The Travelers Championship: Winners Will Have to Go Super-Low at Least Once in the Week

• Harris English returns to defend the trophy he won in an eight hole playoff last year
• World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler seeking a first tournament top 40 finish
• Rory McIlroy is 3-for-3 at recording an event top 20 but chasing a first top 10

The Travelers Championship Odds

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The Travelers Championship Picks

Mito Pereira is the outright pick at +5000 each way with bet365

Davis Riley to win at +4000 and top 10 at +400 with DraftKings 

Rory McIlroy to beat Scottie Scheffler in a matchbet at -110 with BetMGM

In theory, the PGA Tour has a great post-US Open tournament lined up this week with a strong field, played in front of good crowds, sponsored by a long-term friend of the circuit, on a course that everyone enjoys.

In practice, LIV Golf just won’t go away. Already this week Brooks Koepka has been announced as the latest signing and there are more names expected to come.

The sport is ripping itself apart and there appears to be no happy outcome.

Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, and Justin Thomas are among those who have committed to the tradition and prestige of the circuit as it is, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed, Koepka, and others have gone where the pockets are bottomless.

For those who take the cash, there is apparently no downside other than they look greedy to some and have more or less flagged up that their desire to win is somewhat compromised.

But what if the sport is really ripped apart? The rebels will be told when and where to play, the old circuits could be ruined, events such as this one might no longer exist, and the mercenaries would have no legacy to speak of, other than that of firestarters.

The alternative is that LIV Golf works. That eight (or 12, or 14, or 16, or 20) 54-hole events a year replaces more or less everything bar the major championships.

Amazing to think that just days ago Matt Fitzpatrick won the US Open in stunning style, emerging as a great story and a fine character. Let’s hope for more good news this week!

Course Report

TPC River Highlands is a popular venue with players and fans alike.

It’s a Pete Dye design that plays to a par of 70 at just 6,841 yards with bent grass on the greens.

It’s a fun design of which Rory McIlroy said:

You feel like you have a wedge in hand every hole, but if you don’t put yourself in the position it can be tricky. You need to be accurate and not super aggressive. Reign it in, know there’s plenty of opportunities, stay patient.

Winners will probably have to go super-low at least once in the week: seven of the last eight winners had a sub-65 lap in their tournament total (and the exception closed with a 65).

Hot Chile from Mito

Chile’s Mito Pereira is a course debutant this week for the very simple reason that this time last year he wasn’t a member of the PGA Tour.

He was, however, playing superb golf on the second-tier Korn Ferry Tour, winning back-to-back events which vaulted him to this level and he quickly found his feet with three top six finishes.

He’s maintained that progress this season, coming so close to a winning breakthrough at the PGA Championship and backing it up with seventh at the Charles Schwab Challenge and T13th in the Memorial Tournament.

Winners in this event traditionally record excellent Strokes Gained Tee to Green and Par-4 stats, and Pereira ranks 12th and sixth for those categories this season.

Take him each way in the outright at +5000 with bet365 which pays out five places.

The Life of Riley

Another golfer on the rise is the American Davis Riley.

He maybe didn’t emerge from the Korn Ferry Tour as quickly as many predicted, but once he made the leap he has impressed since he led the Valspar Championship after 54 holes before finishing second back in March.

He added fourth in the New Orleans pairs event and since then he has been on fire: fifth in the Mexico Open, ninth in the AT&T Byron Nelson (when T107th after 18 holes), T13th in the PGA Championship, fourth at the Charles Schwab Challenge, T13th in the Memorial Tournament, and T31st at the US Open last week.

His key stats are not quite as impressive as Pereira, but in recent weeks he has been strong in SG Tee to Green and he is 35th for Par-4 Scoring this season.

Back him to win at +4000 and finish top 10 at +400, both prices with DraftKings.

Rory Magic Can Down Scottie

As you might expect of two fine players there is not a lot in the head-to-head counts between Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler over recent times.

McIlroy leads 3-2 over the last five encounters and 6-4 over the last 10.

To counter that, Scheffler dominated last year and leads 14-8 since the start of 2021.

I’m going to take the Northern Irishman in this match-up, however, and it all comes down to the test.

Scheffler has played it twice, missing the cut on debut and finishing T47th last year.

That contrasts with McIlroy’s three visits which have all repeated top 20s.

He also has 10 sub-70 scores in 12 rounds compared to Scheffler’s three in six (plus a score average of 67.50 against 69.00).

McIlroy is -110 with BetMGM.

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