I hope everyone enjoyed the U.S. Open. It was close to a great week for this betting article, as Tom Kim cashed his placement bet. If Scottie Scheffler could have made a run on Sunday, it would have been one of our best weeks of the year. Ultimately, Wyndham Clark held on to the lead despite some wayward drives on Sunday.
There is no time for a championship hangover, as we have a Signature Event on tap this week in Cromwell, Connecticut. There are 72 golfers set to tee it up at TPC River Highlands, which is always one of my favorite stops on the PGA Tour.
Let's take a look at my Travelers Championship picks and PGA Tour predictions for this week's major tournament at TPC River Highlands.
2026 Travelers Championship Preview: TPC River Highlands
This week's event should be a fun one. While I wish we had a full field and a cut, I'm not going to complain about the field that's set to tee it up at TPC River Highlands this week.
The course is a Par 70 that measures only 6,844 yards, which makes it one of the shortest courses on the PGA Tour. The last four winners here have shot -15, -22, -23, and -19, so we can expect low scores this week, especially with little wind and some rain in the forecast.
Given the length of the course and the importance of hitting the fairway, this is a less-than-driver course. Golfers can get aggressive and try to bomb the ball over the trees, but that's not a huge benefit this week.
This is one of the few courses on Tour where I actually weight accuracy higher than distance. Ultimately, the best off-the-tee metrics to use this week are Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and Good Drive Percentage.
The importance of hitting fairways is glaringly obvious in the statistics, as there's a 43% difference in Greens in Regulation rate from the fairway compared to the rough.
The greens at TPC River Highlands are small (5,000 square feet) but easy to hit in regulation, which emphasizes approach play, and it's worth noting that nearly 60% of approach shots hit here are from 50-175 yards.
There aren't a lot of long iron approach shots here, so targeting golfers with good proximity numbers from 50-175 yards is a good starting point. With the greens being so easy to hit and with scrambling being tough for everyone, I'm not putting much stock in around-the-green play at this event.
Course history has been very predictive at this venue, which means golfers who have played well here in the past tend to play well here in the future.
I also found an interesting trend that each of the last 10 winners here have gained more strokes with the putter than any other strokes gained category, so a golfer will rarely win this event with a bad putting week.
2026 Travelers Championship Predictions, Picks
It's only a matter of time before Scheffler runs away with one of these events. I thought it was going to happen at the U.S. Open last week, so now I'm hoping it doesn't happen at the Travelers Championship this week.
I'm taking my chances with a fade of the best golfer in the world. For my betting card this week, I have three outrights and three top 10 bets.
Patrick Cantlay to Win +3000 (FanDuel)
Cantlay hasn't won on Tour since the 2022 BMW Championship, so it's coming up on four years. So it's a bit strange, as he used to be a golfer we could count on to win once or twice each year.
While he missed the cut at the U.S. Open last week, he actually gained three strokes ball striking. More importantly, his game was trending in the right direction before the missed cut. He had three top 10 finishes in his previous six events.
His tee-to-green game has been sharp over the last three months, and he's gained strokes putting in five of his last six trips to TPC River Highlands.
He loves Pete Dye courses, as evidenced by his track record at this event — eight top 15 finishes in eight starts.
If the putter cooperates, I like his chances of contending this week.
Russell Henley to Win +3400 (DraftKings)
Henley doesn't have the elite track record at TPC River Highlands that Cantlay does, but I would argue that he's an even better course fit on paper.
He's one of the most accurate drivers of the ball on Tour; he's a great wedge player, with an elite short game.
He won a Signature Event last year (Arnold Palmer Invitational) and picked up another win a few weeks ago at the Charles Schwab Challenge. He's shown that he can win when in contention, even in strong fields.
While he didn't play great at the U.S. Open, a lot of elite golfers struggled at Shinnecock Hills last week.
Collin Morikawa to Win +2500 (Caesars)
Morikawa was one of the hottest golfers on Tour before hurting his back at THE PLAYERS Championship in March.
Since then, he hasn't been able to play often or play up to his usual standard of golf. I've been waiting and waiting for a good opportunity to bet on him, and this feels like the perfect spot.
His back must be feeling better, as this will be the first time since the injury that he's played three events in a row. And in that frame, he's posted back-to-back top 30 finishes and gained 5.2 strokes ball striking at the U.S. Open last week.
On paper, he's a tremendous fit for TPC River Highlands. He's an accurate driver of the ball, he's an elite iron player, and he has quietly been a very good putter this year.
Sepp Straka Top 10 +575 (Caesars)
Straka does not come into the week in good form, but that's why he's priced at +575 to finish in the top 10 in a 72-man field.
I'm willing to overlook a few bad events in a row, especially since this course sets up extremely well for his skill set.
In 2026, Straka is 13th in this field in Strokes Gained: Approach. Even better, I came up with an "Expected Strokes Gained: Approach" metric that takes into account how many approach shots golfers are going to be hitting from each yardage bucket (50-125, 125-150, 150-175, etc.), and Straka is 2nd this week.
He's made four of his last five cuts at this event with a top 10 finish back in 2021.
Eric Cole Top 10 +500 (FanDuel)
Cole is one of the few golfers in this week's field who didn't qualify for the U.S. Open last week.
Unlike everyone else who had to grind out 36 or 72 holes at Shinnecock, he comes into the week well-rested. He's one of the streakiest golfers on Tour, and has been in tremendous form over the last few months.
He's finished in the top 10 in four of his last six starts. He's always been a good iron player and an elite putter, but the off-the-tee game is finally starting to come around.
If he can find the short grass off the tee this week, I see no reason why he can't post another top 10 finish.
Alex Smalley Top 10 +550 (FanDuel)
Smalley is coming off back-to-back missed cuts.
He finished second-to-last at the Memorial Tournament and didn't play much better at the U.S. Open last week. While not ideal, this is one of the hottest golfers on the planet before his last two starts.
Prior to those missed cuts, he had rattled off 7 straight top 25 finishes with 3 top 10s during that stretch.
I'm hoping Muirfield Village and Shinnecock Hills were just bad course fits for him. On paper, his game sets up extremely well for TPC River Highlands.
He's top 25 in this field in Good Drive Percentage, Strokes Gained: Approach, and Strokes Gained: Putting. It's also worth noting that he finished top 10 the last time he played here (2023).
Good luck this week!
