The third men’s major championship of the year is now in the rearview mirror and it’s time to head to New England.
TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut, hosts the 2023 Travelers Championship, the next designated event on the PGA Tour schedule.
Eight of the top nine players in the Official World Golf Ranking are set to tee it up come Thursday: Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay, Viktor Hovland, Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick and Max Homa. This will be the strongest field in the tournament’s history.
Schauffele enters the week as the defending champion after his two-shot win over JT Poston and Sahith Theegala last season.
Golf course
TPC River Highlands | Pair 70 | 6,852 yards
Front-left pin position on the 15th green at TPC River Highlands. (Photo by Riley Hamel / Golfweek)
Course history
Odds
|
Player |
Odds |
Player |
Odds |
|
Scottie Scheffler |
(+600) |
Russell Henley |
(+3500) |
|
Patrick Cantlay |
(+1100) |
Si Woo Kim |
(+4000) |
|
Jon Rahm |
(+1100) |
Rickie Fowler |
(+4000) |
|
Rory McIlroy |
(+1200) |
Matt Fitzpatrick |
(+4000) |
|
Xander Schauffele |
(+1400) |
Hideki Matsuyama |
(+4000) |
|
Viktor Hovland |
(+2000) |
Wyndham Clark |
(+4500) |
|
Tommy Fleetwood |
(+2500) |
Sungjae Im |
(+4500) |
|
Collin Morikawa |
(+2500) |
Max Homo |
(+5000) |
|
Tony Finau |
(+3500) |
Cameron Young |
(+5000) |
|
Tom Kim |
(+3500) |
Jason Day |
(+5500) |
Rory McIlroy (12/1)
Right off the bat, there are a few concerns with McIlroy coming into the week. This will be his fourth straight start and he’s coming off a stressful and disappointing second-place finish at the US Open.
However, he finished inside the top 20 in all four appearances at TPC River Highlands. Before his silver medal in LA, McIlroy tied for ninth at the RBC Canadian Open and for seventh at the Memorial.
Last year, McIlroy looked like he was going to sail to a win in Cromwell. After an opening-round 8-under 62, he was 5 under through 11 holes of round two before a quadruple-bogey on the par-4 12th and a double-bogey on the drivable par-4 15th eliminated all momentum.
A 12/1 number on McIlroy feels like decent value with what we’ve seen from him over the last few weeks.
Tommy Fleetwood (25/1)
Fleetwood has been in the mix for a few weeks now, losing in a playoff at the RBC Canadian Open and tying for 5th at the US Open thanks to a final-round 63.
Last year, Fleetwood finished 46th at the Travelers. However, in 2019, the Englishman grabbed 13th.
Tom Kim (35/1)
Kim is the perfect fit for TPC River Highlands. He hits a lot of fairways — 68.54 percent, fourth on Tour — he’s a great iron player — eighth in SG: Approach — and is coming off a top-10 finish at the US Open after three straight rounds in the 60s to end his week .
He’s yet to play in a Travelers Championship, but don’t be surprised if he’s around the lead Sunday afternoon.
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Story originally appeared on GolfWeek