2026 Travelers Championship Odds: Four Longshots & PGA Tour Golf DFS Picks
The PGA Tour remains in the northeast area for the third straight week, with TPC River Highlands next on tap to host the 2026 Travelers Championship in Cromwell, CT. TPC River Highlands is one of Pete Dye’s most famous designs, and although it was created as a short, positional course as a test of accuracy, modern technology has gradually passed this course by. Today, we see the longest hitters take a driver-heavy approach to overpower this PGA Tour staple, making this a birdie-maker’s paradise.
Even as a signature event, longshots are viable this week, with surprise contenders like Chez Reavie, JT Poston, and Kramer Hickok emerging in recent years. At just over 6,800 yards on the scorecard, TPC River Highlands is one of the shortest courses on the PGA Tour schedule, and is not a venue where you can write off any given player for their lack of distance alone. We’ll look to dig for some diamonds in the rough in this article ahead of the 2026 Travelers Championship.
Let’s get to our 2026 Travelers Championship longshots and sleepers for your DFS lineups and betting cards. Click on the golf odds listed below to bet now at the best available prices in your state.
TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP ODDS
TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP INTRODUCTION
At just 6,841 yards, TPC River Highlands stands as the second-shortest course on TOUR, just edging past Port Royal by several yards. While a short course does open it up to the plodders like Chez Reavie, Brian Harman, and Kevin Streelman, just as many bombers (Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Bryson DeChambeau) have found success. Distance is always a nice-to-have on the PGA Tour, and it does allow players to take more aggressive lines. However, we should expect a tight dispersion of driving distance on a majority of holes this week, with many forced layups on shorter par 4s.
Looking over the stats that make TPC River Highlands unique, the rough stands out as the course’s best defense. Fairways measure wider than Tour average and players have historically dialed back their driving distance to ensure playing from the short grass. That has resulted in about 70% of fairways hit compared to the Tour average, closer to 65%. Penalty for misses is steep, however. The course ranks in the top seven in each of the last six years in strokes lost from off fairway. Things don’t get much easier around the green, from where TPC River Highlands routinely ends among the top five most difficult courses to gain strokes.
With that in mind, this week should all come back to ball striking. Players can reach the fairways and greens in regulation more easily than average, so those who can repeatedly hit precise shots from Point A to Point B should do just fine. Although the greens complexes may bring challenging scrambles, we should expect contenders to hold a high percentage of these greens anyway.
Read my Travelers Championship preview for a deeper dive into the course. Let’s get to our 2026 Travelers Championship picks, focusing on longshots and PGA Tour golf sleepers for your DFS lineups.
FINDING VALUE IN GOLF DFS PICKS: TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP
To identify “value” for any given week on the PGA Tour, I find it’s best to understand the consensus key stat profile first. Then, take a stance on the elements of the tournament that may go overlooked. At the Travelers Championship, Recent Form, Course History, and SG: Approach are consensus key areas factored into each player’s price.
From a sleeper perspective, I will emphasize the importance of Comp Course History at similar short risk-reward TPC-style or Pete Dye courses, as well as Birdie or Better Percentage in easy scoring conditions, as areas to identify buy-low value and differentiate my player pool.
Ben Griffin
“Good” players like Griffin can often go overlooked in these limited-field Signature Events. While Griffin can typically be found as a top-10 favorite whenever he tees it up, he’s more of a middle-of-the-pack contender when all of the game’s best converge. That comes with a price discount, however, so I see this as a very interesting spot to buy low.
It may feel like a crash back to reality for Griffin after a surging 3-win season in 2025, but his form has been great recently nonetheless. He’s finished top-20 in five of his last seven starts, including top-3 finishes at the Charles Schwab Challenge and Cadillac Championship over that span. Griffin’s game is best suited for wedge-heavy birdie fests that allow him to flex his strengths on approach and putting. That combination has translated well for him at TPC River Highlands already, finishing T14 at this event last year.
Sahith Theegala
The Sahith Theegala experience is not for the faint of heart, but he continues to hint at signs of his ful potential with each passing week. None were better than Theegala from tee to green at Shinneocock Hills last week, but a cold putter resorted him to a T11 finish. Theegala is a great longterm putter, however, so I won’t be surprised to see him bounce back on the greens at TPC River Highlands, where he has gained in SG: Putting in three of his first four appearances.
Theegala was in great position to pick up his first career PGA Tour win at this event in 2022, but met his demise when catching the lip of the fairway bunker on his approach into the 18th green. He’ll have his sights set on redemption this week, entering in great overall form with just one missed cut in 2026.
Eric Cole
It was a perplexing early exit from the RBC Canadian Open in Cole’s most recent start, claiming a share of the first round lead at 6-under-par, followed by an ugly Friday round of 6-over-par to negate it. That one poor round on Friday in Toronto is the last time we’ve seen Cole look anythign but great over the last two months. Prior to the missed cut at the RBC Canadian Open, Cole had posted finishes of 8th, 2nd, T31, T6, T6, and T14 over his last six starts.
One of the shortest drivers in this field, TPC River Highlands is exactly the type of setup Cole should be looking to rebound at. the 6,841-yard layout shoudl cater perfectly to his strengths as in-form approach player with a red-hot putter. Cole rates out 19th overall in model this week, with top-10 ranks in SG: TOT (L36), SG: ARG, SG: P, and Birdie or Better Percentage.
Ryan Fox
The Kiwi’s game continues to mature with each passing year of stateside experience on the PGA Tour. Once a pure bomber mainly suitable for easy-scoring venues with forgiving landing areas, Fox has made significant improvements to his approach play and short game. A two-time winner on the PGA Tour in 2025, Fox has looked even better in 2026 from a total strokes gained standpoint. He’s now finished top-35 in each of his last four starts and ranks top-20 in SG: APP and SG: P over that period.
TPC River Highlands may not be the first course that comes to mind when you think of Ryan Fox, but he had no issue navigating Pete Dye’s course in his debut last year, finishing T17. Fox also finished T16 in his most recent visit to a positional Pete Dye venue at the RBC Heritage, and looks poised to chase another top-20 finish on the strength of his iron game.
Best of luck if you bet or play any of these golf DFS picks for the Travelers Championship!
Photo Credit: AP/George Walker IV
