After an exciting US Open, we get right back at it with a stacked field as the tour ventures back east to TPC River Highlands and the Travelers’ Championship!

My name is Josh Thomas, and I am a PGA and NFL Coach here at DFS Army! Welcome to the 2019 PGA Season! We here at DFS Army have got you covered this year for DFS golf with my weekly preview out on Sunday Nights, Chalk Donkey article breaking down the ownership projections, where to pivot, and GPP strategy out Tuesday Nights, and our Research Station that is full of more information than you could ever need!

Gary freaking Woodland! What a win. I was almost sure that he wouldn’t be able to continue making 40 footers and chipping in for birdie, and he came out on Sunday and just crushed it in every aspect of his game. He was incredibly solid and I couldn’t be happier for the guy. We were pretty heavy on a low owned Justin Rose last week so it was disappointing from a DFS perspective to not see him take home the win, but if it couldn’t be Rosey, I can’t think of a guy who I would have wanted to win more.

Check out all of our PGA tools, the research station, articles, and coaches notes here!

—-> DFS Army PGA Content <—-

Last week I posted a video breakdown of how I build GPP lineups here DFS Golf GPP Lineup Building Strategies, Check it out for some great insight into how I go about building lineups for MME! These next two weeks are great weeks to practice this strategy prior to the PGA Championship!

DFS Army VIP’s crushed it on the Showdown Slates for the US Open using our Coaches Notes, Domination Station and Research Station!

Become a VIP today and unlock not just our PGA Showdown Tools, but all of our content for EVERY SPORT!

This week the tour heads back east for the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands and the field is stacked! I’m actually kind of blown away with how good the field is this week. Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Jason Day, Patrick Cantlay, Tommy Fleetwood, and 3x winner here, Bubba Watson. The course is short, but a variety of players have had success here, bombers and short hitters alike. It should be fun, profitable week and one I’m looking forward to.

Course Breakdown:

The Travelers Championship takes place at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, CT. TPC River Highlands is a Pete Dye design (he overhauled it in 1982) and then underwent further redesign by Roger Maltbie in 1989. It’s hosted this event since 1984 and was formerly known as the Greater Hartford Open (hosted by Sammie Davis Jr.!) and the Buick Championship.

This par 70 is only 6841 yards and is one of the shortest tracks the tour plays all year, yet we have seen a variety of players have success here. The course is a Pete Dye design, and as such we know that distance won’t be required, but it does allow players to take driver if they are feeling frisky, they just bring trouble into play, whether it be with the tree-lined fairways or the water hazards that are in play on five the holes. Dye always try to trick players with uncomfortable sight lines and that comes into play here, but its a position course at its heart. Being so short, the only defense the course has is difficult pin positions, so putting yourself in the right position off the tee and then striking great irons into the difficult pins is huge. Strokes gained Tee to Green will be a big stat this week.

The length of the course means that almost everyone, from the short hitters to the long hitters will be hitting wedges into the green. Players have 4% more shots from 125 yards – 175 yards than the tour average and 9% fewer shots from 175 yards-200 yards. Essentially if you are in the fairway you are hitting some sort of wedge into the green. Speaking of the greens, these are poa greens with a bit of bentgrass mixed in. They aren’t necessarily going to get bumpy in the afternoon like we saw last week at the US Open, but they do get a little harder to roll it on. Mornings will have pristine conditions and you can go super low. Jim Furyk shot 58 here in 2016, which is the lowest score in PGA Tour history. The previous record at the course was 60, shot by a young Patrick Cantlay in 2011 when he was an amateur.

The winning scores here over the last few years have been:

2018 – Bubba Watson: -17

2017 – Jordan Spieth: -12 (This one cost me a ton of money. Chipped in to beat Daniel Berger who I had a big outright on)

2016 – Russell Knox: -14

2015 – Bubba Watson: -16

2014 – Kevin Streelman: -15

One thing, that puts the DFS Army VIP’s at a huge advantage is the Domination Station. Check out how that works here!

–>Domination Station PGA Tutorial <–

So it’s a bit of a birdie fest, but not a 20 under one considering that its a par 70 and we only have two par 5’s on the course, in fact the average score here is only -.18 which is 34th easiest in our database of courses (out of 65) so right in the middle of the pack. One thing to notice here is that there aren’t a lot of bogeys, but there are LOTS of pars. It’s also one of the more difficult to putt on courses on tour, with players averaging 28.3 putts per round.

One other key thing to note is that there are EIGHT par 4’s between 400-450 yards. Where can you find stats about who is good on those? Oh yeah in our research station!

Overall, it’s a really fair test of golf, and while there are low scores out there, players who can grind it out and avoid bogeys will be in good shape. Targetting good ballstrikers will be the key to success (check out the previous winners!). With a stacked field this week there are going to be some underowned ballstrikers in position for success that we can take advantage of.

Have you played Monkey Knife Fight yet? The props are a ton of fun! And if you sign up through here you can get a FREE Month of DFS Army VIP membership!

Get a free month of VIP Now!

Key Stats:

Key Stats to look for this week – Birdies Gained, Medium Par 4 Scoring, SG: Approach L25, SG: Off the Tee, Greens in Regulation % SG: Putting Poa, and Projected Course Score.

You can find all of these key stats in our DFS Army research station accessible ONLY for our VIPs.

–> PGA Research Station <–

The Field:

In this section, I’ll cover who is in the field this week, the odds, any pricing discrepancies, and a few of my favorite plays on first look!

Seriously, I can’t get over this field. I don’t know whose butt Travelers is kissing but this is literally one of the strongest not major fields of the year. Five of the worlds top ten, ten of the worlds top twenty, and fourteen of the worlds top twenty-five! Just an incredibly solid field. Not only do we get a strong field, but we also get two amateurs making their professional debut, Oklahoma State teammates Viktor Hovland and Matthew Wolff.

Hovland is fresh off a fantastic performance at the US Open and Wolff is making his pro debut after a fantastic college career and he already has one PGA tour event under his belt with his T50 finish at the Waste Management Open. Both can contend, but these prices are way too short considering the strength of the field.

Again, this is a ballstrikers paradise and I think we see some of these guys priced appropriately given that, players like Ryan Moore, Byeong Hun An, and Sungjae Im are all great options, but priced right given the field.

We finally get Jason Kokrak back and this should be a good fit for him as well but he’s only had middling finishes here over the years.

Our NASCAR team has been ON FIRE!!!!

CHECK OUT ALL OF THESE WINS!

Seriously, how are you not a VIP yet!? Get in now and get ready for next weeks’ race!!!!

—> Become a VIP Today! <—

Deeper down the board I have some interest in throwing darts at guys like Danny Lee, Kyle Stanley, and Peter Malnati, all of whom have had some success here and have played well here in the past.

Beat the Bookie Betting Card:

Something new I’m adding each week to this article is my personal betting card for the week for Outrights, First Round Leaders, Top 5’s and Top 10’s. The real bread and butter with golf betting is a tournament and round matchups but I’m saving those for our Beat the Bookie VIPs!

As a rule, I typically don’t bet many outrights under +3500 unless its an extremely weak field (DJ at the FedEx St. Jude last year comes to mind) It’s just not a +EV most weeks when you think about 156 guys teeing it up. Hitting 3-4 outrights a year is a fantastic year for most golf bettors. The return on investment of hitting an outright at 50-1 can pay for a long dry spell (which is fairly typical in golf betting if you are only playing Outrights, FRLs, and T5/T10).

With the top of the fields odds all bunched together, (9 guys priced at 25-1 or better), I’m taking a bit of a different approach this week and peppering the mid-tier with some longer shots that are playing well right now.

For me, it starts with Sungjae Im who, if you’ve read this article before, know I love. He went through a stretch where he struggled a bit a month ago, but his game has started to come back a bit and he was excellent at the RBC Canadian Open which is played on a very similar track. He’s a value at 50-1 and one of those guys who won’t be rattled by playing with the studs on the weekend. Having last week off for the US Open (he just missed qualifying by OWGR) will likely benefit him as he gears up for the stretch run here and a trip to the Open Championship in July. Not only is he a great bet, but he’s fantastic DFS play because he just scores a ton even if he makes a few bogeys.

Following Sungjae is a guy who has had a ton of success here the last few years in Daniel Berger. Berger’s game is trending in the right direction as he has made 7 straight cuts after a tough start to the year coming off an injury. He has two top-five finishes here in the last three years. I like Berger a ton this week and will be not only betting him but playing him in DFS as well.

Danny Lee is 9th in strokes gained at the Travelers over the last 5 years, (and he missed a cut and didn’t play one year). He has three straight top 25 finishes, including a T3. I have some concerns that his irons have been mediocre lately but that hasn’t seemed to hurt him in the past as he’s lost strokes coming in (for multiple weeks in a row) prior to his 15th and T3 finish.

And now to two of my deeper picks Sepp Straka and Peter Malnati. Straka is coming off a great performance at the US Open where he gained strokes everywhere but putting (in fact he was pretty dreadful in a couple of rounds) but his iron play has been incredible. He’s gained strokes approach in five straight weeks for an average of 2.3 which is pretty incredible. He’s also excellent off the tee. A position course for a guy who is great off the tee and with an iron/wedge in his hand? Yes, please. Malnati meanwhile is coming off a 31st place finish at the RBC Canadian Open and is on a string of excellent golf. He’s made the cut here the last two years and his game is really trending in the right direction. He’s gaining strokes every but off the tee in his last five tournaments and that’s only because he’s so short. At a similar short course (Hilton Head – RBC Heritage) he actually gained strokes because he’s so accurate. I think this course suits him perfectly and he makes an intriguing long shot bet at 150-1.

DFS Army has been on FIRE for PGA this year! Can we keep it going this week?!

Use code UPNORTH for 20% your VIP membership for LIFE!

I’ll have T10 bets on all of these guys as well but I’m just waiting for those markets to open to see the price.

I’ll have Head to Head and full tournament matchups posted for our Beat the Bookie VIPs on Wednesday. And there are some reaaaaly juicy ones this week! These are truly where you can make your money in golf betting, while not as sexy or as big as an outright win, they are much more profitable.

* Not a Beat the Bookie VIP yet?! *

These guys at ‘Beat the Bookie’ are crushing it on the daily and you’re gonna want in! Tell em’ UPNORTH sent ya and you’ll get 10% off for life!

Want to try a free month of DFS Army VIP Membership? See How

Final Thoughts:

This is a fun week, at a unique track with a great field. We will have content for you all through the week at DFS Army. Our research station and domination station optimizer will be updated on Tuesday and I will have my full Chalk Donkey article breaking down all the ownership and GPP strategy for our VIP’s on Wednesday afternoon! If you aren’t a VIP yet, use code UPNORTH for 20% off EVERY MONTH FOREVER!