Travelers Championship Predictions – 2020 Betting Picks For TPC River Highlands

Brian Sausa, Last Updated: July 1st, 2024 - NJ Sports Betting - Free $3,250 For Sports Bets In New Jersey

The PGA Tour is headed up the east coast to Cromwell, Connecticut for its third week back in action, and we’ve got some 2020 Travelers Championship predictions!

This tournament has taken place at TPC River Highlands every year since 1984 and despite the reshuffling of the PGA Tour schedule, the Travelers is one of the few events to have its original dates go unchanged.

After three months without competitive golf, the first two weeks back have caused massive betting action at online sportsbooks in New Jersey and several other states where wagering is legal. We expect that trends to continue while the PGA is one of the only major pro sports leagues in operation.

Below, we’ll preview TPC River Highlands and provide some 2020 Travelers Championship betting picks for the upcoming week!

2020 Travelers Championship Betting Tips – Golf Betting Strategy

Before putting any money down, it’s important to be educated on several things including the layout of TPC River Highlands and any key stats that can be applied to your research. We are using the same process which led us to nail Webb Simpson as one of our RBC Heritage picks last week.

Par is 70 at this track, which is one of the shortest on the PGA Tour at just over 6,800 yards. It may sound like that would play to the big hitter, but not necessarily. Tree-lined fairways make it difficult to cut corners, and accuracy off the tee and on approach is what is most likely to be rewarded at the Travelers. Here are several stats to put an emphasis on:

• Strokes Gained: Tee To Green
• Greens In Regulation Percentage
• SG: Approach The Green
• SG: Putting
• Par 4 Efficiency (400-450 Yards)

As always, golfers with a good history on the course and strong play in the areas which matter most are the ones to consider first.

It may also be worth noting that -17 was the winning score in each of the past two tournaments, won by Bubba Watson in 2019 and Chez Reavie in 2018. For more tips and information on how to wager on the PGA Tour, visit our Golf Betting Guide!

Travelers Championship 2020 Predictions – Golf Betting Picks

As was the case each of the last two weeks at Colonial, accuracy, and precision are what can provide a leg up on the competition over distance alone. With that said, several past winners have been notably long off the tee, so we won’t eliminate anyone based on the style of play alone because plenty of golfers can successfully take less club in many instances in order to hit fairways.

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Once your account is all set up, consider the following when making 2020 Travelers Championship predictions:

• Justin Thomas To Win (+1200)

Thomas is the favorite on most sites to win this tournament but don’t let it scare you away. Despite just one impressive finish at TPC River Highlands in six tries (solo 3rd in 2016), this year should be a bit different than in the past for one of the elite ball-strikers on tour.

Rather than the Travelers being right after a major championship such as the US Open, it’s the third tournament back after a long layoff. So we’re focusing less on past results and more on Thomas’ statistical profile and how it fits the course.

The No. 3 player in the world ranked second at the Charles Schwab and 11th at the RBC Heritage in SG: Approach. He’s also currently 12th in Greens In Regulation (GIR) Percentage and has improved his putting each of the past two weeks after a rocky start to the season.

After coming out of the break with top-10 finishes at the Charles Schwab and the RBC Heritage (he now has more than any other player this season), keep Thomas in mind for your Travelers Championship picks even if the odds aren’t as appealing.

• Abraham Ancer To Win (+3300)

Heading into last December’s President’s Cup and even into the extended break, Ancer was still an under-the-radar talent. But after two impressive finishes at Colonial and Harbour town, he’s becoming a much more popular name. He was quietly having an extremely strong season, now earning six top-25 finishes in 13 events and the oddsmakers have noticed.

Ancer is an extremely popular option for both outright winner markets and finishing position wagers. He is a player who excels on short courses, and that was on full display with this T-14th finish in the first event following the break. He also showed up to Hilton Head and quickly shot up the leaderboard at the RBC, finishing tied for second place.

After ranking 10th on approach at Colonial, he topped the entire field at Harbour Town. On another course where the approach is so important, Ancer is a very trendy Travelers Championship pick this week, especially after his T-8th finish last year.

• Jordan Spieth To Win (+4500)

It has been some time since we’ve seen him at peak form but we could be getting closer to that point once again, and we think the roller coaster that is Jordan Spieth starts to really straighten out at TPC River Highlands.

Spieth won the 2017 Travelers in a playoff, so there’s at least some history there, and the performance following the long layoff has been encouraging. He gained more strokes putting than any player in the field at the Charles Schwab (finished T-10th) and we aren’t going to sour on Spieth after a sub-par ending to the last event, just as we weren’t when Webb Simpson missed the cut prior to the RBC.

The stacked field means we should still have some decent value in Spieth’s odds for one of our 2020 Travelers Championship betting picks, even though he may cause some anxiety in the process. Shop around to find lines up to +5000 at other sites.

Travelers Championship Picks 2020 – Finishing Position Golf Betting

Aside from selecting outright winners, the most lucrative way to go about making golf betting picks could be cleaning up on finishing position wagers. With another stacked field this week, it’s a great way to maintain a rooting interest throughout the week and collect winnings at the end, even if the lines are more modest.

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Think about some of the following golfers if making Travelers Championship picks on finishing position at TPC River Highlands:

• Bryson DeChambeau Top 20 (-125)

After a monster showing at the Charles Schwab (T-3rd) DeChambeau immediately propelled himself near the top of the leaderboard as one of our RBC Heritage picks.

Regardless of the course or location, it appears golf’s mad scientist is on fire right now. He’s an elite tee-to-green player and putter while still excelling on approach and hitting greens in regulation. We’re also talking about a course in which he’s finished in the top 10 in each of the past two seasons (T-8th in 2019, T-9th in 2018, T-26th in 2017).

Going into the RBC, DeChambeau had seven six top-15 finishes in nine events this season and even though oddsmakers are wise to his current form, it’s hard to avoid putting some money on DeChambeau. If you’re not going to pick him to win, we’d settle for the top 20.

• Gary Woodland Top 20 (+200)

Since the Travelers normally follows a major, it makes sense that many players including Woodland don’t have much recent history in Cromwell. With that said, We aren’t overlooking the 2019 US Open champion as one of our 2020 Travelers Championship picks.

Big hitters like Woodland were expected to see problems with this part of the PGA Tour schedule but as we’ve seen at Colonial and Harbour Town, adjustments can be made. When it comes to TPC River Highlands, Woodland does have a top 20 finish there back in 2015 and actually fits the statistical profile of a player who can succeed this week.

Woodland ranks seventh on tour in Strokes Gained: Approach, leading the field at Colonial and ranking 23rd at the RBC. He also ranks seventh in Greens In Regulation and has been fine with the putter since the break ended as well. At +200, these odds are too good to pass up, and they get up as high as +250 at some other sites.

• Brian Harman Top 40 (+125)

Sometimes you just need to match golfers up with a course, and that’s what we’re doing with Brian Harman. After a T-35th finish in 2017, Harman went T-6th in 2018 and T-8th in 2019, so this is one player who is comfortable with TPC River Highlands.

Harman came back from the long layoff with a T-23 finish at the Charles Schwab and looks to be improving with his putter and was one of the very best approach payers in the field at Colonial.

2020 Travelers Championship Best Bets

• Justin Thomas To Win (+1200 on BetMGM)
• Jordan Spieth To Win (+4500 on BetMGM )
• Abraham Ancer To Win (+3300 on BetMGM)
• Bryson DeChambeau Top 20 (-125 on DraftKings)
• Gary Woodland Top 20 (+200 on DraftKings)
• Bubba Watson Top 30 (+100 on DraftKings)
• Joaquin Niemann Top 30 (+138 on DraftKings)
• Brian Harman Top 40 (+125 on DraftKings)
• Jordan Spieth (-125) vs. Kevin Kisner – Best Finishing Position
• Joel Dahmen (-120) vs. Lucas Glover – Best Finishing Position

ABOUT Brian Sausa

Brian Sausa is BonusSeeker’s Copy Editor and lead sports betting pundit. A journalism graduate with an extensive sports background, Brian has been employed by multiple professional leagues including MLB, MiLB (Minor League Baseball), and the NHL. MLB, NHL, IBTimes, Brooklyn Cyclones, FanSided