RADIO
Hello RotoBaller PGA family! Golf's return continued to provide tons of drama, as Webb Simpson outlasted a star-studded and jam-packed leaderboard to win the RBC Heritage.
We have another great tournament on deck this week as the PGA Tour heads to Cromwell, Connecticut and TPC River Highlands for the Travelers Championship! In this article, we'll discuss some of the standout PGA DFS plays available on FanDuel for the Travelers. While it's impossible to hit on every player, we'll touch on some different plays across all price ranges.
Like always, the purpose of this piece is to help you put together your optimal daily fantasy golf lineups for FanDuel, whether that be from a GPP perspective or a cash-game mentality. Be sure to also read all of our other top-notch weekly PGA DFS and betting articles to help you win big!
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Travelers Championship - PGA DFS Overview
TPC River Highlands
6,841 Yards - Par 70 - Greens: Bentgrass with Poa Annua
The Pete Dye hits keep on coming, as we head from one Dye design in Hilton Head to another in Connecticut. TPC River Highlands is a course with Pete Dye's fingerprints all over it. Its most famous stretch of holes (#'s 15-17) are played AROUND a huge 4-acre lake. While the course is tricky, we will still see plenty of birdies this week, as TPC River Highlands relinquished the only 58 in PGA Tour history to Jim Furyk a couple of years ago, and the last two winners have finished the week at 17-under par. At just over 6,800 yards this is one of the shortest tracks on the schedule, but players won't necessarily be able to overpower this course, as the layout requires less than driver off the tee in multiple spots. I'll be targeting sharp ball strikers that can pile up birdies this week.
Let's Look At The Stats
| Stat | TPC River Highlands | Tour Average |
| Driving Distance | 281 | 283 |
| Driving Accuracy | 66% | 61% |
| GIR Percentage | 67% | 65% |
| Scrambling Percentage | 57% | 57% |
| Average Three-Putts Per Round | 0.48 | 0.54 |
We see that TPC River Highlands statistically lines up pretty well with PGA Tour averages with not much out of the ordinary. This is a Pete Dye layout, which - as expected - places an emphasis on second shots. Accuracy off the tee is rewarded, but these fairly wide fairways make them relatively easy to hit. Accurate approach shots are a must, as is a putter that's in working order. Birdies will be needed to contend this week.
Key Stats
- Strokes Gained: Approach
- Par 4 Efficiency: 400-450 Yards
- Greens In Regulation Gained
- Strokes Gained: Putting (Bent/Poa)
- Birdies Or Better Gained
- Strokes Gained: Par 4's
Fantasy Golf Lineup Picks for FanDuel (PGA DFS)
We have tons of great weekly PGA articles, DFS analysis, tools and DFS advice. Be sure to read our other fantastic articles regarding this week's event including DFS lineup picks for DraftKings/FanDuel, betting advice and DFS prop picks.
High-Priced DFS Players
Justin Thomas ($12,000)
JT leapfrogged Rory and Bryson in FanDuel pricing this week, and leads the way at $12k. His position atop the salary scale is warranted, as he produced another top-10 at Hilton Head last week (T8 at Charles Schwab two weeks ago) that included a scorching closing-round 63.
If we're paying all the way up for JT, we're looking for a win, and I love his chances at the Travelers. He traditionally feasts on Par 4's - including those of the 400-450 yard variety - and his iron play has been off the charts since the PGA Tour resumed play two weeks ago. It feels like a win is coming soon and it's as simple as Thomas just making a few more putts throughout the week.
Bryson DeChambeau ($11,700)
Bryson actually comes in more expensive than Justin Thomas on DraftKings, but we get him at a tiny discount on FanDuel. He's a pretty bulletproof "spend up" option, as both his recent play and Travelers history look great this week. Like Colonial and Harbour Town over the last couple of weeks, TPC River Highlands doesn't seem like a great fit for what Bryson is trying to do strategically. However, his track record on this week's layout is very strong...he's recorded top-10's at the Travelers in each of the last two years.
He's looked amazing in every aspect of the game over the last two weeks (you could nitpick and say he's struggled around the greens), gaining 10.6 (Schwab) and 7.7 (Heritage) strokes tee to green. DeChambeau's combination of blazing current form and good course history make it hard to jump off the train this week. As I said in this article last week: he's a scary player to fade.
*WD Brooks Koepka ($11,400) WD*
UPDATE: Koepka has withdrawn from the Travelers. Remove him from all DFS rosters! There's a chance that the PGA Tour's layoff will ultimately help Brooks Koepka more than any other player. To put it bluntly, Koepka didn't look like himself to start 2020, appearing injured and out of sorts with his game. The break was a much-needed one for the four-time major champion, as he's emerged healthy and hungry.
Koepka flashed some of that dominant form at Hilton Head last week en route to a solo-seventh finish, by far his best result of the 2019-20 season. He now heads to a TPC River Highlands layout on which he's made three starts with a top-10 and a top-20 since 2016. It's early in the week, but Koepka's ownership projections are currently looking well below that of high-priced peers like JT, Bryson, and Jon Rahm. It feels like a win is coming at some point and I love him as a contrarian, top-of-the-board GPP play.
Patrick Cantlay ($11,300)
Patrick Cantlay presents us with an interesting dilemma, as he's a player that we'd normally be knocking each other over to roster in this spot, but he's also one of the few "elite" players that is yet to tee it up since the PGA Tour resumed play. He was off to a rock-solid start to the 2019-20 season and has turned into one of the most dependable DFS assets available on the PGA Tour over the last couple of years.
He has some nice experience at TPC River Highlands, recording consecutive T15's over the last two years, as well as shooting a 60 on this course as an amateur in 2011. Rostering Cantlay is usually a decision that we feel great about, however there is some reason for pause with the sterling ball striker this week, as his inactivity in competitive tournaments is a considerable unknown that warrants some concern. I'm tempted to play the ownership game here with Cantlay...fade if he's chalky and go overweight if it looks like people are shying away.
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Mid-Priced DFS Players
Abraham Ancer ($10,600)
A very tempting ride-the-hot-hand type of play. Ancer put on a ball-striking clinic at Harbour Town last week as he hit 82.1% of the fairways and 90.2% of the greens in regulation on the Pete Dye layout. A chilly putter prevented him from walking away with the RBC Heritage title, but his tee-to-green form puts him squarely on our DFS radars this week.
In addition to the sharp form, Ancer recorded a T8 in last year's Travelers on his third go-round at TPC River Highlands. He's kinda like Bryson DeChambeau - his mind-boggling numbers will draw tons of attention this week - but he's a scary player to fade in his current beast-mode type of form.
Tony Finau ($9,900)
We're kinda used to Tony Finau being a Top-10 machine, so his two ho-hum starts (T23 Schwab & T33 Heritage) since play resumed don't exactly get our blood pumping, but Finau's price has dropped this week on FanDuel (and DraftKings) and he's cheaper than guys like Bubba Watson, Jordan Spieth, and Sergio Garcia.
Finau missed the Travelers cut last year, but had notched three top-25s in his each of his previous three starts in Connecticut. He's also statistically a much better putter on bent/poa than on the bermuda greens he faced at Hilton Head last week. So, we're targeting Finau here despite his middling form, because his price is right, the upside is there, and he's a better statistical fit on this layout than he was in last week's tournament.
Joaquin Niemann ($9,800)
I've been a big Niemann fan since he turned pro. This kid is uber-talented and it's easy to forget that he is still just 21-years-old. We saw the type of upside Niemann has when he can get the putter to even somewhat cooperate (he actually LOST 0.4 strokes putting) last week at the Heritage, when he recorded something of a hard-luck T5.
The young Chilean played the weekend in a ridiculous 14-under par and finished top-five in the field in SG: Approach, SG: T2G, and GIRs for the week. This is exactly the type of ball striking that we're targeting this week at TPC River Highlands and his T5 in his Travelers debut last year reflects the great course fit.
Viktor Hovland ($9,700)
Hovland came BLAZING out of the gate after turning pro last year and it looked for a while like he might never log a round above par. Things did cool off a bit during the Swing Season for the Oklahoma State product, as he dabbled in Europe and the Asia Swing, but he was able to pick up his first PGA Tour victory at the Puerto Rico back in February.
This will be Hovland's second look at this golf course (a T54 in his Travelers debut last year) and he heads to TPC River Highlands off two sizzling ball-striking performances over the last couple of weeks. He gained strokes T2G, OTT, and on Approach at both the Charles Schwab and the Heritage. His weakness is around the green, but that shouldn't be a huge issue on this golf course. Definite top-10 upside here.
Brian Harman ($9,200)
A course-history beast that's been playing well since the PGA Tour resumed play. Harman has gained strokes T2G and on approach at both Colonial and Harbour Town, notching a T23 at the Schwab and a T28 at Heritage. He has THREE finishes inside the top-eight at the Travelers since 2015. Great blend of recent form and course history makes him a rock-solid option at this $9.2k price tag. A streaky player that can record strong finishes in bunches when things are going well.
Low-Priced DFS Players
Patrick Rodgers ($8,800)
In PGA DFS we routinely target great ball strikers and hope to get a good putting week. However, we're doing the polar opposite with Patrick Rodgers here, as we're counting on terrific putting and hoping for a hot ball-striking week. Rodgers narrowly missed the cut at Hilton Head last week, going 67-72 to fall shot shy of the weekend. He had been hot before the PGA Tour halted play and scored a T14 at the Schwab two weeks ago. His history at TPC River Highlands is also very strong. He recorded a T3 at the Travelers in 2016 and has never missed a cut here in four starts since 2015.
Danny Lee ($8,500)
We're always trying to catch lightning in a bottle when we roster Danny Lee. He's a volatile player that brings both a missed cut and a top-10 into play on an almost weekly basis. Lee's always a GPP only type of play, but there are some things to like this week. His Travelers history is impressive. Prior to a missed cut last year, he had went T15-T3-T25 in three starts since 2015. Lee flashed some ball striking form last week at Hilton Head, but was completely thrown under the bus by his putter, as he lost a massive 3.7 strokes on the greens at Harbour Town. He's an intriguing dart throw if he can find any semblance of a putting stroke.
Doc Redman ($8,100)
The Clemson product has been floating in and out of my PGA DFS stratosphere over the past year. I'm again intrigued with Redman this week, as he put on an absolute ball-striking clinic in Hilton Head last week, gaining an elite 7.8 strokes with his irons to go with 2.2 strokes gained off the tee. His SG: Approach mark was good for third in the field at the Heritage, with his T21 finishing position the result of a faulty short game - an area that I'm not overly concerned about this week. I'm more focused on ball striking at TPC River Highlands, and though he has no Travelers experience, this layout is a good fit for him on paper.
Tyler Duncan ($7,900)
Tyler Duncan is another streaky ball striker with a DFS price tag that's too cheap to ignore this week. Duncan came out of nowhere to win the RSM Classic back in the fall and has looked solid since the restart, gaining 4.3 strokes with his irons at Colonial and 2.0 last week. He also has a bit of history at TPC River Highlands, making the cut in both of his Travelers starts since 2018. We're getting into "Dart Throw" territory in this price range, but Duncan brings some interesting things to the table this week.
