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Danny Specks Travelers Championship Golf Tips
2pts ew Tommy Fleetwood 33/1 (8)
1.5pts ew Tom Kim 50/1 (8)
1.5pts ew Russell Henley 55/1 (8)
1pt ew Harris English 80/1 (6)
Wyndham Clark is a major champion! Clark held off Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Rickie Fowler to win his first major at the US Open. His previous best major finish was T75 so this really is some achievement and his rise in the world rankings continues. Clark is now ranked 13th in the world rankings, he was 163rd at the end of 2022! I thought he was brilliant last night, scrambling well for par when he needed to and making some big putts down the stretch. Once again, disappointment for Rory in a major, arguably he should’ve won at St Andrews last year and he probably should’ve won the US Open too, a two-under 68 would’ve been enough but he just can’t seem to get the putts to drop when it really matters. Similar story for Scottie Scheffler with his flatstick, it’s been an issue for a while now and it’s a real shame as his tee-to-green game is on a different level to every other player. If he can start gaining more strokes with his putter then he’ll go on another run similar to what we saw in the first half of 2022.
Onto the 71st anniversary of the Travelers Championship this week which is once again being played at TPC River Highlands, located in Cromwell, Connecticut. This course has been a PGA Tour venue for 39 years. A short but tricky 6,841 yard par 70 awaits the players this week, one of the shortest courses on tour but nevertheless still presents a good challenge to the world’s best. The world’s best is what we have teeing it up this week too as the Travelers Championship is a designated event with a $20 million purse, an $11.7 million increase from the 2022 renewal and the same purse as the US Open last week. Only two players from the world’s top-10 are missing this week, Jordan Spieth and LIV golfer Cameron Smith.
Key Stats Analysis
Looking back over the stats in the five previous renewals, as usual on the PGA Tour, strokes-gained: tee-to-green seems to be the most important stat here with every winner ranking inside the top-10. Chez Reavie topped the T2G statistics in 2019. A hot putter also seems to be relatively important, four of the last five winners ranked inside the top-20 for putting, only Bubba Watson in 2018 ranked outside when 30th. One final thing to note, last year almost 30% of approach shots were from between 150-175 yards, Xander Schauffele tops this season's approach stats from between those distances.
Tommy Fleetwood 33/1
First on my list and my strongest fancy of the week is the in-form and world number 20, Tommy Fleetwood. His form recently has been extremely impressive, 5th at the US Open, an unlucky playoff loser in the Canadian Open, top-20 at the USPGA, 5th at the Wells Fargo and third place in the Valspar. He currently ranks as the 6th best player in the Travelers field, ranking inside the top-20 in every key strokes-gained statistic, 6th T2G the one to point out. Course form figures don’t tell us much but Tommy did manage a top-15 finish here in 2019. A few things to note about his US Open performance, he finished 5th when even losing strokes on the greens and in the final round Tommy topped the approach, off-the-tee and tee-to-green stats. His long game is clearly in good shape. Fleetwood has been knocking on the door a lot recently and I can see him winning on the PGA Tour for the first time this week.
Tom Kim 50/1
I was surprised to see 50/1 quotes about Tom Kim winning on the PGA Tour for the third time this week after his top-10 finish in the US Open last week. Kim finally turns 21 tomorrow (21st June), amazing to think he’s already won twice on the PGA Tour at just 20 years old. His long game finally returned last week where he ranked 4th on approach. Before the US Open, he went through a little rough patch with two missed cuts and a mid-pack finish at the Byron Nelson but this shorter track should really suit him a lot more, even though this is his debut at TPC River Highlands this week. 18th on the greens at LACC was also a huge positive and with his long game back to form, if he can have another good week with the putter, Kim can surely contend come Sunday.
Russell Henley 55/1
World number 30 Russell Henley has been quietly going about his business in recent months, over his last eight starts he’s finished in the top-20 seven times, missed only one cut and finished 4th at The Masters. Henley has also been gaining strokes on the greens over this period too, unusual as this part of his game usually holds him back. He managed 14th in last week’s assignment at LACC and gained strokes in every statistic, he ranked top-10 on approach and T2G. Henley has played in this event five times and has finished top-20 three times, which includes 6th in 2018 so clearly TPC River Highlands is a course that suits his game. Henley excels on the shorter courses and he can do so again this week.
Harris English 80/1
Harris English had to be included in the staking plan this week after his top-10 at LACC last week where he ranked 1st on the greens. He returns to a course in which he won here in 2021 and has a couple of other solid finishes here too. He’s returned to form this year after having a very poor 2022. Second in the Arnold Palmer, third at the Wells Fargo and as mentioned above, top-10 in the US Open last week show that his game is trending in the right direction and getting him back to the heights he reached in 2021 where he was part of the US Ryder Cup team. There’s no reason why he won’t be aiming for that this year with the Ryder Cup only three months away now and it all adds to the extra motivation of him getting back in the winner’s circle. A solid player and a backable price, Harris English can go well in the Travelers once again.
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