Travelers Championship Betting Tips: 5 Predictions From TPC River Highlands
The walking wounded from the US Open head to Connecticut for this week’s eighth and final Signature Event, the Travelers Championship.
Scottie Scheffler finished seventh at Oakmont on four over par and is the 3/1 favourite with the best betting sites for a successful title defence.
Rory McIlroy cut a forlorn figure at last week’s major, despite a closing three-under 67 ensuring a top-20 finish, and he can once again be backed at 14/1.
TPC River Highlands, like Oakmont, is a par-70 but much more forgiving as the last two renewals from this parkland course prove.
Despite changes designed to make the course tougher, Scheffler beat Tom Kim in a play-off on -22 a year ago and in 2023 Keegan Bradley went one lower with a three-shot victory over Zac Blair and Brian Harman.
Plotters with hot putters tend to perform well here, but don’t forget Bubba Watson is a three-time champion here, so it’s hard to nail down a particular skill set needed to win at one of the shortest courses and most popular tournaments on the PGA Tour.
The Panel have focused on accurate types with a mixture of other factors for their Travelers Championship betting tips which combine three outright selections with a first-round leader and top 20.
Travelers Championship Betting Tips: Second Chance For Henley
Russell Henley featured in both The Panel’s outright and first-round leader selections at the US Open, but finished just outside the frame in both markets; 10th and 11th respectively.
Henley has treated this column well in the past having won the Arnold Palmer Invitational at 35/1 in March and he was placed as a first-round leader at 45/1 in the Cognizant Classic, so he clearly owes The Panel nothing this year.
The American stands at 17th for finding fairways, is very strong from tee to green using the Strokes Gained measure and is inside the top 40 for putting, so he should be well suited to this course.
That said, Henley’s record at River Highlands is not spectacular, but he has posted four top 20s in his last seven appearances, including sixth spot seven years ago.
Hopefully, the battle scars from Oakmont won’t be too pronounced but 63 players from the limited 72-man field competed at the US Open, so there won’t be too many golfers heading to Cromwell fresh and ready to go.
Henley can be backed at 33/1 with many betting apps, but The Panel are taking the 30/1 with Ladbrokes which offers eight places as the first of their Travelers Championship predictions.
Travelers Championship Prediction 1: Russell Henley (Each-Way) - 30/1 With Ladbrokes (Eight Places)
Travelers Championship Betting Tips:
- Russell Henley (Each-Way) - 30/1 With Ladbrokes (Eight Places)
- Brian Harman (Each-Way) - 66/1 With William Hill (Six Places)
- Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Each-Way) - 90/1 With Coral (Eight Places)
- Denny McCarthy First-Round Leader (Each-Way) - 66/1 With SpreadEx (Six Places)
- Rickie Fowler Top 20 - 11/5 With Betfred
Travelers Championship Odds: Harman A Course Specialist
Harman’s recent record at this course is nothing short of spectacular, so it was quite a surprise to see the 2023 Open champion priced at 80/1 while writing this column, although those odds are well gone and he is now 66/1 with golf betting sites.
The left-handed American has finished inside the top 10 in six of his last seven visits and was runner-up to Bradley two years ago.
Harman regularly features high in the driving accuracy statistics and although his form has tailed off since finishing third in The Heritage at Harbour Town, like River Highlands a Pete Dye-designed course, he has already won on the PGA Tour this year, at the Texas Open.
The Panel would have preferred Harman to have missed the cut at Oakmont rather than have to soldier on for another couple of days for an 18 over par finish, but his price would have probably been a lot lower.
This course clearly fits Harman to a tee and he makes the cut as the next Travelers Championship selection.
Travelers Championship Prediction 2: Brian Harman (Each-Way) - 66/1 With William Hill (Six Places)
Travelers Championship Betting Tips: Onward Christiaan
Christian Bezuidenhout finished a highly respectable 12th at Oakmont where he was one of only three players not to shoot higher than 72 over all four rounds.
The South African ended the US Open with positive figures in most of the Strokes Gained metrics, barring Approach, but his form has been solid in the last few weeks, except a missed cut at Colonial.
Bezuidenhout hits more fairways than most, but what stands out most from the stats is his putting which ranks inside the top 20 on the PGA Tour this season.
His first two visits to this part of New England ended in missed cuts, but encouragingly he was inside the top 25 last year courtesy of a pair of bookended 64s.
Hopefully, the memory of those rounds will serve Bezuidenhout well and although the 125/1 has disappeared, The Panel are taking the 90/1 with Coral, again with eight places.
Travelers Championship Prediction 3: Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Each-Way) - 90/1 With Coral (Eight Places)
Travelers Championship First-Round Leader Tips: Make McCarthy The One
It’s not all bad news regarding tumbling prices as Denny McCarthy’s odds have lengthened in the first-round leader market.
McCarthy certainly seems to be a player that punters want on board when it comes to fast starts as he has only once been outside the top 30 at the end of Thursday’s round in his last 11 appearances.
That run includes topping the leaderboard in the Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines and second at the Truist Championship where he opened with a 62.
Two years ago, McCarthy burst out of the blocks in the Travelers Championship with an opening-round 60 to lead after day one.
Eleventh at Oakmont and 14th at Muirfield in the last few weeks, McCarthy is clearly revved up from the get-go in 2025 and catches the eye at 66/1.
Travelers Championship Prediction 4: Denny McCarthy First-Round Leader (Each-Way) - 66/1 With SpreadEx (Six Places)
Travelers Championship Top 20: Fresh Fowler A Threat
Rickie Fowler is one of nine players from this field that failed to qualify for last week’s US Open which should prove an advantage.
A brutal four days battling against impossible rough is hardly great preparation for the final Signature Event of the season and most would have preferred to skip this tournament given the choice.
Fowler, though, has had a light schedule in the last fortnight, excluding his 36-hole US Open qualifier in which he and Max Homa lost out to Cameron Young in a play-off.
Prior to that, Fowler was seventh at the Memorial a week after finishing 16th at Colonial which put him on the cusp of breaking back into the world’s top 100.
Fowler was also inside the top 20 in his last two visits to River Highlands and looks a good prospect for a third at 11/5 with Betfred as the last of this week’s Travelers Championship predictions.
Travelers Championship Prediction 5: Rickie Fowler Top 20 - 11/5 With Betfred
