2026 Travelers Championship: Top DraftKings Showdown Plays & Live Bets Ahead of Round 3

The 2026 Travelers Championship has reached the halfway point, and it has been a bona fide birdie barrage at TPC River Highlands thus far. Scottie Scheffler’s Friday 60 has given himself a two-stroke cushion over Viktor Hovland heading into the weekend. Akshay Bhatia, Eric Cole, Bud Cauley, Ben Griffin, and Matt Fitzpatrick also remain within striking distance of Scheffler’s lead at 16 under par.

Looking ahead, we have new data at our disposal to adjust our approach in DFS formats before Round 3 gets underway on Saturday. Conditions were soft and calm on Friday, but the course should get firmer as we head into the weekend. Ahead, we’ll look to identify the players who have shown they are most due for a Round 3 breakout.

Take a look at some of the best pillar players for the 2026 Travelers Championship DFS contests and live betting opportunities.

DraftKings Showdown Golf Strategy

DraftKings Golf Showdown Golf is a one-round Daily Fantasy format in which players aim to construct the best-scoring one-round lineup while staying within the allotted salary cap. To identify value in Golf Showdown, it’s typically best to focus on buy-low opportunities on players who’ve shown uncharacteristically poor putting in the prior round. There is also an opportunity to find leverage by identifying favorable weather splits and players who are more likely to card birdies-or-better.

Round 3 Travelers Championship Showdown Pillar Plays

As expected, birdies have been much easier to come by at TPC River Highlands than we saw at Shinnecock Hills in the week prior. TPC River Highlands is not a pure birdie fest, but it is the type of TPC venue that allows in-form ball-strikers to go on a hot run. It’s no surprise we’ve seen multiple players break 60 over the years at this event, and Scheffler one just one stroke shy of joining that company on Friday. Looking ahead, it is going to take a combination of driving accuracy, elite wedge play, and a streaky putter to go low at TPC River Highlands.

Identifying value players who check each of these boxes can provide valuable bonus points in the DraftKings Showdown format. The three players below will be foundational plays in my Round 3 Showdown lineups for these reasons.

Patrick Cantlay ($9,400)

Few players in the field love TPC River Highlands more than Patrick Cantlay. He shot a round of 60 in his 2011 debut here as an amateur, and has finished top-15 in eight consecutive appearances at the Travelers Championship. He’s on pace to add another top-15 to his resume, as he currently sits T8 at the halfway point. It’s clear that TPC River Highlands suits his eye well, as he’s navigated this course perfectly thus far, ranking top-10 in SG: T2G, SG: Ball Striking, SG: OTT, and SG: APP.

Whether Cantlay can break through on moving day will come down to the putter, but he’s given us some reason to feel optimistic so far, ranking 30th in the field in SG: Putting. With four top-12 finishes over his last seven starts, Cantlay may not be a threat to win this week, but he has a clear path towards a top-10 finish if he keeps this form up.

Eric Cole ($8,000)

Eric Cole looks as composed and unbothered as you could ask of a player who has never won a PGA Tour event before. He paced the field with an opening round of 63 and kept the pedal down with a second round of 65. Scheffler’s 10-under Friday round may have been a blessing in disguise for Cole, who continues to look unconscious on the golf course amidst this sustained stretch of hot form, but will need to play the role of chaser trailing Scheffler by four strokes.

TPC River Highlands is an ideal course fit for Cole, who lacks distance off the tee but atones for it with elite wedge play and putting. While he ranks 47th in SG: OTT through the first two rounds, he still ranks 6th in SG: Ball Striking, suggesting the driver has not held him back from generating ample birdie looks here. Cole has four top-10 finishes over his last six starts and looks to be well on his way to yet another at the Travelers Championship.

Kurt Kitayama ($7,800)

You can only marvel at the display of approach play Kitayama has put on throughout the 2026 season, and he may have saved his best performance for the Travelers Championship. Kitayama ranks 1st in the field in both SG: Ball Striking and SG: APP through the first two rounds, highlighted by a hole-out eagle from the fairway on 10 Friday. As the winds continue to lay down, it is the approach marksmen like Kitayama who stand the best opportunity to capitalize.

Kitayama heads into the weekend at T11 after an impressive second round 63. With three top-10 finishes over his last six starts, Kitayama continues to put himself in position to contend on a regular basis this season. A win may be out of reach already, considering Scheffler’s dominance, but I like Kitayama’s chances to push inside the top-10 this moving day.

Live Bets To Consider Entering Round 3

Tournament Matchup: Harris English over Keegan Bradley

Best Available odds: -114

I was high on Keegan Bradley in yesterday’s article, and he coasted to a 4-stroke victory over Jordan Spieth in his Round 2 matchup. In this new battle of the former Travelers Championship winners, it’s actually Harris English who I prefer for the duration of this tournament. Both players are deadlocked at 8-under-par, and came into this week in comparable all-around form. As I assess whose path to 8-under-par is more sustainable, however, English is the one who has the clear edge.

Hitting fairways is essential for scoring at TPC River Highlands, and that is the only area in which Keegan has struggled thus far, ranking 65th in Driving Accuracy through the first two rounds. Conversely, that has been the strength of English’s game thus far, as he ranks 11th in Driving Accuracy and SG: T2G through the first two rounds. English is also due for some positive regression on the greens, as he ranked top-15 in SG: Putting leading into this week, but ranks just 45th in SG: Putting through the first two rounds.

Winner Without Scottie Scheffler: Eric Cole

Best Available odds: +900

We still have 36 holes to go, but it already feels like a foregone conclusion that World No. 1, Scottie Scheffler, is going to win the Travelers Championship for the second time in his career. Notoriously a slow starter in 2026, we’ve watched Scheffler play progressively better as he familiarizes himself with the course conditions through each passing round. He is currently -245 to win the tournament, so if you’re abandoning ship on your pre-tournament outright hopes, I believe Eric Cole is worth backing in this market.

Cole is currently 12-under-par, “T2” in this market and two strokes behind Viktor Hovland. We’ve seen him put his head down and play unwaveringly strong golf over the weekend in recent weeks, finishing 2nd at the Charles Schwab Challenge. Ranking 3rd in SG: T2G and 2nd in SG: APP, Cole is paying off his hot form and course fit well, and looks to me like he’s the player to beat outside of Scottie Scheffler.

Best of luck with your Travelers Championship DFS lineups and bets!

Photo Credit: AP/Jessica Hill