Fantasy Golf: The Travelers Championship Preview

If there's one thing this country has always loved, it's a barnstorming bullshit artist. The phrase "there's a sucker born every minute" is generally attributed to arguably the most famous carnival barker of all-time, P.T. Barnum, who's 19th century math clearly needs to be adjusted for inflation because we're now cranking them out daily by the millions as evidenced by how many people are buying this Bryson DeChambeau "man of the people" act. 

It's not the least bit surprising as we have achieved peak form over substance where someone's actual character is relegated so far below their public façade that it's no longer even relevant. And the grander the façade the better because that just makes it easier for people to ignore what's behind it. Or in this case, what's not behind it.  

I don't even care anymore that he took the LIV money and sold-out the organization and the other players who helped put him on the map. And I also don't really care about the source of that money considering how naïve one would have to be to think that there's actually "clean" money out there to pay second tier golfers like hall of fame quarterbacks, Premier League soccer players and Formula 1 drivers. But if you want to gnaw on that aspect of Bryson's "character" for a few minutes, Sally Jenkins has you well covered here.    

We don't even need all of that to know that he's a hollow pipe because we've got the stupid hat story. You know the one he made-up about him wearing it to honor Payne Stewart only he previously said he wore it because he loved Ben Hogan. How full of shit and love starved do you have to be to make-up a story like that? And if you'll go all-in on a lie about something so insignificant, then what about you isn't a lie?  

Don't get me wrong. The man is spectacular theater and, love him or hate him, you'd be crazy to think he's not great for golf. And let's be clear that I'm not bothered because he just won the U.S. Open. I'm bothered THAT he won the U.S. Open because most of us tend to root against shitty people. At least we used to.   

TWEET OF THE WEEK

A notorious golf cheater who has no concept of cool or class comparing a fraud to Arnold Palmer. This is where we are. Fitting to have the second smartest son standing there holding a trophy that someone else won by actually accomplishing something. 

Trump explains to US Open Champion Bryson Dechambeau what it takes to be a true golf champion. pic.twitter.com/0yjlWVgIId

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) June 18, 2024

GOLF ANALYSIS

Welcome to the last Signature Event of the season as I guess from here the good players get to just prepare for the British Open and then fuck-off until the FedEx Cup playoffs. This will be the second year that the Travelers Championship has had the loaded field and guys who used to dominate here like Bubba Watson and Paul Casey don't exist anymore so the historical data is somewhat limited.  

However, we do have enough to know that Brian Harman loves this joint and the average winning score over the last five years is about -18 so you should: (a) pick Brian Harman, and (b) go with other guys who can make a lot of birdies. Other than that, my only advice is that Wyndham Clark and Denny McCarthy seem way undervalued. Oh and you should add collagen to your smoothies to help stave-off arthritis.   

One and Done Pick: Brian Harman

Time to cue the 
ultimate "bulldog."

Other Guy I'd Pick: Patrick Cantlay

Sleeper Pick: Austin Eckroat

DraftKings Top Ten Values

Ludvig Aberg	$10,200
Patrick Cantlay	$9,600
Viktor Hovland	$9,300
Keegan Bradley	$8,700
Brian Harman	$8,300
Tom Kim	$8,100
Wyndham Clark	$7,700
Denny McCarthy	$7,500
Austin Eckroat	$6,800
Seamus Power	$6,500

After a three year hiatus, I return to full country club golf competition this weekend with my first member-guest since my partner and I drank so much Fireball (don't ask) in the second round that we didn't finish the last three holes and then got confrontational with a mixed martial arts expert. Suffice it to say after that near-death experience, the bar for this one has been set quite low and I look forward to reporting back next week. 

                                          THE MEMBER-GUEST EVE

                                  HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE CHART

I toyed with the notion of including 2021 champ Harris English but he's been slacking lately. Then again, so have I.

	DK Price	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019
Scottie Scheffler	$12,500	T4	T13	T47	MC	DNP
Rory McIlroy	$11,500	T7	T19	DNP	T11	DNP
Xander Schauffele	$11,200	T19	1st	DNP	T20	DNP
Ludvig Aberg	$10,200	T24	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Collin Morikawa	$9,800	MC	DNP	DNP	MC	T36
Patrick Cantlay	$9,600	T4	T13	T13	T11	T15
Viktor Hovland	$9,300	T29	DNP	DNP	T11	T54
Hideki Matsuyama	$9,200	T13	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Tommy Fleetwood	$9,100	MC	T46	DNP	DNP	T13
Sam Burns	$9,000	DNP	MC	T13	T24	T43
Tony Finau	$8,900	T45	T13	MC	MC	MC
Sahith Theegala	$8,800	T52	T2	DNP	MC	DNP
Keegan Bradley	$8,700	1st	T19	MC	MC	T2
Russell Henley	$8,600	T19	DNP	T19	T32	MC
Justin Thomas	$8,500	T9	DNP	DNP	MC	T36
Corey Conners	$8,400	T9	DNP	DNP	MC	DNP
Brian Harman	$8,300	T2	T8	T5	MC	T8
Jordan Spieth	$8,200	DNP	MC	DNP	T54	MC
Tom Kim	$8,100	T38	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Matt Fitzpatrick	$8,000	T49	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Sepp Straka	$7,900	T38	MC	T10	MC	MC
Sungjae Im	$7,900	T29	DNP	DNP	T58	T21
Max Homa	$7,800	MC	DNP	MC	MC	MC
Shane Lowry	$7,800	T19	DNP	DNP	T60	DNP
Adam Scott	$7,700	T19	DNP	T13	DNP	DNP
Wyndham Clark	$7,700	T29	T35	MC	MC	T15
Byeong Hun An	$7,600	MC	DNP	MC	T46	MC
Cameron Young	$7,600	T60	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Denny McCarthy	$7,500	T7	MC	T73	W/D	MC
Si Woo Kim	$7,500	MC	MC	MC	T11	MC
C. Bezuidenhout	$7,400	MC	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP
Jason Day	$7,400	T45	MC	T10	T46	T8
Billy Horschel	$7,300	MC	DNP	DNP	MC	DNP
J.T. Poston	$7,300	MC	T2	DNP	MC	MC
Akshay Bhatia	$7,200	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Taylor Pendrith	$7,200	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Harris English	$7,100	T60	T19	1st	DNP	T71
Thomas Detry	$7,100	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Will Zalatoris	$7,100	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Robert Macintyre	$7,000	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Stephan Jaeger	$7,000	T64	MC	DNP	DNP	T30
Tom Hoge	$7,000	T60	MC	T66	T37	T80
Chris Kirk	$6,900	DNP	DNP	MC	DNP	DNP
Justin Rose	$6,900	DNP	DNP	T36	MC	DNP
Mackenzie Hughes	$6,900	W/D	T25	T76	T3	T51
Austin Eckroat	$6,800	T24	DNP	T47	DNP	DNP
Ben Griffin	$6,800	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Mattieu Pavon	$6,800	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Adam Hadwin	$6,700	DNP	DNP	MC	DNP	MC
Lucas Glover	$6,700	MC	T70	DNP	T20	MC
Rickie Fowler	$6,700	T13	MC	MC	DNP	DNP
Kurt Kitayama	$6,600	MC	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Taylor Moore	$6,600	MC	T56	DNP	DNP	DNP
Seamus Power	$6,500	MC	T25	T19	DNP	T66
Andrew Putnam	$6,400	T45	T46	T13	DNP	T57
Cam Davis	$6,300	T33	T56	DNP	MC	T43
Emiliano Grillo	$6,300	T15	MC	MC	T60	T60
Eric Cole	$6,300	T24	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
Davis Riley	$6,200	T45	T64	DNP	DNP	DNP
Patrick Rodgers	$6,200	MC	DNP	T76	MC	DNP
Webb Simpson	$6,200	T52	T13	DNP	DNP	DNP
Adam Schenk	$6,100	MC	MC	MC	MC	MC
Nick Taylor	$6,100	DNP	DNP	MC	DNP	T71
Brendon Todd	$6,000	MC	MC	T30	T11	DNP

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