Travelers Championship Key Fantasy Stats

Travelers Championship

June 22nd – 25th, 2023

TPC River Highlands

Cromwell,, CT

Par: 70 / Yardage: 6,852

Purse: $20 million

with $3,600,000 to the winner

Defending Champion:
Xander Schauffele

by Sal Johnson

Founder, Chief Data Officer, GOLFstats

E-mail me at:
sal@golfstats.com

This is based on the most vital stats from TPC River Highlands, data from last year’s Travelers, and data from all the players in the field with stats from 2023.
The most important thing to realize about TPC River Highlands, it’s 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 Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Bubba Watson, Kenny Perry, Phil Mickelson, Kevin Streelman, Marc Leishman, J.J. Henry, and defending champion Xander Schauffele. These guys hit it far and chase it for their next shot. Now this doesn’t eliminate short hitters, guys like 2021 winner Harris English, Brad Faxon, Woody Austin, Chez Reavie, and Olin Browne, who has won, 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). Last year’s winner Xander Schauffele, had won two months before, but that was the Zurich Team event. Before that, he won the 2021 Olympics, which isn’t a PGA Tour event. You had to go back to Schauffele’s 2019 Sentry Tournament of Champions for his last individual PGA Tour title. Still, Schauffele was playing well going into the Travelers, finishing T-14th at the U.S. Open the week before. He was hot; after winning the Zurich with partner Patrick Cantlay, Schauffele was in the top 20 in his four starts between the Zurich and Travelers. In the previous year, Harris English came into the Travelers on a high after finishing 3rd at the U.S. Open. He had won at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and was having a good year; with English winning the Travelers, he made his year great. In 2020 Dustin Johnson won by a shot. Johnson’s game was in flux due to injury. After the break from the pandemic, Johnson missed the cut at Charles Schwab and then was T-17th at Hilton Head. So it wasn’t shocking to see Johnson win, but after that had some problems with his game before that got fixed, and he finished up the year on a high. In 2019 Chez Reavie won by four shots. He was hot coming into the week; he was T-3rd at the U.S. Open at Pebble. Now playing well may not be a clue when you consider that in 2018 Bubba Watson won the week before he missed the cut at the U.S. Open, shooting rounds of 77-74. The year before, in 2017, Jordan Spieth won; the week before, he finished T-35th at the U.S. Open. So it doesn’t matter how a player is coming into the Travelers, but like anything else, those playing well coming into the Travelers should do well.
In looking at characteristics of players who could win the Travelers, of course, your first choice should be guys that hit it a long way, guys that are playing well right now and showing some promise.
The field for this year is the best it’s ever been, thanks to it being a designated tournament. So with this being a fun event, in past years, they have had massive crowds of 80,000 on the weekend, bringing a lot of excitement.
In looking at our four categories, we have to go outside the box. Remember, this isn’t a tough course; it played to a 69.39 average last year, making it the 22nd hardest course (out of 50 on tour last year). Hitting it long is essential; last year, it ranked 15th on tour, with an average of all drives being 292.9. But you don’t have to be accurate; it ranked 40th on tour last year with a 65.09 average, so driving it straight isn’t important. Now making birdies is important as 1,625 were made last year, making it the 37th hardest on tour, not bad for a course that only has two par 5s. To score low, you have to play well on its 12 par 4s; last year, the par 4s average was 3.99, and it ranked T-32nd on tour. So our first category is Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green because those that do well on the course do well in this stat and have a significant advantage. Last year’s winner Xander Schauffele ranked 15th for the week. The previous year, Harris English ranked 3rd for the week, while in 2020, Dustin Johnson ranked 6th. In 2019 winner Chez Reavie ranked 1st, and 2018 winner Bubba Watson ranked 2nd in this stat.
Next is Par Breakers, 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 21st hardest on tour as winner Schauffele ranked 4th as he made 22 birdies. In the previous year, Harris English ranked T-10th. Dustin Johnson ranked T-2nd the year before, and 2019 winner Reavie ranked T-5th. In 2018 the course was the 23rd toughest on tour in this stat while Watson ranked T-1st.
Our third category is scrambling, which is getting it up and down when you miss a green; last year, TPC River Highlands was the 16th hardest, as winner Xander Schauffele was T-20th, getting it up and down 6 of the 9 greens he missed. In 2021 Harris English was T-2nd, getting it up and down on 14 of the 18 greens he missed. In 2020 Johnson was T-33rd, and 2019 winner Chez Reavie was 2nd as he got it up and down on 15 of the 18 greens he missed. In 2018 the course was the 13th hardest, while the winner Watson was T-44th. In 2015 Bubba won, and he led that stat.
Our final category is par 4 average; last year, TPC River Highlands was 30th in this stat, and winner Xander Schauffele was 10 under on the par 4s. In 2021 winner English was 7 under on the par 4s. In 2020 winner Dustin Johnson was 14 under and best, while in 2019, Reavie was 13 under. In this stat not only the best in the field but the only player in double digits. In 2018 Watson was 11 under the same that Spieth was the year before that. In 2015 when Bubba won, he was 12 under on the par 4s and led that stat. In looking at the last 9 winners, 8 have been double digital, as Harris English was the only champion not to make it to double-digit numbers on the par 4s.

*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, 140 have stats on the PGA Tour for 2023.

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