GOLF

DraftKings Daily Fantasy Golf Helper: Travelers Championship

Brooks Koepka leads the field back east for the Travelers Championship. Is he worth the high price on DraftKings this week, or will he be a victim of major hangover?

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 at TPC River Highlands.

Key Stats

Key Stats for the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands
Strokes Gained: Tee to Green
Strokes Gained: Approach
Strokes Gained: Par 4s (400-450 yards)
Birdies or Better Gained

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.

High-Priced Studs

Brooks Koepka (DraftKings Price $11,800 | FanDuel Sportsbook Win Odds 15/2) - Koepka posted another extraordinary finish last week, giving him top-2 finishes in each of the last four major championships. In his two runner ups, he had birdie putts on the 72nd hole that would have put a ton of pressure on the leaders had he sunk them. The question for Koepka will be focus this week. The hangover from a near miss would affect almost anyone, but Koepka in particular has seemingly chosen to punt many of these smaller events while dominating the strongest fields. He is good enough to win every week, though, and he lines up just fine from a stats standpoint: third in strokes gained: approach, fourth in strokes gained: tee to green, and eighth in birdies or better gained. He is just 36th in par 4s between 400-450 yards, but he is 2nd overall on both par 4s and par 5s. Pretty good, this guy.

Patrick Cantlay ($11,300 | 12/1) - Cantlay doesn't have the resume to justify just a $500 discount from Koepka, but he is a superstar in the making and boasts the best statistical case this week. He is second in strokes gained: tee to green, third in strokes gained: approach, fourth in birdies or better gained, and ninth on par 4s (400-450). He should have good memories at TPC River Highlands. He fired a then-course record 60 as an amateur in 2011, holding the 36-hole lead before fading over the weekend to a T24 finish. He missed the cut in 2012 and 2014 but returned last year for a T15 finish. He grew up playing on poa annua, albeit on the West Coast, and he putted well on similar surfaces at Bethpage Black en route to a T4 finish at the PGA Championship.

Justin Thomas ($9,800 | 20) - Shaky form or no, Thomas is a slam dunk at $2,500 cheaper than Cantlay and $900 cheaper than his buddy Jordan Spieth. He has struggled mightily with his putter since injuring his wrist earlier this year and was out of sorts last week at the U.S. Open, but he is the perfect tournament play after burning 15% of the field last week. At his lowest ownership and a price discount, at a course he can thoroughly overpower, Thomas is a great play this week. He is first in stokes gained: tee to green, birdies or better gained, and strokes gained: par 5s. While there are only two par 5s, making birdies and eagles is an absolute must this week. Thomas also has flashed good form here in the past with a T3 finish in 2016.

Mid-Priced Options

Tommy Fleetwood ($9,300 | 29) - Like Thomas, Fleetwood finds himself in a much weaker field at a much easier course with similar numbers to his U.S. Open price and odds. The talent is unquestionable, and lackluster finishes at the U.S. Open (T65) and PGA Championship (T48) belie his long-term consistency: Fleetwood has not missed a cut in the last 11 months. He is 6th in strokes gained: tee to green and is capable of gaining in all facets. He is also 23rd in approach and 28th in birdies or better gained.

Bryson DeChambeau ($9,200 | 27) - DeChambeau is righting the ship after an iffy stretch of three missed cuts, and gaining 4.4 strokes on approach at the U.S. Open will do wonders for his confidence. He is sixth in birdies or better gained, and his talent is worth betting on. It wasn't long ago he was winning tournaments at the fastest rate in the world. When he gets the form back it can come all the way back.

Chez Reavie ($8,400 | 50) - As a rule, you can only play Chez at $8,400 if you were on him at $6,900 last week. Reavie is having a solid year marred by a few missed cuts smack in the middle. He doesn't need to match his T3 finish from the U.S. Open to return value, and he has always been as streaky golfer who strings together solid finishes. He is first in the key par 4 range of 400-450 yards, and is also 13th in approach and 31st tee to green.

Jason Kokrak ($8,300 | 60) - Kokrak returns to action this week keeping up his recent standard as statistical darling. He is 2nd in strokes gained: approach, 7th tee to green, 9th in birdies or better gained, and 15th on par 4s between 400-450 yards (notably he is 5th overall on par 4s). He's stumbled to finishes in the 60s at the Memorial and Wells Fargo but sandwiched a T23 at the PGA Championship between them. He was quite busy earlier this season and got some much needed rest before rejoining the fray this week. He missed the cut here last year, but he's been a different guy and is in the best form of his career.

Low Priced Options

Emiliano Grillo ($7,900 | 41) - Trending in the right direction before a horrible putting week landed him at T58 for the U.S. Open, Grillo has made all but one cut this season and is a lock for cash games. He was one of the best approach players last week, gaining the exact same (8.4 strokes) as eventual winner Gary Woodland. The difference was that Woodland gained 7.2 strokes putting and Grillo lost 6.3. He may have wasted his career best approach play, but he's been great with his irons all year and ranks fourth in strokes gained: approach. He is also eighth in both strokes gained: tee to green and strokes gained: par 4s (400-450 yards).

Viktor Hovland ($7,900 | 50) - The top amateur at both the Masters and the U.S. Open, this bright young star turns pro this week and looks to carry his incredible college career over into the professional ranks. He was second in strokes gained: tee to green at the U.S. Open behind only Koepka -- let that sink in -- and ended up finishing T12. He'll be popular for sure and game theory would dictate fading him in tournaments given his lack of a consistent track record. But he has the stuff to win on the PGA Tour and it's only a matter of time before he gets his first.

Byeong-Hun An ($7,800 | 50) - An is 3rd in strokes gained: tee to green and has the ability to gain in all facets of the game: he is 2nd around the green, 10th on approach, and 32nd off the tee. Putting will always be his weakness, but he's found his stroke recently and gained with the short stick in each of the past two tournaments. He should find friendlier surfaces than Muirfield Village or Pebble Beach here, though admittedly he has little course history to speak of.

Russell Knox ($7,700 | 60) - Knox was the winner here in 2016 and has the right game to contend at this type of course. He is not the longest off the tee but he doesn't need to be at TPC River Highlands, as he can keep it in play and go to work with his approach game. He is 11th in strokes gained: approach, 13th tee to green, and 25th on par 4s (400-450).

Lucas Glover ($7,500 | 90) - Glover burned a lot of people last week and gets only a modest price increase that does not reflect his true form over the entire season. Glover is a poor man's Cantlay: 10th tee to green, 21st in approach, and 31st in birdies or better gained. He also does well on the par 4s, ranking 3rd in the key range of 400-450 yards and 10th overall. Glover trails only Cantlay in scrambling on the entire PGA Tour this season. These greens are easier to hit than average, but scrambling is a skill that is needed every week on the PGA Tour.

Bargain Basement

Cameron Champ ($6,800 | 150) - We'll learn a lot about Champ over the next few weeks. Christened as the next great star coming out of the Web.com Tour last year, Champ picked up a win at the Sanderson Farms but has struggled to compete in full-field events. To be fair, he picked up a back injury along the way as well. But he played three straight events the weeks leading up to the U.S. Open, quelling any concerns about the injury. Playing him is not for the faint of heart, but he fits the mold of Bubba Watson, a three-time winner who has dominated TPC River Highlands with his driver. With all the hoopla around Hovland and Matthew Wolff, Champ will fly under the radar despite having a better pedigree just six months ago.

Hank Lebioda ($6,700 | 180) - Lebioda popped for his best career PGA finish last time out with a T14 at the RBC Canadian Open. He gained 4.1 strokes on approach and actually putted well, and these bentgrass greens have some poa in them just like the greens at Hamilton Golf & Country Club. Without much history at Hamilton it is difficult to draw too many comparisons, but TPC River Highlands definitely stood out. Taking a flyer on a long shot who took to that course could pay dividends this week.


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.