Fantasy Golf: The Travelers Championship Preview

Coming-off my demoralizing defeat discussed ad nauseum in this space last week, I had two and a half shots at redemption over the next six days plus the almost guaranteed joy of watching another U.S. Open classic unfold at Shinnecock. I was optimistic because, to loosely paraphrase cinema's most ill-fated bishop, "the good lord would never ruin what could be the best golf week of my life." 

It started promisingly enough with a solid final round showing in our Wednesday night tribute to the Ladies' Nine Hole group as I shot a stress free 37 to lock-up second place and enough shop credit to buy me 2/3's of an overpriced shirt. It was better than a sharp stick in the eye and it could only be interpreted as a sign of good things to come. (I'm getting an uneasy feeling about this).  

The following morning I had to play a fourball match at 8:10 a.m. because it was the only time the banker/finance guy team we were playing could squeeze it in between their three half days of work and a long weekend at the beach. Suffice it to say that weekday morning golf does not ideally align with my preferred on course lifestyle choices but I made the necessary adjustments. 

Unfortunately it didn't help as my play could most accurately be described as "dogshit" from start to finish with the lowlight (among many candidates) coming on the par three 8th hole where I half shanked a 5-iron that hit the cart path and landed in someone's front yard. The weather horn blew two minutes later meaning I narrowly missed my shot at recreating this epic Keith Mitchell moment. My partner and I clawed our way to the 16th hole before going down to a conceded bogey-net-par. I almost felt guilty eating a post-match turkey club sandwich because the appropriate reward for my play would've been a two day old bagel.   

I got my last shot on Saturday in a road match on a windswept course in Southwest Baltimore with greens harder to read than Dostoyevsky. The format was another fourball and I was playing with a guy for the first time. Totally unrelated to that, do you know how some people just have that dog in them and some don't? Yeah just curious. Anyway, we lost one down on the front and one down on the back. I had my chances to positively affect the outcome and didn't take advantage of them. Not quite a two day old bagel performance but certainly not club sandwich worthy.

And then Wyndham Clark won the U.S. Open by going wire to wire meaning that he and Bryson DeChambeau have now officially ruined more Father's Days for me in the last seven years than disappointing gifts and hangovers. Which is saying something.       

GOLF ANALYSIS

This week we head to TPC River Highlands for the annual post U.S. Open shootout. Based on the FGR performance to date, we have tried to remove all logic and emotion from these picks because neither approach has worked. Coming off the week above, it was easy to apply a cold dead heart approach. And here it is. 

Place	Player	Odds
Winner	Justin Thomas	+2900
Top 5	Patrick Cantlay	+450
Top 10	Chris Gotterup	+315
Top 10	Brian Harman	+410
Top 20	Alex Smalley	+190

One and Done Pick: Brian Harman 

This is our pick after
hitting a putt. That's it.

Other Guy I'd Pick: Chris Gotterup  

Sleeper Pick: Alex Smalley 

DraftKings Top Ten Values

Scottie Scheffler	$13,800
Ludvig Aberg	$9,800
Justin Thomas	$9,100
Patrick Cantlay	$8,900
Chris Gotterup	$8,600
Robert MacIntyre	$8,100
Brian Harman	$7,800
Akshay Bhatia	$7,400
Sepp Straka	$6,800
Alex Smalley	$6,800

Sticking with the Caddyshack theme, this week's chart honors a national monument that has become . . . oh never fucking mind. It's all just gotten too stupid for words. 

WE HAVE A POOL . . . AND A POND

HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE CHART

Keegan Bradley would make sense based on his two wins in the last three years if you're into that kind of thing. Denny McCarthy also brings some strong credentials for a guy coming off the missing persons list. 

	DK Price	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021
Scottie Scheffler	$13,800	T6	1st	T4	T13	T47
Tommy Fleetwood	$10,300	T2	15th	MC	T46	DNP
Xander Schauffele	$10,200	T61	T13	T19	1st	DNP
Matt Fitzpatrick	$10,000	T17	T36	T49	DNP	DNP
Ludvig Aberg	$9,800	T36	T27	T24	DNP	DNP
Cameron Young	$9,600	T52	T9	T60	DNP	DNP
Wyndham Clark	$9,400	T17	T9	T29	T35	MC
Sam Burns	$9,300	T17	T55	DNP	MC	T13
Collin Morikawa	$9,200	T42	T13	MC	DNP	DNP
Justin Thomas	$9,100	T9	T5	T9	DNP	DNP
Russell Henley	$9,000	T2	T48	T19	DNP	T19
Patrick Cantlay	$8,900	T12	T5	T4	T13	T13
Si Woo Kim	$8,800	W/D	T31	MC	MC	MC
Maverick McNealy	$8,700	T17	DNP	DNP	MC	T30
Chris Gotterup	$8,600	DNP	T61	DNP	T35	DNP
Viktor Hovland	$8,500	W/D	T20	T29	DNP	DNP
Keegan Bradley	$8,400	1st	T39	1st	T19	MC
Kurt Kitayama	$8,300	DNP	T31	MC	DNP	DNP
Ben Griffin	$8,200	T14	67th	MC	DNP	DNP
Robert Macintyre	$8,100	T17	T16	DNP	DNP	DNP
Harris English	$8,000	T4	T63	T60	T19	1st
Aaron Rai	$8,000	T17	DNP	T24	T40	DNP
J.J. Spaun	$7,900	T14	DNP	MC	MC	T47
Justin Rose	$7,900	DNP	T68	DNP	DNP	T36
Min Woo Lee	$7,800	T63	DNP	T9	DNP	DNP
Brian Harman	$7,800	8th	T9	T2	T8	T5
Sahith Theegala	$7,700	DNP	T48	T52	T2	DNP
Alex Fitzpatrick	$7,700	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Jordan Spieth	$7,600	W/D	T63	DNP	MC	DNP
Gary Woodland	$7,600	T36	DNP	T33	DNP	DNP
Adam Scott	$7,500	T30	T39	T19	DNP	T13
J.T. Poston	$7,500	T45	T55	MC	T2	DNP
Shane Lowry	$7,400	T45	T9	T19	DNP	DNP
Akshay Bhatia	$7,400	T54	T5	DNP	DNP	DNP
Hideki Matsuyama	$7,300	T30	T23	T13	DNP	DNP
Jake Knapp	$7,300	DNP	T48	DNP	DNP	DNP
Kristoff Reitan	$7,300	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Jacob Bridgeman	$7,200	T52	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sam Stevens	$7,100	T45	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP
Nicolai Hojgaard	$7,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Bud Cauley	$7,000	T25	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Ryan Gerard	$7,000	T54	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Alex Noren	$6,900	T30	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Ryo Hisatsune	$6,900	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sepp Straka	$6,800	T45	T23	T38	MC	T10
Eric Cole	$6,800	W/D	T48	T24	DNP	DNP
Alex Smalley	$6,800	DNP	DNP	T9	MC	DNP
Corey Conners	$6,700	DNP	T27	T9	DNP	DNP
Rickie Fowler	$6,700	T36	T20	T13	MC	MC
Harry Hall	$6,700	T9	DNP	T56	DNP	DNP
Ryan Fox	$6,600	T17	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Nick Taylor	$6,600	T17	T42	DNP	DNP	MC
Michael Kim	$6,600	T42	DNP	T38	DNP	MC
Sungjae Im	$6,500	T61	T3	T29	DNP	DNP
Tony Finau	$6,500	T66	T5	T45	T13	MC
Jason Day	$6,500	T4	T44	T45	MC	T10
Taylor Pendrith	$6,400	T25	T23	MC	DNP	DNP
Daniel Berger	$6,300	T42	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Andrew Novak	$6,300	T30	DNP	MC	T46	DNP
Denny McCarthy	$6,200	T12	T31	T7	MC	T73
Tom Hoge	$6,200	T45	T3	T60	MC	T66
Lucas Glover	$6,000	T9	T44	MC	T70	DNP

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