TPC River Highlands Key Fantasy Stats

Travelers Championship

June 21st – 24th, 2018

TPC River Highlands

Cromwell, CT

Par: 70 / Yardage: 6,841

Purse: $7 million

with $1,260,000 to the winner

Defending Champion:
Jordan Spieth

by Ed Pattermann

E-mail me at:
ed@golfstats.com

This is based on the most vital stats from TPC River Highlands, based on data from last year’s Travelers and using data from all the players in the field with stats from 2018.
The most important thing to realize about TPC River Highlands, its a course that is very forgiving, you don’t kill a lot of brain cells in getting your way around it, and if you drive it long and reasonably straight, you can win. Just look at the roll call of past champions, guys like Jordan, Bubba, Kenny Perry, Phil Mickelson, Kevin Streelman, Marc Leishman and J.J. Henry, guys that hit it far and chase it for their next shot. Now this doesn’t eliminate short hitters, guys like Brad Faxon, Woody Austin, and Olin Browne have won, and they are not long hitters. In 2016 Russell Knox won, he is classified as being in the middle, a person that can give it some stick, but is in the middle of the pack (in 2016 he ranked 108th in driving distance).
So your first choice should be guys that hit it a long way, guys that are hot right now and guys that showed some promise at Shinnecock Hills.
The tournament is back to its regular date the week after the U.S. Open for the second year in a row, in 2016 it was played two months later which frankly may have changed the character of the course because it was hotter than usual and the grass was more mature being later in the year. So in a way, I would throw out all the results from 2016, it was just entirely different. The field in 2016 wasn’t that great because it was the week before the Olympics, so the point is things are back to normal last year and this year.

In looking at our four categories, we have to go outside the box. Remember this isn’t a tough course, last year it played to a 70.20 average making it the 20th hardest on tour. Hitting it long is essential, making birdies are important as 1,527 were made last year making it the 40th hardest on tour, not bad for a course that only has two par 5s. To score low you have to play good on its 12 par 4s, last year the par 4s average was 4.03, it ranked 28th on tour last year. So our first category is Strokes Gained Tee-to-green because those that do well on the course does well and has a significant advantage. Last year Jordan Spieth ranked 1st in this stat Next is Par Breakers which is a combination of birdies and Eagles, you have to make a lot of them this week to have any chance. Last year TPC River Highlands was 20th toughest on tour in this stat while Spieth ranked 1st. Our third category is scrambling, that is getting it up, and down when you miss a green last year, the course was the 10th hardest while Spieth was T-19th previous year. In 2015 winner Bubba Watson led this stat. Our final category is par 4 average, last year TPC River Highlands was T-29th in this stat, Spieth was 11 under last year the best of anyone, Knox was 10 under in 2016 while Bubba was 12 under on the par 4s and led that stat in 2015.
*Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green: Combination of distance off the tee, accuracy and the ability to hit greens in regulation.

*Par Breakers: Who makes the most birdies and eagles per round.

*Scrambling: The percent of time a player misses the green in regulation, but still makes par or better.

*Par 4 averages: Players that do the best on par 4s.

Of the 156 players in the field, 141 have stats on the PGA Tour for 2018.

Click any column title in the table header to sort columns.

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