Next up on the 2020 PGA Tour is the Travelers Championship
at TPC River Highlands in Connecticut.
This is a private golf course built in 1928 that has hosted professional
tournament play since the 1950’s. In 1982 the course was completely redesigned
to meet PGA Tour standards by the most famous of golf course architects, Pete
Dye. Since 1984 the course has hosted
the annual PGA Tour Travelers Championship.
TPC River Highlands features mature trees and a variety of
lakes and ponds. The final four holes on
this course are challenging and generate golf drama in the closing stretch.
While I generally take a grim view of America’s private golf
club elitist culture, I will temper that opinion here with some upbeat notes. Since 1952 the tournament has generated over
$42 million in charitable giving with 100 percent of the net proceeds from the tournament
donated to charity. In 2019 the
tournament distributed $2.1 million to 150 regional charities. The course is
also certified in the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for golf courses. Thus, the course is managed with ecologically
sound practices and with a commitment to protect wildlife habitat.
Hometown Heroes
I had a hard time identifying a hometown hero for this tournament. I will read almost anything that I can find
when I am researching players. I even
read the bogus, picks-for-sale dribble that CBS Sports publishes. For the Travelers I was looking for current PGA
players who attended the nearby University of Connecticut but found no active
PGA players amongst the college’s alums.
I also tried to find pros who are members of TPC River Highlands and
again came up empty.
So, without a true hometown hero, I had to settle for
players who have excelled at the Travelers in the past. Two names are on top of the list – Jim Furyk
($29 on Yahoo DFS) and Patrick Cantlay ($41 on Yahoo DFS). Furyk shot a single-round course record 58 in
2016. Cantlay shot a collegiate course
record in 2011 with a single-round score of 60.
Last week at the RBC Championship my hometown, South
Carolina favorite was Matthew Nesmith. While
Nesmith had no prior professional course history at the RBC Championship, he played
golf at the University of South Carolina.
He also proposed to his wife on the 18th hole of Harbor Town
Golf Links. That’s the kind of narrative
that befits hometown heroes.
In Yahoo Daily Fantasy lineups Nesmith was minimum priced. Nesmith made the cut at RBC and was in the
mix throughout the tournament. He ended
up tied for 33rd at RBC – a solid performance for a minimum-priced player. I am looking at Mathew Nesmith ($21 on Yahoo
DFS) to be competitive again this week.
Stacked Field
Most of the best golfers in the world competed in the Schwab
Challenge and the RBC Championship. The
field for Travelers is just as strong.
While it makes for highly competitive golf, it is difficult to pick the
outright winner in such a strong field.
Of the 150 or more golfers in the Travelers player field almost
any one of them could be on top of the leaderboard on Sunday afternoon. The short odds favor the biggest names in professional
golf – such as McIlroy, Dechambeau, Thomas, Simpson, Rahm and Cantlay – at the
highest per-player DFS prices.
Strategically, in order to load up on big names, you will
have to choose value and minimally priced players to round out your lineups. Here are some ideas from the middle and lower
tiers of the player pricing pool:
Bubba Watson ($36 on Yahoo DFS): Watson won the Travelers in 2018, 2015 and
2010. He was tied for 52nd at
the RBC Heritage last weekend and he was T7 at the Charles Schwab two weekends
ago.
Abraham Ancer ($31 on Yahoo DFS): Ancer had a strong showing at the RBC,
placing T5. He was solid two weeks ago, coming
in T14 at the Charles Schwab. Basically,
the guy is hot and should come to the Travelers looking for his first PGA Tour
win.
Brian Harman ($27 on Yahoo DFS): While Harman probably won’t win, he’s a good
bet to make the cut and compete for a spot in the top 20. In his last five tries at the Travelers he
has scored three top 8’s there.
Max Homa ($27 on Yahoo DFS): Prior to the corona virus
shutdown, Homa was playing fantastic golf with top 10 showings at the Farmers
Insurance Open, the Waste Management Phoenix Open and the Genesis Open.
Vaughn Taylor ($27 on Yahoo DFS): Taylor tops the field in
competition rounds played at the Travelers with 56. He has made the cut on the PGA Tour 11 times
in his last 15 tries. While not a genuine
threat to win, Taylor is a solid pick to make the cut and potentially be in the
top 30 at the Travelers.
Harry Higgs ($20 on Yahoo DFS): Higgs is a bargain basement,
minimum-priced player at the Travelers.
He has made the cut in 13 of his last 17 PGA Tour starts. While he is not a model of consistency, if he
makes the cut at the Travelers he could easily come out in the top 40, which is
about as much as you can ask of a minimum-priced player.
Soft Pricing
Soft Pricing is an economics term meaning that the price of
something is stagnant, falling or subject to negotiations. In professional gambling the term means that
a player’s price is disproportionally low when compared to similarly players in
the field. On DFS sites player prices
don’t always reflect the true value of the player. Some players are over priced and some players
are under priced.
Of the picks made above, I would assert that on Yahoo DFS Nesmith,
Ancer, Harman, Homa and Higgs are priced lower than what I would perceive their
value to be. All are priced below the average player’s salary. These are the type of players one must
identify in order to build winning lineups this week on Yahoo DFS.
© 2020
Mike McKenzie
McKenzie Golf Research
Portland, Oregon
MikeMcKenzie on Yahoo DFS
MikeMcKenzie on Draftkings
MikeMcKenzie on Fanduel
A fool and his money are quickly parted. Gamble at your own risk.
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