DraftKings Daily Fantasy Golf Helper: Travelers Championship

Daily fantasy golf requires a new approach for each and every event.

The course and field change week after week, making no two contests alike. That means you need to refine your approach for each PGA Tour event to try to find golfers who are primed to excel for your daily fantasy golf lineups.

Each week, we have a course primer, and our daily fantasy golf projections and lineup builder can help you get started, but these golfers stand out specifically on DraftKings for the Travelers Championship

Key Stats

Let's get to the picks. For details on why these stats stand out this week, check out the course primer.

Stats are from Fantasy National Golf Club and are for golfers in the field over the last 50 rounds, unless otherwise noted. Note well that this sample may vary widely from player to player, but focusing on a sufficient period of form is even more desirable after a long layoff.

High-Priced Studs

Justin Thomas (DraftKings Price: $10,800 | FanDuel Sportsbook Win Odds: +1100) - Thomas has managed a top-10 finish at each of the first two events of the post-layoff schedule, and after a Sunday 63 at Hilton Head, he is primed for another win at any time. Had it not been for a sloppy first round 72, Thomas would have been firmly in the mix come Sunday evening. That he can play so poorly and still find himself T8 come week's end is a testament to his skill and determination, and after winning twice already this season, he seems ready for a third. He is first in strokes gained: approach and birdies or better gained, and he is third overall on par 4s, including first in those measuring under 350 yards, third from 350-400 yards, and ninth from 400-450 yards.

Jon Rahm ($10,200 | +1800) - Rahm's tee-to-green game fits perfectly at the Travelers, ranking second in greens in regulation and fourth in good drives gained. A missed cut and T33 are hardly inspiring starts to the resumption of play, but Rahm missed the cut at Colonial largely due to a dismal putting performance in the second round. His minus-3.7 strokes putting that round was his worst single round in almost two years, having lost 4.8 strokes with the flat stick at the 2018 Northern Trust, according to Fantasy National. He was firing on all cylinders before the pandemic suspended play, and a few duds to get back into game shape should allow him to come in a lower ownership this week.

Patrick Cantlay ($9,800 | +2200) - Another tee-to-green stud, Cantlay makes his return to action after sitting out the first two post-layoff events. Rust will hopefully be counteracted by course familiarity and comfort. Cantlay broke the course record at TPC River Highlands with a 60 as an amateur in 2011 en route to a T24 finish. He's finished T15 each of the past two years, and the link to Muirfield Village GC favors Cantlay, the reigning Memorial champion. He plays a lighter schedule than most, so his stats are a longer sample, but Cantlay is fourth in both strokes gained: approach and birdies or better gained. He is 27th overall on par 4s, with good marks in the under 350 yard (15th) and 350-400 yard (23rd) ranges.

Mid-Priced Options

Collin Morikawa ($9,100 | +3400) - The current holder of the Tour's longest active made cuts streak at 23, Morikawa finally revealed he was in fact human with a pedestrian T64 at Harbour Town. That round included back-to-back double bogeys on the back 9 on the 14th and 15th. He can be forgiven for lapsing when out of contention after fighting to a playoff the week before, but Morikawa should bounce back here at a track that does not penalize a lack of distance and rewards elite approach play. He is 2nd in strokes gained: approach, 9th in good drives gained, 11th in greens in regulation gained, and 13th in birdies or better gained.

Paul Casey ($8,900 | +3100) - Another golfer returning to action with good history at River Highlands, Casey will slot right back where he was as a rock solid cash game play this week. Stats go pretty far back for 50 rounds, but Casey is 5th in strokes gained: approach, 5th in greens in regulation gained, 12th in good drives gained, and 30th in birdies or better gained. He has a good par 4 profile, as he is 42nd overall but 25th, 18th, and 37th in the under 350, 350-400, and 400-450 ranges, respectively. There is merit to fading in tournaments given his lack of win equity, but he's knocked on the door here four times with top-five finishes. The only course he seems to win at, Innisbrook, is one of our correlated courses this week, if that helps the case.

Jordan Spieth ($8,400 | +4000) - Spieth has shown throughout his career that he can pile up strong finishes at preferred tracks, and the 2017 Travelers Champion should find this short track to his liking given the current state of his ballstriking. With three straight rounds worse than the field on the greens from Friday to Sunday at the RBC Heritage, he should be set to snap back and potentially have a spike week with the putter. Purely an ownership play, Spieth will have soured the public after a couple strong starts and disappointing finishes. He is good enough with the putter that he will win again, and we should isolate the courses where he won't get blown away by the bombers, and we can gain leverage at low ownership to invest in him in daily fantasy.

Matthew Fitzpatrick ($8,100 | +4500) - Solid if not spectacular statistically, Fitzpatrick is 14th in good drives gained, 22nd in greens in regulation gained, and 38th in strokes gained: approach. He has a streak of nine straight rounds in the 60s, second only to Daniel Berger (was in the field but withdrew). His lack of distance won't kill him here, and his consistency has been severely underrated. He has made all but two cuts worldwide in the past 20 months, with plenty of near misses. Fitz has six runner-up finishes in that span.

Low-Priced Options

Joaquin Niemann ($7,900 | +3700) - Another ballstriking specialist, Niemann's irons were firing all week with four straight rounds in the 60s, and he has now shot 65 or better in four of his last eight rounds. His tee shot on the par 3 17th was just about his only bad swing all day Sunday, and he should arrive in Connecticut with loads of confidence after finding consistency even in strong fields and posting solid results. Still incredibly young at just 21 years old, Niemann has all the makings of a star. Even in a field with many of the best golfers in the world, he ranks 11th in strokes gained: approach.

Viktor Hovland ($7,800 | +4100) - Once more we look to a young stud with nearly unlimited potential, Hovland returns to the site of his first professional start off a bogey-free weekend at Harbour Town. After a low amateur result at the U.S. Open a year ago, Hovland posted a T54 at the Travelers thanks to a poor chipping and putting display (he lost 6.4 strokes combined around and on the greens that week). After that bump, he rattled off eight straight finishes of T16 or better between the PGA, Korn Ferry, and European Tours. He is in terrific company this week, ranking 8th in strokes gained: approach, 17 in good drives gained, 17th on par 4s, 19th in greens in regulation gained, and 20th in birdies or better gained.

Scottie Scheffler ($7,600 | +6500) - Scheffler skipped the Heritage last week, but there are no indications of any injury. He is a great ballstriker, and his stats will only climb as he gets more experience on Tour. He is 6th in birdies or better gained, 24th in good drives gained, 40th in strokes gained: approach, and 44th in greens in regulation gained. He fits the par 4s well, ranking 11th overall, 30th under 350 yards, 60th in the 350-400 yard range, and 3rd in the 400-450 yard range. Aside from two missed cuts out West, Scheffler has played the weekend at every event since earning his Tour card in the fall.

Corey Conners ($7,500 | +7000) - Conners is a fairway and green machine, ranking first in greens in regulation gained and second in good drives gained. He was stumbling heading into THE PLAYERS after a few weeks in tough, windy conditions, but he is best suited to target practice at short, calm tracks like he's seen the last two weeks and will see again at TPC River Highlands. With T19 and T21 finishes the past two weeks, he is on the verge of another breakthrough and a top-10 is very much in play.

Harold Varner ($7,100 | +13000) - Varner popped up a couple weeks ago at Colonial before stumbling at the Heritage, but he's plenty capable on Pete Dye tracks as demonstrated with a top-10 at TPC Sawgrass two years ago. He is 12th in greens in regulation gained, 23rd in good drives gained, and 26th in strokes gained: approach -- all great marks at just $7,100. After missing the cut his first two trips to TPC River Highlands, Varner finished T21 last year. The putter is usually his downfall, but he found something here last year and gained in all four rounds.

Bargain Basement

Russell Henley ($6,800 | +10000) - Henley has good memories at River Highlands, and despite a missed cut last year, he's finished T6 and T11. He ranks 13th in strokes gained: approach, 16th in good drives gained, and 31st in greens in regulation gained. He had a miserable start to the year before T17 at Riviera and T8 at PGA National, so while a missed cut at RBC Heritage is not the start we were looking for out of the layoff, the form is in there somewhere.

Doc Redman ($6,700 | +13000) - The former top amateur in the world is an afterthought with the electric talent wave hitting the Tour over the past year or so, but Redman's ballstriking still stands out. He has made 13 of 17 cuts in the 2019-2020 season, including a T21 last week. Redman is 5th in good drives gained, 15th in strokes gained: approach, and 32nd in greens in regulation gained.

Mike Rodden is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Mike Rodden also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username mike_rodden. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.