Weekly Fantasy Golf Preview: 2026 Travelers Championship

Travelers Championship

TPC River Highlands
Cromwell, CT

The PGA Tour heads to Cromwell, CT for another edition of the Travelers Championship.

Well, that was…interesting. Wyndham Clark – public enemy number one. I guess I didn't know how much vitriol there was towards Clark prior to this past week and perhaps the fans in New York aren't the best indicator, but what we witnessed this past week was just flat out strange.

It's not often that you have villains in a sport like golf. Villains are generally born from rivalries, which of course derive from teams, teams which have home bases, which have home fans. It makes perfect sense if you don't think about it. I was born in this state, this is my team, your team is from another state, I hate you. See, perfect sense. Okay, so even if it defies logic a bit, you can see how it came to be, but for golf, there is no home base, at least, no home base that anyone cares about (no, the "home clubs" of the TGL aren't going to catch on).

This is why we rarely have heels in golf. In order to get on the wrong side of nearly all the golf fans, you'd have to really do something absurd, like go to a rival golf league and try to blow up the PGA Tour, but even that will end up splitting the fans more than putting them all against you. Wyndham didn't do that however, Clark accumulated a bunch of smaller infractions over the course of many years. None of which were too egregious, sure demolishing a locker was classless, but that alone wouldn't vault someone into villain status.

I won't get into all those infractions here, but the list is lengthy. None of which were reasons to turn on Clark alone, but as a group, you can see why golf fans may have been rooting for someone, anyone to win other than Clark this past Sunday.

This anger towards Clark created one of the most interesting atmospheres that I've ever witnessed at a major championship. Almost everyone on the grounds was rooting against Clark on Sunday and this wasn't politely rooting against someone because you want the other person to win, like Y.E. Yang at the 2009 PGA Championship when almost everyone in attendance wanted Tiger Woods to capture another major. No, this was something else.

It's rare that you see someone in the lead at a major make a birdie putt, an important birdie putt and hardly anyone in the crowd claps. When Clark made an important birdie late in his round on Sunday, one that likely ensured his win, there was a "roar", but you could tell this was a roar from a select, small group of people being really loud, it wasn't the roar of the masses. The folks at NBC made mention of this "roar" and all I could do was chuckle.

Outside of the lack of enthusiasm for Clark, there was also another element, one which no matter who you are rooting for, we can all agree should not be present at golf tournaments and that's those of the annoying hecklers and I'll go back to the team sports analogy here again. It's fine to heckle when you are in an environment that's naturally loud and when you are heckling players on a team, we all know that's part of the game, but golf is different, it requires silence and at least some decorum. There's no escaping a heckler on the golf course, which is reason enough to remove such people from the premises.

I'll admit, I did not want Clark to win on Sunday, but I have no hate for the man, I just wanted someone else to win. Why some people get so worked up to the point where they are verbally attacking someone on the golf course is beyond me. Hopefully we all learn from this situation, including Clark perhaps and we're all better for it moving forward. I like rooting for and against players, but there's no place for actual malice on the golf course.  

As we look ahead to this week, another signature event, which is great and we've got a ton of course history in play, which is even better.

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FAVORITES

All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook as of 5:00 PM ET Tuesday.

Scottie Scheffler (+440) 

This might go down as one of the strangest seasons on record. Scheffler is racking up a lot of high-end finishes, but he's still stuck at one win. He's first in the FedEx standings, yet we're all wondering why he can't "get it together". Look, he's certainly not the Scheffler we've seen the past few years, but he's pretty darn close. The problem with that though is that if he's not the Scheffler of the past few years, he shouldn't be getting odds of 5-1 or less. His form is good, and his track record here is solid (one win and three top-10s in six starts) but there's just no value here with his current price.

Xander Schauffele (18-1)

Schauffele looked pretty good this past week at the U.S. Open, but that should come as no surprise as he's become a regular in the top-10 at that event. Now that were back to the grind, will he keep up his play? His track record here is pretty solid. He won here in 2022 and he posted top-20s on four other occasions. His play at the big events has been great this season, but he's been a bit unpredictable outside of those events. With that said, I think he's building towards something in the second half of the season and I wouldn't be surprised if he were to win this week.

Ludvig Aberg (18-1)

Aberg was on a tear early in the season, capturing five top-5s from March through May, but he was unable to pick up a win during that span. Since then, he's posted a couple top-20s, but he's not playing at the level he was at earlier in the season. Considering he was having trouble winning while in great form, I don't like his prospects now that he doesn't seem to have his best game. His track record here is much like his play over his past three starts, just okay. Aberg has a pair of top-30s, and nothing worse than T36, but no high-end finishes here. Again, not much value here.

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THE NEXT TIER

Cameron Young (20-1)

It wasn't that long ago that Young crept his way into the group with Scheffler and McIlroy atop the odds chart, but a few poor starts and he's relegated to the second-tier again. I don't expect him to be here that long though. Young has undoubtedly sets his sights on bigger things now that he's got a couple big wins under his belt, but he hasn't performed at his best since his win in Miami. He wasn't a factor at either of the majors after that win, but now that we're getting back to the regular schedule, I think we might see an uptick in his performance.

Justin Thomas (25-1)

Thomas was all over the place this past week at the U.S. Open, but in the end, he managed to land in the top-20. That was his fifth consecutive top-20 on the PGA Tour and while he hasn't produced the high-end finishes that we've become accustomed to, it looks like he's not that far off. Thomas returns to a site this week where he's had some success in recent years, posting top-10s in each of his past three starts at TPC River Highlands. Unlike some guys in the field this week, there should be no worry about a major hangover as Thomas was never in the hunt this past week.

Russell Henley (25-1)

Henley made the cut at the U.S. Open, but he struggled mightily on the weekend. Why then take someone who is coming off such a poor weekend? For starters, it was a U.S. Open course and those courses don't translate to regular tour stops. It's just simply a different game coming from an Open to a regular course. Second, I'm sure Henley is itching to get back out there after his showing this past weekend and flush everything that happened. His track record here isn't great, but he has made the cut in 7/8 starts and he finished runner-up here this past year.     

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LONG SHOTS

Keegan Bradley (50-1) 

Bradley certainly hasn't had the juice this season that he had this past season, but as we know, he's liable to pop any given week. The reason he's on my radar this week is his stellar track record here. He is the defending champ, which is usually a bad sign, but he's already won this event twice and also has a runner-up on his resume. Bradley doesn't have any top-10s this season, so a win out of the blue would be a bit of a surprise, but considering where they are playing this week, a win shouldn't be shocking.  

Brian Harman (55-1)    

Horses for courses, right? Harman loves this track and if his form is anywhere near his best, he's going to be a factor this week. Harman has played here 15 times and made the cut in 13 of those starts. Even better, he's landed in the top-10 in eight of those starts, over half of his starts have ended up with a top-10. He hasn't managed to win here or even finish runner-up, but if he keeps giving himself a chance, one of these years he's going to get a victory. Harman faded over the weekend at the U.S. Open, but he put in a couple good rounds to start the week, so I think his form is good enough to be in the hunt.

ONE-AND-DONE LEAGUES

Highly-Chosen Pick: Xander Schauffele – I'm working on the assumption that Scheffler is no longer available for most OAD teams, so he'll likely not be seen as a highly-chosen pick the rest of the way. That leaves a handful of guys that could be the most popular play this week, but I think that distinction will land with Schauffele, who is playing at a pretty high-level. Schauffele's track record here isn't quite as stout as some others, but he does have a win on his resume.     

Moderately-Chosen Pick: Justin Thomas – Thomas missed the first couple months of the season, so he's likely available to use for most of the OAD players. He won't be the most popular play because there are picks that just look better on paper, but I think Thomas is close to picking up another win. It may not be this week, but I think he'll get one at some point this season. Even if he doesn't win this time, I think he'll continue to play well.

Lightly-Chosen Pick: Cameron Young – I flipped Thomas and Young this week because I think more people will be on Thomas, but I think this is a great spot to take Young. Young has lost much of his momentum from earlier in the season, which means that most OAD players will be looking elsewhere, but as we've seen this season, Young is capable of winning anywhere. It's a bit of a gamble taking Young off a few poor starts, but if you are looking for a lightly-chosen pick, that means you are well back in the standings, and if that's the case, Young looks like a great play.       

Buyer Beware: Sam Burns – I hate to do this as I was high on Burns heading into this past week, but the way he lost might result in some scar tissue. Well, maybe not scar tissue, I don't think it will last a lifetime, but it's definitely going to be tough to get past this week. If these guys were robots, Burns would be a great play, he's got the form and he's played well enough here in the past to make you think he could make a run, but they aren't robots and you could tell that Burns was hurting after his round on Sunday. He'll be fine in the long run, but I don't think he'll have it this week.        

My Pick: Brian Harman – I don't often go with a long shot, especially in a signature event, but I've dug myself into quite the hole so I need to go where most OAD players wouldn't dare. Harman is actually a great play this week, it's just his odds that are likely going to scare off the masses. Harman has a great track record at this event, and even though he hasn't won here, he's been in the top-10 in over half of his starts, which makes for a pretty safe OAD play. His form looked pretty good this past week to start, though he did struggle on the weekend, but as I always say, you can't put too much into someone's form at a major, as majors are so far from what these guys see on a weekly basis.      

Previous Results

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FANDUEL PICKS

Upper Range: Xander Schauffele ($12,100)
Middle Range: Russell Henley ($10,400)
Lower Range: Brian Harman ($8,800)

SURVIVOR LEAGUES

Previous Results