We have entered a peculiar spot in the PGA Tour schedule as the U.S. Open is sandwiched between two signature events.
This means the world’s best golfers will be teeing it up for the third week in a row.
There are only 72 golfers in the field this week at the Travelers Championship, which will not feature a cut.
The par-70 TPC River Highlands is one of the shortest courses on tour.
Due to the length (6,835 yards) and the fact that the fairways narrow as you get closer to the hole, this is one of the few courses where accuracy is more of an advantage than distance off the tee.
The greens at TPC River Highlands are small (5,000 square feet) and feature a mix of bentgrass and poa annua.
They are relatively easy to hit in regulation (73 percent last year), which does limit the importance of play around the green.
Winning scores well into the 20-under-par range have not been unusual over the last five years, so we can expect a lot of birdies to be made this week in Connecticut.
This is an event where any type of golfer can contend.
I plan to keep it simple with my player selection, focusing on total driving, strokes gained on approach, strokes gained putting, birdie-or-better percentage, recent form and course history.
After hitting on Bryson DeChambeau at the U.S. Open, let’s see if we can find another winner this week in Connecticut.
Viktor Hovland (20/1)
Hovland will not be a popular pick this week because he’s coming off a missed cut at Pinehurst.
However, he missed the cut on the number, shot a very good round of 68 on Friday and he ended up gaining strokes off the tee, on approach, and on the greens for the week.
He was really bad around the greens, and that happens.
Actually, it happens quite often with Hovland, as that’s his only weakness.
It shouldn’t be much of an issue this week as the greens at TPC River Highlands are very easy to hit.
If he strikes the ball as well as he usually does, I could see him hitting 75 percent-80 percent of greens in regulation this week.
He’s a good total driver of the ball, an elite iron player and he’s an above-average scrambler.
I love the number we are getting on Hovland in this limited field.
Brian Harman (40/1)
Harman returns to his happy place this week, as he’s finished tied for eighth or better in six of his last nine trips here.
It doesn’t seem to matter if he’s in good form or not; he shows up at the course and plays well.
He’s an accurate driver and one of the best putters on tour.
His recent iron play has been strong as he’s gained more than 10 strokes on approach in his last five events.
We know he’s got that dog in him (he’s a Georgia Bulldog and he won the Open Championship last year), so I like his chances if he’s in the mix on Sunday.
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Tom Kim (50/1)
Kim didn’t play great during the second half of last year or the first few months of this year.
Since the Masters, however, he’s made nine straight cuts with six top-30 finishes.
He has gained at least two strokes off the tee in four of his last five starts and 10.6 strokes on approach in his last three events combined.
With his game trending in the right direction, he now gets a course that should suit his game perfectly.
This is a big number for a golfer who has contended in a lot of big tournaments.