The best betting props for the Travelers Championship

A week after Jon Rahm ended his hunt for that elusive major by winning the U.S. Open, the PGA Tour heads to TPC River Highlands for the Travelers Championship, an event that has become a pure birdie-fest in recent years.

While the U.S. Open’s tight fairways and punishing rough made it a true test, Pete Dye’s TPC River Highlands is almost a kilometre shorter, and finding the fairways and the greens should be no problem.

A decade ago, Patrick Cantlay shot a 10-under-par 60, which at the time was a course record, until Jim Furyk carded a 58 here in 2016, which was the first 58 recorded on the PGA Tour. Kevin Streelman also made history in 2014 when he birdied the last seven holes to win this event.

Quite simply, if you are not on board the birdie bus you won’t win the Travelers Championship. Putting is what will win this tournament, and having a red-hot flat stick will be the difference between success and failure.

Top 30 Finish: Patrick Reed (-150)

Reed has finished in the top 30 in 10 of the 15 tournaments he’s played in 2021, and is coming off the back of a solid top 20 finish at the U.S. Open. Already this year he’s won the Farmers Insurance Open and followed it up with top 10s in the WGC Workday Championship, the Masters, Wells Fargo Championship, and the Memorial Tournament.

Reed ranks No. 1 on Tour this season in putting average, and has converted 37% of his birdie opportunities. He also ranks fifth this season for shots gained putting, so he is clearly a man who is hot on the greens.

Reed has not hidden his love for this tournament, and has played in it every year since 2012, posting five top 30 finishes in nine outings here – including a top five in 2017. Reed is in a nice bit of form, and back at a tournament he loves with a fire putter. He is well worth including in your prop bets.

Top Former University of Texas Player: Scottie Scheffler (-120)

Scottie Scheffler began 2020 outside the top 50 players in the world, but 18 months of consistent golf has seen him rise to No. 18. His recent run of form is particularly notable, as he finished eighth in the PGA Championship, third in the Memorial, and seventh in the U.S. Open.

What is especially appealing is that both at the U.S. Open and the Memorial, Scheffler ranked first for putting average, and he ranks fourth on the PGA Tour for Par 4 scoring, which is historically key at TPC River Highlands.

Scheffler shot a 59 last August at The Northern Trust, so he’s proven he can go really low when conditions are easy. While he isn't a great bet in the outright market, you can dig out gold in this prop where he could win at a canter.

Top English Player: Paul Casey (-110)

The case for Casey is quite clear as the Englishman is in phenomenal form. Since the turn of the year, he has played in 10 tournaments on the PGA Tour, finishing in the top 10 in six of them, including the U.S. Open (seventh), the PGA Championship (fourth) and the Players Championship (fifth). He has been in the top 30 in nine of those 10 tournaments, with his only blip being a missed cut in the RBC Heritage.

A finish of 32nd here in 2020 may not inspire much confidence, but going back further his record from 2015 to 2019 reads, second, 17th, fifth, second, and fifth.

Casey has the course experience and ability to put together a very low score as demonstrated by a 62 in 2018. Overall, 13 of his 24 rounds at this course have been 67 or lower.

Matchbet: Ian Poulter to beat Stewart Cink (-114)

While I don’t think Poulter will trouble Casey in the top Englishman market, he can still earn us a few pennies by seeing off Stewart Cink in a matchbet. Poulter disappointingly fell to 40th in the U.S. Open last week thanks to a final round of 77 after he had been in the top 14 at the start of Sunday. However, he has shown glimpses of some very good form, the highlight being a third-place finish in the Charles Schwab Challenge last month.

Poulter ranks eighth on Tour this season for shots gained putting, and has been in the top 12 for that stat in each of three of his last four events. He comes here with a red-hot putter, and the same can’t be said for Cink.

The American ranks outside the top 50 for shots gained putting this season, and is 70th in total putting. He has dropped off the boil since winning the RBC Heritage with only six of his last 16 rounds being under-par. Cink is a two-time winner of this event, but those wins came in 2008 and 1997.

Cink has made six appearances here since 2009, and although he finished runner-up in 2018, he has also missed the cut three times and finished outside the top 45 on the other two occasions.