Blog#252 Travelers Championship

Blog#252 Travelers Championship

PPC River Highlands CT

Purse 20M Par 70

June 26-29, 2025

HISTORY

Keegan Bradley won in 2023 by 3 strokes and set a tournament record-23.

Scottie Scheffler was my pick and the favorite at 4/1 last year and won-22.

Tom Kim finished 2nd last year but is 90/1 this year, don’t take this bet!

Last year Burns went off at 35/1 this year 40/1, after last 2 weeks may be ready to win.

Rory did not play last year and did not play again after blowing the US Open until the Scottish Open. I am surprised he is playing based on his performances since

Winning the Masters.

MY WINNER Like last week I will not go in the order of the oddsmakers. As with many I did not pick the winner, as nobody expected JJ Spaun(50/1) to win.

However at (3/1) I did say Scottie Scheffler should win if he hit fairways. He did not.

Viktor Hovland finished 3rd last week with 17 bogies and 1 DB. Spahn had 14 bogies. Hovland has to play better with less bogies and no DBs, and he could win.

MY FAVORITES

1 Viktor Hovland 35/1 Haș had an up & down year, but when mistake free dangerous.

2 Sam Burns 40/1 Can he have 3 good weeks in a row and win?

3 Tommy Fleetwood 40/1 Finished 15th last year and seems to always be in top 20.

4 Robert MacIntyre 45/1 Finished strong last week and won twice last year.

5 Russel Henley 55/1 Missed Cut at Masters & PGA but 10th at US Open, won A. Palmer.

6 Ben Griffin 55/1 Played well last 4 events, #8 PGA, Won Schwab, #2 Memorial #10 USO.

7 Andrew Novak 120/1 Won Zurich with Griffin this year, but not played well lately.

8 Matt Fitzpatrick 90/1 Won 2022 Open at Brookline, but has not done much since.

9 Ryan Fox 90/1 Won 2 tournaments this year, both payoffs, 69 final RD US Open.

10 Xander Schauffele 12/1 Oddsmakers have faith, I think earlier injury affecting his game.

LONG SHOTS. All of these players have a chance, but I would not bet on any of them!

1 Scottie Scheffler 3/1 Hard to call him long shot but he has not played well lately.

2 Rory McIlroy 11/1 Same as above but he did finish strong at US Open, low score 67.

3 Adam Scott 60/1 Was tied for 2nd, 1 back after RD3 last week but faded with 79 RD4.

4 Max Greyserman 90/1 I keep picking him & will be right before end of year, only 1 top 10.

5 Gary Woodland 150/1 Three birdies 1st 5 holes at US Open, downhill from there, missed cut.

COMMENTARY

This is the last signature event of the year and I don’t know why. It follows the US Open and is followed by The Rocket Mortgage and John Deere Classic which would probably get a better field if this was a normal PGA event. It has a strong history with Samy Davis Jr. as a sponsor from 1973 to 1988 when it was called the Greater Hartford Classic. He was able to attract celebrities like Jackie Gleason, Danny Thomas, Andy Williams, Dinah Shore adding improved TV ratings and increased purse from $200K to $700K. However I don’t think it has the appeal of the American Express at Palm Springs, Farmers at Torrey Pines, Waste Management in Phoenix, or The Byron Nelson. There’s no need for 7 signature events, I would rather see the added purse be shared by some of the lesser PGA events.