2023 Travelers Championship Picks & Live Odds: Tracking the Action at TPC River Highlands

Just like that, we're three major championships into the 2023 season and all that remains is The Open Championship, which heads to Royal Liverpool in mid-July. 

But for now, the PGA Tour returns to its regularly-scheduled programming with a routine stop at TPC River Highlands for the Travelers Championship and there certainly won't be a shortage of star power. 

Each of the World's Top 6 will be in the field this week, including a scorching-hot Scottie Scheffler and U.S. Open runner-up Rory McIlroy.

We break down their chances and more in our Travelers Championship betting preview below, including live golf odds, free golf picks, and more. 

Live odds to win 2023 Travelers Championship

Travelers Championship picks and predictions

Rory McIlroy over Patrick Cantlay (+105 at DraftKings)

Cantlay’s getting the edge in this matchup (-130 at DraftKings, -125 at bet365) thanks to a run of five straight Top 20s here at TPC River Highlands. That would make sense if he had a distinctive edge over Rory in that area... but he doesn’t. 

Rory’s got four such finishes in four tries (T19-T11-T12-T17) and is also playing better at the moment. His runner-up finish at the U.S. Open marked his fourth straight Top 10 dating back to the PGA and he’s actually 3-0 in this matchup over that span (Cantlay didn’t play Canadian Open).

I’m running the risk of one of those dramatic Rory letdowns — especially after yet another close call at a major — but the elite ball-striking he showed off at LACC (led the field from tee to green) only suggests he’ll be right back in contention this week.

There are only one or two golfers in the world that should have Rory fetching plus money and Patrick Cantlay isn’t one of them. 

Viktor Hovland Top Nordic (-140 at Caesars)

This -140 price over at Caesars for Viktor Hovland to be the Top Nordic jumped off the page considering he’s -220 at DraftKings and -200 at bet365.

While listed differently (Top Nordic vs. Top Scandinavian), this group features the same four guys in Hovland, Ludvig Aberg (+300), Vincent Norrman (+550), and David Lingmerth (+750).

Considering he just won the Memorial and has piled up 13 Top 20s in 18 starts this season, Hovland is very clearly at the top of his game. He also ranks fourth in the field in total strokes gained over the last month; the second-best mark of this group is Aberg at 48th. 

Aberg is the biggest threat and his results (in college/two Top 30s on Tour) this season suggest there’s some upside, but this is just his fourth Tour start of the season in addition to it being his tournament debut. He finished just T61 at the Valspar and lost strokes putting and on approach in Canada earlier in June.

We’re laying a little bit of juice but it’s negligible relative to the -200s and -220s out there (I’d stay away at that price). Considering we may not even need Hovland’s best to get the job done, I’d say it’s worth the squeeze. 

Brian Harman Top 40 (+125 at Unibet)

If Harman was in any semblance of good form, I’d get more aggressive with a Top 10 or Top 20, but the game just hasn’t been there. With that said, I can’t ignore his insane track record at this venue.

The short hitter has worked his way into the Top 10 five times here since 2015, including a T8 finish last season and a T5 the year prior. Throw in a T35 in 2017 and you’re looking at six Top 40s in his last eight tries. 

And while he’s missed a few cuts of late, he finished T43 at the tough LACC last week and T29 at Colonial at the end of May. There’s some decent play in there and a week on a comfortable track may be just what he needs to truly get back on track. 

He could very easily blow this out of the water, but I won’t turn down the more conservative option considering we’re still getting decent plus money.  

Travelers Championship field and favorites

Just about all of the stars who teed it up at last week's U.S. Open will be making the cross-country trip to Cromwell, Connecticut for this week's event.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (+650) remains in world-class form after a third-place finish at LACC. That marked his fifth straight Top 5 and his... checks notes... 17th straight finish of T12 or better (!). Rory suffered yet another close call at the U.S. Open as his nine-year major championship will extend to Royal Liverpool next month. He's on the board at 10/1 this week.

Defending champion Xander Schauffele and his good buddy Patrick Cantlay round out the Top 5 at +1,200 apiece. Xander got back into the Winner's Circle here a year ago and he remains in great form after going T10 last week (shot U.S. Open-record 62 in Round 1). Cantlay enters the week having finished T15 or better — albeit nothing better than T11 — in his last five Travelers starts. 

Among those who fell just short on Sunday (cc: Rory) is Rickie Fowler, who really struggled on Sunday (shot 75) and finished T5 despite having a share of the lead through 54 holes. His search for that elusive comeback victory continues this week and he's on the board at 33/1, although he did miss the cut here in 2021 and 2022.

2021 champion Harris English is available at as high as 66/1 and there may be value in that number considering he just finished T8 at the U.S. Open and led the field in strokes gained putting. 

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Travelers Championship recent winners and odds history

Let's take a look at some recent Travelers Championship winners and their closing odds to win:

Odds courtesy of GolfOdds.

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