Well, I am back. I apologize sometimes life, aka, a new blue collar job gets in the way of your one true passion.....blogging/gambling.
I will keep it brief this time, as I am mostly driving around and no longer in a cube. I miss the fans, I miss blogging 1-10 times a week, and I even miss the Indeed janitor. But I am here to provide some PGA picks and potential winners and a brief overview.
The final PGA Tour signature event of the year has arrived, with the 2024 Travelers Championship set to begin on Thursday at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is the 4-1 betting favorite in the 2024 Travelers Championship odds followed by Xander Schauffele (15-2), Ludvig Aberg (16-1), and Collin Morikawa (16-1). Other 2024 Travelers Championship top contenders include Viktor Hovland (22-1), Patrick Cantlay (25-1), and Hideki Matsuyama (28-1). The total 2024 Travelers Championship purse is $20 million, with the winner's share payout listed as $3.6 million. This is a no cut event, and the winner will also received 700 FedEx Cup points.
Scottie Scheffler had an underwhelming showing this past weekend, but he is still the clear favorite this week. He currently sits at +400 to win the tournament.
Xander Schauffele has the second-best odds to win it all, at +750. Schauffele won the Travelers in 2022, where he shot 19-under to win by two strokes.
Rory McIlroy withdrew Monday following a devasting defeat and blown 2-shot lead that got away with a pair of missed putts inside 4-feet on the closing three holes to give Bryson DeChambeau his second U.S. Open title. LOSER!
Here are this weeks picks:
Ludvig Aberg to win outright (+1600)
Ludvig Aberg continues to impress with weeks in contention at majors and other strong results alike. He finished runner-up in his first Masters appearance back in April and more recently finished T5 at the Memorial before a T12 at Pinehurst that saw him hold a solo lead through 36 holes. He finished T24 in his Travelers debut last season despite being way off with his irons; he’s gained strokes on approach in 17 of his last 18 tracked starts so I expect a drastic improvement from the Swede in that area this time around.
Viktor Hovland to win outright (+2200)
Shout out former Co-worker Jim. An opening-round 78 did Viktor Hovland in last week at the U.S. Open, but he rebounded in Round 2 with a 68 while ranking second in true strokes gained approach and 10th from tee to green. He's also gained true strokes off-the-tee and on approach in four consecutive events to respectively rank second and fifth in the metrics in this field leading into the Travelers, and I’m expecting his elite tee and iron game to give him oodles of birdie looks this week. I also think we’re landing a slightly longer price than we should be simply because of one poor round at a course that isn’t the best fit for his game.
Tony Finau to win outright (+4000)
Tony Finau can overpower this track and he’s rolled off four consecutive Top-20 finishes, including a statement T3 showing at the U.S. Open where he paced the field in true strokes gained on approach and was second in true strokes gained tee-to-green. The strong ball-striking is nothing new, either. Finau ranks fifth and seventh in this field in the respective metrics across his past 16 events.
Sepp Straka (+4000)
This is another guy that makes my card this week that felt like a very sexy pick last week. But while nobody else is looking, I like sneaking him in here. His fit for this type of course or why he was a good play last week hasn’t changed. Simply the perception and amount of attention has. He’s finished top-8 in three of his last five starts. He is 15th in the field this week for SG: Off the Tee, 11th in SG: Approach, ninth on the par-4s measuring 300-350 yards, third on the 400-450 yard par-4s, and sixth in Hole Proximity from 150-175 yards. He also won at one of our correlated courses, TPC Deere Run, and was runner-up at TPC Southwind.