The PGA Tour continues on this week as it visits TPC River Highlands for the 2023 Travelers Championship. Originally designed by Robert J. Ross and Maurice Kearney in 1928, before a redesign by Pete Dye in 1982, the par 70, TPC River Highlands is one of the shorter courses on the schedule, stretching out to just 6,852 yards this year. TPC River Highlands is one of the more scoreable layouts on tour, with the winner finishing double digits under par each of the last 29 years. Last year’s edition was won by Xander Schauffele, who opened with a pair of 63’s on his way to a two stroke victory over J. T. Poston and Sahith Theegala.
Player to Fade:
Fresh off of a missed cut in his first U. S. Open start since 2013, Andrew Svoboda is looking to right the ship at the Travelers. However, the odds do not bode well for Svoboda. In 5 previous Travelers starts, Svoboda has a best finish of T-61. In a field as stacked as this week’s is, Svoboda is a lock to miss the cut.
Dark Horse:
It’s been a bit of a down year for Kevin Streelman, as he has just 1 top 10 and 4 top 25’s in 22 starts. Winner of the Travelers back in 2014, Streelman has had 5 top 10’s and 7 top 25’s here in 15 career starts. Even though his game hasn’t been trending the right way of late, some players just seem to find success at certain courses and Streelman is one of those at TPC River Highlands. Another top 25 finish is certainly reasonable for Streelman this week.
Top 10:
At this point, how can you even consider betting against Scottie Scheffler? With 2 wins, 5 straight top 5’s, and just 1 finish outside the top 12 in 17 starts, Scheffler is having a stellar season. Scheffler’s game is solid through the bag, ranking 1st in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green, Off-the-Tee, Approach the Green, and Total this season. He may not have much past success in this event, but that won’t stop Scheffler from bringing home yet another top 10 finish this week.
Winner:
Although he has yet to win on the PGA Tour, Tommy Fleetwood is having a solid season, with 5 top 10’s and 8 top 25’s in 15 starts, including back-to-back top 5 finishes, highlighted by a final round 63 at the U. S. Open. Fleetwood is another player whose game is solid across the board, ranking inside the top 10 in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green, Around-the-Green, and Total. Fleetwood’s best finish in this event is a T-13 finish, but we predict that will change this Sunday when he picks up his first career PGA Tour victory!