele also ranked fourth in putting for the week in winning at 19-under.

The over/under on the winning score on golfodds.com is 259.5 -- 20.5 under par.

DRAFTKINGS VALUE PICKS

Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap

$10,000 and up

Scottie Scheffler - $13,300 (Winning odds at the DraftKings Sportsbook: +280)
Even Scheffler's bad weeks aren't bad weeks. He tied for seventh last week at the U.S. Open.

$9,000-$9,900

Patrick Cantlay - $9,600 (+2200)
If there is one track you can count on Cantlay, it's this one. He shot a 60 here as an amateur in 2011. He has finished in the top-15 at the Travelers seven years running, including top-5s the past two years. He just flat-out likes the place.

Justin Thomas - $9,300 (+2500)
A lot of people will be off Thomas this week because of another trunk-slam in a major last week. Good for us. As we've been noting for months, Thomas' best results this season have come on shorter tracks. The longer courses have been creating all sorts of issues because he can't keep his driver in the fairway. This week, he'll be able to keep his driver in the bag. Thomas finished T5 here last year and T9 the year before.

Sepp Straka - $9,200 (+3500)
If Straka wants to be considered among the game's elite, he's gonna have to start showing up in majors. He just missed his third major cut of 2025. He can win multiple tournaments and he can be ranked seventh in the world, but without major cred, it doesn't matter. That also doesn't matter this week. Straka is amid a fantastic season outside of those three tournaments. He followed up a missed cut at the Masters with a T13 at the RBC Heritage and an MC at the PGA with a T3 at the Memorial. In his only other missed cut this season, at the Genesis, he tied for 11th the next time out.

$8,000-$8,900

Keegan Bradley - $8,500 (+3500)
This is home game for the native New Englander, and it was quite a love-fest when he won here two years ago. He also was runner-up back in 2019. Bradley had top-10s at the PGA and Memorial, then a respectable T33 last week at the U.S. Open. He's been outstanding in every phase of the game but putting -- ranked top-30 in every other strokes-gained metric.

Shane Lowry - $8,300 (+4500)
We're not concerned that Lowry missed the cut last week. Oakmont and River Highlands have nothing in common. Lowry is ranked second on Tour in SG: Approach and third in Tee-to-Green. He's also third in proximity. Lowry tied for ninth here last year and for 19th the year before.

$7,000-$7,900

Cameron Young - $7,800 (+5000) 
Young has turned around a season that started very poorly. He's now 32nd in the FedExCup Standings, just outside the threshold for the TOUR Championship. He's coming off back-to-back T4s at the U.S. Open and Canadian Open, and he tied for seventh at the Truist last month. In tying for ninth here last year, Young shot a Saturday 59(!), sandwiching two rounds of 66. He led the field in driving distance -- hey, somebody has to!

Maverick McNealy  - $7,600 (+5000) 
McNealy continues along amid an odd season in which he's finished every tournament either inside the top 10 or outside the top 25. He has six top-10s, including T3 at the RBC Heritage Signature Event. He is ranked top-50 in every strokes-gained metric but Around-the-Green. McNealy is also top-10 in this field on approach from 125-150 yards over his past 24 rounds.

Brian Harman - $7,200 (+8000) 
Harman comes here every year, and he excels almost every year. He finished top-10 the past four years and seven of the past 10. So he will be highly-rostered. Harman generally does his best work on shorter tracks, such as his T3 at Harbour Town in April. That came a few weeks after he won the Valero.

Harry Hall - $7,100 (+9000) 
Hall has top-25s in eight of his 17 starts in 2025, including his past four, among them a T19 at the PGA Championship. His specialties are short game and putting. He's ranked second on Tour in SG: Putting and 21st in Around-the-Green. Those two skill sets really help you score. Hall's season-long approach numbers are not great, but they've been far better of late.

$6,000-$6,900

Max Greyserman - $6,900 (+9000) 
Greyserman is quietly stringing together a nice season, and rides three consecutive top-25s into this week. That includes the U.S. Open and the Memorial. In fact, Greyserman has eight top-25s this season. Top-10s have been a hurdle, though. He has just one. That often speaks to a putting problem, but that's not the case here -- he's ranked 35th on Tour.

Sam Stevens - $6,600 (+10000) 
Stevens came through for us last week with a top-25 at the U.S. Open, at a mere $5,900. A look at his stats doesn't show any area of expertise. He's just been figuring out how to make his way around the golf course. Stevens has been in a number of Signature Events this season. Recently, he tied for 31st at the Memorial and for 23rd at the Truist.

Kevin Yu - $6,400 (+11000) 
Yu played himself into this Signature Event with top-5s at the Myrtle Beach Classic and Canadian Open. In between, he made the cut at the PGA. So, he's been playing some great golf, probably his best stretch ever. The Arizona State alum hits it far off the tee but is also accurate, good for ninth on Tour in SG: Off-the-Tee. And he's also ranked 16th in greens in regulation. Putting is Yu's big issue, so a super high finish seems a long shot. But at $6,400, he doesn't need one to pay off. Yu tied for 49th here two years ago.
 
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