Travelers Championship 06.25.20

Posted bygameondfsPosted inGolfTags:, , , , , , , , ,

We come into this week with some uncertainty for the first time since the PGA resumed play. There have been positive COVID tests for some players and caddies, leading to the withdrawal of multiple players including Brooks Koepka and last week’s winner Webb Simpson. The PGA has elected to continue as planned, but there is a chance that players or caddies could test positive during the tournament and would then have to withdraw, which would be a huge blow to any lineups with that player. I would suggest playing lightly this week because of this, as no matter how good a player looks, a positive test will end their tournament and thus, your lineups. Regardless, we can’t predict any of this and will have to assume our guys stay healthy, and hopefully they will with the stricter guidelines the PGA is implementing. 

For DFS Golf, the most important thing is making the cut. For most tournaments, having everyone in your lineup make the cut almost guarantees you a profit, barring an insane weekend collapse. There are certain golfers that are consistent cut-makers, while others are hit or miss and can miss the cut or win the whole thing. It’s important to know what type of lineup you are building, either cash or GPP, so you know which type of golfer you want to target.

Draftkings Scoring

Per Hole Scoring
Double Eagle or Better+13 Pts
Eagle+8 Pts
Birdie+3 Pts
Par+0.5 Pts
Bogey-0.5 Pts
Double Bogey-1 Pt
Worse than Double Bogey-1 Pt
Streaks and Bonuses
Streak of 3 Birdies or Better {Max 1 Per Round}+3 Pts
Bogey Free Round+3 Pts
All 4 Rounds Under 70 Strokes+5 Pts
Hole In One+5 Pts
Tournament Finish Scoring
1st+30 Pts
2nd+20 Pts
3rd+18 Pts
4th+16 Pts
5th+14 Pts
6th+12 Pts
7th+10 Pts
8th+9 Pts
9th+8 Pts
10th+7 Pts
11th – 15th+6 Pts
16th – 20th+5 Pts
21st – 25th+4 Pts
26th – 30th+3 Pts
31st – 40th+2 Pts
41st – 50th+1 Pt

The largest difference for Fanduel is the bonuses, which are similar, but more rewarding than on Draftkings. Most importantly, instead of needing a streak of 3 birdies, you only need 5+ birdies for the whole round. These bonuses really add up so we want guys that can rack up birdies to take advantage of the 5+ birdies and streak points.

Fanduel Scoring

Eagle (Or Better)7
Birdie3.1
Par0.5
Bogey-1
Double Bogey (Or Worse)-3
Streak Bonus (2 Holes in a Row Under-Par)0.6
Bounce Back (Hole Under-Par After Hole Over-Par)0.3
5+ Birdies Or Better (1 Round)4
Bogey Free Round5
1st place30
2nd place20
3rd place18
4th place16
5th place14
6th place12
7th place10
8th place8
9th place7
10th place6
11th-15th place5
16th-20th place4
21st-25th place3
26th-30th place2
31st-40th place1

Much like NASCAR, the most important thing is finishing position, as a high finish generally means a good number of birdies and low bogeys to go along with the placement points. The top guys are always a threat to win, so it is important to find the cheaper guys who can outplace their salary. There are multiple ways to build a lineup so you need to decide if you want to balance cheap and expensive guys, or if you want to go safer with all mid-end golfers. The first composition is great for GPPs, while the latter is more cash-oriented, but any lineup for PGA has potential to win any contest. 

Each player’s tee times have been included alongside their site salaries and betting odds to win. Tee times are important this week, especially for Showdown contests, due to the drastic weather changes throughout the day. For Showdown contests, we want to target guys playing early as there is projected to be a large increase in wind as the days go on, making the course much more difficult for the afternoon waves. We saw this last week too and getting the early guys in Showdown really paid off.

NameDraftkings SalaryFanduel SalaryThurs. Tee Time (EST)Fri. Tee Time (EST)Odds
Rory McIlroy11200119007:35 AM12:50 PM12/1
Bryson DeChambeau11000117007:35 AM12:50 PM14/1
Justin Thomas108001200012:50 PM7:35 AM14/1
Jon Rahm10200115007:25 AM12:40 PM20/1
Patrick Cantlay9800113007:45 AM1:00 PM25/1
Xander Schauffele96001120012:50 PM7:35 AM28/1
Dustin Johnson94001100012:40 PM7:25 AM28/1
Justin Rose9200111001:00 PM7:45 AM28/1
Collin Morikawa91001050012:40 PM7:25 AM35/1
Abraham Ancer9000106007:15 AM12:30 PM35/1
Paul Casey8900107007:45 AM1:00 PM33/1
Bubba Watson88001080012:30 PM7:15 AM33/1
Patrick Reed8700103007:55 AM1:10 PM40/1
Sungjae Im8600104008:15 AM1:30 PM35/1
Sergio Garcia8500101008:15 AM1:30 PM45/1
Jordan Spieth84001020012:40 PM7:25 AM40/1
Gary Woodland8300100001:20 PM8:05 AM45/1
Tony Finau820099001:00 PM7:45 AM50/1
Matthew Fitzpatrick810099001:50 PM8:35 AM50/1
Marc Leishman800098008:05 AM1:20 PM50/1
Joaquin Niemann790098001:20 PM8:05 AM33/1
J.T. Poston790097001:10 PM7:55 AM66/1
Viktor Hovland780097001:00 PM7:45 AM40/1
Ian Poulter780096001:10 PM7:55 AM80/1
Joel Dahmen770094001:40 PM8:25 AM80/1
Kevin Kisner7700940012:40 PM7:25 AM80/1
Brian Harman7600920012:20 PM7:05 AM80/1
Scottie Scheffler760096007:05 AM12:20 PM80/1
Corey Conners750095001:10 PM7:55 AM80/1
Jason Day7500940012:40 PM7:25 AM80/1
Keegan Bradley740091007:55 AM1:10 PM100/1
Jason Kokrak740092001:30 PM8:15 AM100/1
Billy Horschel730093007:25 AM12:40 PM100/1
Ryan Palmer730093007:15 AM12:30 PM80/1
Chez Reavie730089007:25 AM12:40 PM100/1
Louis Oosthuizen7200930012:10 PM6:55 AM80/1
Brandt Snedeker720090007:15 AM12:30 PM100/1
Branden Grace720091001:50 PM8:35 AM80/1
Byeong Hun An720088006:45 AM12:00 PM100/1
Dylan Frittelli710087001:10 PM7:55 AM125/1
Harold Varner III710086001:50 PM8:35 AM150/1
Kevin Na7100900012:30 PM7:15 AM100/1
Shane Lowry710090007:45 AM1:00 PM100/1
Kevin Streelman7100890012:20 PM7:05 AM125/1
Max Homa700088008:05 AM1:20 PM125/1
Lucas Glover7000860012:10 PM6:55 AM150/1
Rafa Cabrera Bello700086008:45 AM2:00 PM150/1
Jim Furyk700085007:35 AM12:50 PM150/1
Charley Hoffman700085008:35 AM1:50 PM150/1
Patrick Rodgers690088008:25 AM1:40 PM125/1
Ryan Moore690089001:40 PM8:25 AM100/1
Bud Cauley690086008:15 AM1:30 PM150/1
Danny Lee6900850012:00 PM6:45 AM125/1
Phil Mickelson690087007:35 AM12:50 PM125/1
Luke List690084001:50 PM8:35 AM125/1
Matthew Wolff680085007:15 AM12:30 PM150/1
Sebastian Munoz680084008:15 AM1:30 PM200/1
Russell Henley680087006:55 AM12:10 PM100/1
Carlos Ortiz680083008:35 AM1:50 PM200/1
Charl Schwartzel680082001:40 PM8:25 AM200/1
Jhonattan Vegas670084007:05 AM12:20 PM200/1
Doc Redman670081001:40 PM8:25 AM200/1
Matt Wallace670084008:15 AM1:30 PM200/1
Russell Knox670083001:00 PM7:45 AM150/1
Brendon Todd670080007:55 AM1:10 PM200/1
Zach Johnson670082001:00 PM7:45 AM150/1
Cameron Smith670083001:10 PM7:55 AM200/1
Matthew NeSmith6600830012:10 PM6:55 AM150/1
Brice Garnett660080007:25 AM12:40 PM200/1
Stewart Cink660079001:20 PM8:05 AM200/1
Brendan Steele660082001:10 PM7:55 AM200/1
Joseph Bramlett660077008:45 AM2:00 PM250/1
Cameron Davis660077006:55 AM12:10 PM250/1
Beau Hossler660080001:40 PM8:25 AM200/1
Danny Willett660078007:45 AM1:00 PM250/1
Vaughn Taylor6500820012:00 PM6:45 AM200/1
Matt Jones650081006:45 AM12:00 PM200/1
Tyler Duncan650079007:45 AM1:00 PM200/1
Mark Hubbard6500780012:00 PM6:45 AM300/1
Wyndham Clark650078008:35 AM1:50 PM200/1
Talor Gooch650077006:55 AM12:10 PM200/1
Michael Thompson650079006:55 AM12:10 PM200/1
Kevin Tway650076001:00 PM7:45 AM200/1
Mackenzie Hughes650076008:25 AM1:40 PM250/1
Harry Higgs640081006:55 AM12:10 PM200/1
C.T. Pan640079007:35 AM12:50 PM200/1
Sam Ryder640073008:25 AM1:40 PM300/1
Tom Hoge640077008:35 AM1:50 PM300/1
Sepp Straka640075006:55 AM12:10 PM350/1
Keith Mitchell640076008:05 AM1:20 PM250/1
Jamie Lovemark640070001:30 PM8:15 AM200/1
Chris Stroud640074008:45 AM2:00 PM200/1
Si Woo Kim640075007:55 AM1:10 PM200/1
Cameron Tringale6300760012:20 PM7:05 AM200/1
Lanto Griffin630073007:55 AM1:10 PM300/1
Emiliano Grillo630078008:25 AM1:40 PM200/1
Scott Stallings6300750012:20 PM7:05 AM250/1
Adam Long630072008:05 AM1:20 PM350/1
Troy Merritt630073007:25 AM12:40 PM250/1
Sahith Theegala630071002:00 PM8:45 AM300/1
Grayson Murray630075007:15 AM12:30 PM200/1
Luke Donald630077001:20 PM8:05 AM200/1
Lucas Bjerregaard630072007:05 AM12:20 PM250/1
Sung Kang6300740012:30 PM7:15 AM250/1
Kyle Stanley6200770012:00 PM6:45 AM200/1
Aaron Wise620074007:15 AM12:30 PM250/1
James Hahn620072007:05 AM12:20 PM250/1
Sam Burns620074001:50 PM8:35 AM300/1
Hudson Swafford6200710012:30 PM7:15 AM200/1
Richy Werenski6200700012:10 PM6:55 AM350/1
Cameron Percy6200N/A8:25 AM1:40 PMN/A
Adam Schenk6200700012:10 PM6:55 AM500/1
Denny McCarthy620070008:15 AM1:30 PM300/1
Kyoung-Hoon Lee620070001:30 PM8:15 AM500/1
Will Gordon620070002:00 PM8:45 AM300/1
Austin Cook620070007:35 AM12:50 PM400/1
Brian Stuard610073008:35 AM1:50 PM400/1
Aaron Baddeley610071001:30 PM8:15 AM300/1
Kevin Chappell6100720012:40 PM7:25 AM200/1
Bronson Burgoon6100710012:00 PM6:45 AM300/1
Zac Blair610070008:45 AM2:00 PM400/1
Peter Malnati610070001:30 PM8:15 AM300/1
Robby Shelton6100700012:20 PM7:15 AM250/1
Rob Oppenheim6100N/A2:00 PM8:45 AMN/A
J.J. Spaun610070006:45 AM12:00 PM300/1
Wesley Bryan6100700012:30 PM7:15 AM300/1
Ryan Armour610070007:45 AM1:00 PM500/1
Brian Gay610070006:45 AM12:00 PM500/1
Ted Potter Jr.6100700012:50 PM7:35 AM500/1
Matt Every610070006:45 AM12:00 PM500/1
Xinjun Zhang600070007:05 AM12:20 PM250/1
Bo Hoag600070002:00 PM8:45 AM250/1
Henrik Norlander600070006:45 AM12:00 PM500/1
Hank Lebioda600070008:45 AM2:00 PM500/1
Scott Brown600070001:50 PM8:35 AM500/1
Seung-Yul Noh600070008:35 AM1:50 PM300/1
Scott Harrington6000700012:00 PM6:45 AM500/1
Patton Kizzire600070001:20 PM8:05 AM500/1
Hunter Mahan600070001:30 PM8:15 AM400/1
J.J. Henry600070001:40 PM8:25 AM500/1
Peter Kuest600070002:00 PM8:45 AM500/1
Vijay Singh6000700012:30 PM7:15 AM1000/1
Greg Chalmers600070001:20 PM8:05 AM500/1
Roger Sloan6000700012:10 PM6:55 AM500/1
Bo Van Pelt6000700012:20 PM7:05 AM1000/1
Martin Trainer6000700012:50 PM7:35 AM1000/1
Davis Love III6000700012:50 PM7:35 AM1000/1
Michael Kim600070008:05 AM1:20 PM1000/1

The pricing on both sites is fairly similar, so I am not separating players by site this week.

Top Tier: 

Once again, the stand out player at the top is Bryson DeChambeau. Since he put on 20 pounds of muscle during the break, DeChambeau has looked amazing and can pick apart any course with his newfound strength. He has 5 straight top-10s and has shown no signs of slowing down. Although this will be the first time we’ve seen him since February, Patrick Cantlay is one of the most consistent players on Tour and has put up back to back 15th place finishes here. There is some worry about rust from the long break, but Cantlay is as good as they come and shouldn’t be affected much. While Cantlay hasn’t played in a while, Abraham Ancer has looked great since the return, following up his 14th at the Charles Schwab Challenge with a 2nd place finish last weekend. Ancer has made 11 straight cuts and is coming to a course that saw him finish 8th last year, putting him in good position for his first PGA Tour victory. Speaking of course history, nobody is better here than Paul Casey, whose worst finish was 17th in 2016, surrounded by 2 2nd and 2 5th place finishes in his other 4 appearances at the Travelers. Much like Cantlay though, he hasn’t played since February, but also like Cantlay, he is as consistent as they come. In fact, those 2 have made all 13 cuts combined this season and they should be able to keep that going if they don’t start slow on Thursday. Although he is a bit pricey on Draftkings, Colin Morikawa can never be ignored and is always a threat to win. His 36th place finish here in his only appearance isn’t overly amazing, but he has made all 13 cuts this season, including 8 top-25s and 4 top-10s, and it’s hard to ignore that consistency.

Upper-Mid Tier: 

We saw Webb Simpson win last weekend after a missed cut the week before, so maybe we will see the same with Sungjae Im? Im missing a cut is usually a rare sight, so there’s a good chance that he won’t miss two in a row, and a 21st place here last year is encouraging as well. Another guy that rarely misses cuts is Matthew Fitzpatrick, who hasn’t missed one in almost a year. Fitzpatrick doesn’t always have the best placements, although he has 2 top-14s in his past three events, but he is one of the safest DFS picks on Tour. On the flip side, Tony Finau isn’t nearly as safe as Fitzpatrick, but he has as much upside as anyone in this range. Before a missed cut here last year, Finau had 3 straight top-25s and has 3 top-10s and 5 top-25s in his past 8 tournaments. Another guy with a ton of upside here is Gary Woodland, who had 3 straight top-12s before finishing 62nd last week (that quad bogey still stings). He has finished 38th and 20th here, so hopefully he can continue his strong play this weekend. If you were watching the end of last week’s tournament on Sunday, you probably saw Joaquin Niemann’s late push for the lead, which resulted in a 5th place finish for the young Chilean. He seems to have fixed his game since the break, with that 5th place finish following a 32nd the week prior, after missing 3 straight cuts beforehand. He finished 5th in his first appearance here last year and seems on the verge of getting his 2nd win of the season. Another young player looking for his 2nd win of the season is Victor Hovland, who has top-25 finishes in both tournaments since play has resumed. He finished 54th here last year, but should have done much better if he could have made a putt (he lost 2.6 strokes putting!). If he can remedy the putting woes from last year, Hovland could very well be in the mix come Sunday.

Lower-Mid Tier: 

Coming off a missed cut, I am going right back to the well with Patrick Rodgers, who has made 5 straight cuts here including 3 top-35s. At his price that’s really all you need and it will allow you to spend up at the very top. Right next to Rodgers is Max Homa who bounced back from his own missed cut to finish 41st last week, and he should hopefully be returning to his pre-break form that saw 5 straight top-24s. Homa doesn’t have the best course history here though, but that’s usually not important for someone on a hot streak like he is. Still, if you care about course history, you may want to look elsewhere this week, and you may find your eyes attracted to Brian Harman. Harman has back to back top-10s at the Travelers and a 3rd place finish a few years prior, making him one of the better players historically at this event. He also has 2 straight top-30s since the return, giving him a good combination of recent form and course history that should put him in a good spot to play well again this week. Dropping a bit down from those 3 brings us to Matthew NeSmith, whose price hasn’t changed despite only missing one cut out of his last 11 appearances. NeSmith is another guy who hasn’t looked as good after the break as he did before (even though he’s made both cuts), but he has all the right tools to put up a solid finish for a very low price. I’m not sure if it’s entirely necessary to drop any lower than NeSmith this week, but Harry Higgs and Cameron Davis have both been making a ton of cuts this season and give you a lot of flexibility in your lineups. Don’t go too overboard though, these guys aren’t the kind of players you usually see near the top of the leaderboard, so you’re mostly just hoping to get a made cut from them to round out your lineups.

Risky Plays:

Instead of picking a bunch of cheap guys here, I have decided to include some boom or bust golfers that could make or break your lineups. The first name that stands out when you think of the Travelers Championship is Bubba Watson, but he’s such an inconsistent player that it;s hard to play too much of him, even here. Bubba has won the Travelers 3 times with a couple of top-5s here as well, but has missed 2 of his last 5 cuts and is priced up this week. When looking at him, it really all comes down to how much you believe in course history. Another risky play is Patrick Reed, who is coming off a missed cut after 3 straight top-15s including a win. Reed has only made 3 of his last 6 cuts here, but has made up for that with a 5th and 11th in that span, so it’s going to be interesting to see which Reed shows up this week. He makes for a decent GPP play with his upside since the guys around him should take away some of his ownership. Finally, Justin Rose is another guy that should be reserved to GPPs since his performances have been night and day since the break. He has finished 3rd and 14th after the break, while missing 3 of 4 cuts beforehand, so it’s hard to tell if the time off and change of irons has brought back the old Rose or if this is just a hot streak. He makes for another good GPP option, but be wary in case he wilts like he did before the break. Finally, Marc Leishman comes in with only 1 missed cut here in 7 appearances after winning this event in 2012. The downside is that he didn’t look good last time out 2 weeks ago at a course that fit him well, so we’ll have to see if that was just rust after the break. Much like Reed, his ownership should be low due to the other options around him.

If you have any questions or need strategy help, feel free to hop in the Premium Discord and ask away.

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