Paulie’s Picks: 2018 Travelers Championship

Brooks Koepka repeats at the U.S. Open as we pick another One-and-Done winner! Let’s try to keep the hot streak going as we head to the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands. This Pete Dye-designed golf course will be a welcome sight for many of those who played Shinnecock last week. I expect this week to be filled with birdies and low scores. The course is fairly short and will allow many different types of players to succeed. Based on the layout of the course, we will see a larger-than-normal amount of approaches from the 100-150-yard range. Players who can consistently give themselves makeable looks for birdies from that distance will find themselves in contention come the weekend.

DraftKings:

Charley Hoffman $8,700

Hoffman makes for a very good contrarian play this week. Many people will be loading up on similarly priced players such as Watson, Berger and Schauffele. Hoffman is a good fit for this course as he is second in proximity from 125-150 yards over the last 50 rounds. In his last five starts at this event, he has three top tens and hasn’t finished worse than 26th. Hoffman was performing well last week (tied 2nd through 36 holes) but was derailed with a Saturday 77.

Chesson Hadley $7,300

Hadley is priced way too low on DraftKings this week. He is a birdie maker who excels with wedges. He is first in proximity from 100-125 yards and is sixth in birdies over the last 50 rounds. Hadley has finished in the top 20 in six of his last eight events.

One-and-Done

Bubba Watson

In his last 10 appearances at this event, Bubba has five top-6 finishes, including wins in 2010 and 2015. This course sets up absolutely perfectly for him as he is able to play his cut off the tee on many holes. This year, it seems like Bubba has found his game again and has succeeded on courses where he played well in the past (Riviera and Augusta National). I think he continues that trend again this week.

Patrick Reed

Reed was in contention on Sunday at Shinnecock. I think he will be a popular play this week as he has finished 5th and 11th in his last two appearances at this event. At a course that demands precision with the short irons, Reed is a great option.

Longshots

Si Woo Kim 100-1 to win; 10-1 top 10

This price is just too high for Kim. Kim has had success at Pete Dye courses over the last two years with a win at TPC Sawgrass and a playoff loss at Hilton Head. In his lone appearance at this event in 2016, he finished 25th. However, that result could have been much better had it not been for the fact that he lost over six strokes on the green that week.

Ken Duke 400-1 to win; 40-1 top 10

Duke has two top tens in his last five starts at this event, including a win in 2013.