2026-06-24 The Travelers – Majors Challenge

The Travelers

Your weekly guide to fantasy golf on the PGA TOUR

⛳ This week on the PGA TOUR

Tournament: The Travelers
Date: June 25–28, 2026
Venue: TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut
Purse: $20,000,000 (winner $3.6 million)
FedEx Cup Points: 700 to the winner
Cut Rule: No cut
Course Details: Don’t let the scorecard fool you. This week’s host is one of the shortest stops on Tour at just 6,841 yards as a par 70 — a Pete Dye redesign later refined and modernized by Bobby Weed. Cromwell does not need length to create fear. The identity here is short par 4s: 10 holes measure under 450 yards, funneling a steady diet of mid-irons from the 125-175 range and almost nothing from beyond 200. That puts a premium on wedge precision and a hot putter over raw power, and the rough stands out as the course’s best defense. It’s a birdie-maker’s paradise — this is where Jim Furyk fired a 58 and Cameron Young went 59 — but the drama lives in the closing stretch. The drivable 296-yard par-4 15th, with water surrounding left and a giant hill right, tempts everyone, while 16 (par 3 over water) and 17 keep the swings coming right up to the stadium-lined 18th.
Weather: Expect warm, mostly summery conditions in the low 80s for the tournament, with Thursday and Sunday looking the driest and sunniest. Scattered showers are possible Friday and Saturday — both carry around a 35% chance of rain, with Saturday also running cooler in the low 70s.

For the 74th time, the PGA TOUR makes its lone New England stop this week for the Travelers Championship, an event with roots stretching back to 1952 as the Insurance City Open in Hartford before Travelers took over as title sponsor in 2007 and the tournament settled into its longtime home at TPC River Highlands. Beyond the history and one of the largest crowds on Tour each season — second only to the WM Phoenix Open, this week carries real weight: it’s the final Signature Event of the year, the last big-money, elevated-points payday before the FedExCup Playoffs begin in August. The field reflects it. All the top-ranked players on Tour are here with the exception of Rory McIlroy, headlined by world No. 1 and betting favorite Scottie Scheffler, fresh U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark chasing his third win in five starts, and defending champ Keegan Bradley. Add Tommy Fleetwood, Xander Schauffele, Ludvig Åberg, Collin Morikawa, Cameron Young, Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Thomas, and 2017 winner Jordan Spieth, and you’ve got one last loaded leaderboard before the season’s stretch run.

Past Champions:

2025 — Keegan Bradley (−15)
2024 — Scottie Scheffler (−22)
2023 — Keegan Bradley (−23)
2022 — Xander Schauffele (−19)
2021 — Harris English (−13)

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🏌️ Players to Watch (and a Few to Fade)

The week after a U.S. Open grind, the players pivot to one of the most birdie-friendly stops on Tour, and the contrast couldn’t be sharper. Where Shinnecock demanded patience and survival, TPC River Highlands rewards aggression from the opening tee shot — a short, scoreable par 70 where winning scores routinely reach the high teens or low twenties under par. That makes shot-making, sharp wedges, and a hot putter far more valuable than raw length, and it’s why the same names tend to resurface on this leaderboard year after year. Course history matters here as much as anywhere on the schedule, so the players with strong track records around Cromwell deserve a long look. Just as important is the calendar: arriving on the heels of a major makes this a classic letdown trap, where emotionally and physically drained stars can quietly coast through four rounds.

With that balance in mind — proven horses for the course versus familiar names worth a second thought — here’s who to target and who to approach with caution.

Familiar Names:

Scottie Scheffler — The world No. 1 and clear betting favorite is the obvious anchor. He won here in 2024 at 22-under and finished T6 in 2025, and leads the entire PGA Tour in 2026 scoring average with eight top-10s in 13 starts. Elite course fit plus the best form in the field.
Tommy Fleetwood — Runner-up here in 2025, falling one short to Bradley, and a precision ball-striker whose game fits the course beautifully. He’s been excellent in 2026 with six top-10s in 13 starts.
Patrick Cantlay — One of the best course-history plays in the field: he has eight consecutive finishes of T15 or better at the Travelers, and famously shot a 60 at TPC River Highlands as an amateur in 2011. No win yet, but an elite floor.

Justin Thomas — A genuine horse for this course, with three straight top-10 finishes in Connecticut (T-9, T-5, T-9). He’s also rounding into form, having finished fourth at the PGA Championship and T17 at the U.S. Open.

Russell Henley — He nearly broke through here last year with a runner-up finish and has added four other top-20 finishes at the Travelers. The premium on accuracy and wedge play fits his profile as well as anyone’s.
Brian Harman — The ultimate course specialist this week: the 2024 runner-up has finished inside the top 10 five straight times at TPC River Highlands. Easy to overlook, hard to leave out.

Potential Fades:

Wyndham Clark — He’s the hottest player in golf after his second U.S. Open title, and he’s actually played well here (a T9 in 2024). But this is a textbook post-major letdown spot, and several analysts are fading him this week on the theory that grinding is the last thing on his mind. High risk despite the form.
Keegan Bradley — The heart says yes — he’s the defending champ and a two-time winner here — but the form says pump the brakes. His best finish this season is a T12, and he sits No. 76 in the FedExCup standings.
Viktor Hovland — His elite iron play is a perfect fit for these small greens, but he’s a boom-or-bust option whose short game and putter have been genuine weaknesses, and last week’s missed cut is a reminder of how quickly it can unravel.

🧐 Did You Know?

The lowest round in PGA Tour history happened here. Jim Furyk shot a 58 at TPC River Highlands in 2016 — still the only sub-59 round in Tour history. The course is also a scoring magnet beyond that: Cameron Young’s 59 in 2024 made the Travelers the first PGA Tour event ever with multiple sub-60 rounds, joining Furyk’s 58 and the 60 Patrick Cantlay fired here as a 19-year-old amateur in 2011.

It hosted one of the longest playoffs in Tour history. Harris English outlasted Kramer Hickok in a sudden-death playoff that went eight holes in 2021 — tied for the second-longest sudden-death playoff in PGA Tour history. The closing stretch tends to deliver drama, from Jordan Spieth’s walk-off holed bunker shot in the 2017 playoff to Keegan Bradley’s birdie on the 72nd hole last year.

Defending a title here is nearly impossible. Despite annually drawing one of the biggest crowds on Tour, there hasn’t been a successful back-to-back title defense at the Travelers since Phil Mickelson won in 2001 and 2002 — a quirk worth watching as two-time champ Keegan Bradley tries to defend his 2025 crown.

The Tour’s quirkiest “island green” floats in a pond. Between the 15th and 16th holes sits “The Umbrella at 15½” — a 40-foot-wide floating green shaped like the Travelers umbrella logo. During a practice round, pros can win $10,000 — donated by Travelers — for the charity of their choice by making the first hole-in-one or landing closest to the pin on the roughly 85-yard “Par 1.” What began as a brand-promotion lark has become a wildly popular charity challenge, with an official paddling out by canoe to measure each shot — and as Golf Digest put it, the Tour’s true island green resides at River Highlands, all due respect to Sawgrass.

🤔 Fantasy Strategy

The fantasy formula at TPC River Highlands is different from the survival test players just endured at the U.S. Open. This is a birdie-fest where you want aggressive scorers, not grinders — a short par 70 where 10 holes measure under 450 yards and approaches cluster in the 125-175 range, with very few from beyond 200. That’s the key reason we keep coming back to strokes gained: approach — and this is one week where it matters as much as ever, if not more. With so many wedges and short irons in hand, the players who stuff it close from scoring range pile up the looks that win shootouts, which is why strong iron play has historically prevailed here. The one caveat: because nearly everyone hits a lot of greens at a course this short, the putter becomes the tiebreaker — SG: Approach gets you in position, but birdie conversion separates the winners. Two more angles to lean on: course history is unusually sticky here, so players with strong track records around Cromwell tend to repeat, and the no-cut format means every golfer you roster is guaranteed four rounds.

With the chalk already covered, here are five under-the-radar names whose profiles fit the course and who can quietly post a big week.

Sleepers to Consider:

J.J. Spaun — Outside the majors, he’s been one of the most consistent players on Tour. Over a recent six-start non-major stretch, his worst finish was a T-25, with results of first, T-25, T-14, T-5, T-6, and T-12. A precision-based game that travels well to a course like this.

Kurt Kitayama — A stats-model favorite this week. He ranks sixth on Tour in both SG: Approach and proximity from 125-175 yards, and seventh in greens in regulation — exactly the skill set this course rewards most. The putter is the swing factor, but the ball-striking floor is high.

Ben Griffin — Real course form to back the profile: he posted a T-14 here in 2025 and bounced back from a tired stretch to finish T-17 at the U.S. Open. Trending in the right direction at the right time.
Akshay Bhatia — He’s flashed serious upside at this venue, going toe-to-toe with Scheffler before fading late for a T-5 here in 2024, and he ranks among the top 10 in the field in Birdies or Better Gained — the single trait that wins shootouts at Cromwell.

Tom Hoge — One of the quietest elite iron players in the game. He’s among the top 10 in the field in approach proximity from 100-175 yards, the exact range this course demands over and over. Rarely a household pick, but a strong fit to grind out a top-20.

⭐️ Pro Tip: With a no-cut field guaranteed four rounds on one of the Tour’s shortest, most birdie-friendly courses, lean into elite iron play and red-hot putters — this is a week to chase upside and aggressive scorers, not safe, steady grinders.

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❎ One-and-Done Corner

The Travelers Championship carries a $20,000,000 purse, with $3,600,000 going to the winner. That matches the other Signature Events on the PGA Tour calendar and still makes this a high-value week for One and Done pools, coming directly off the U.S. Open. With The Open Championship and the FedEx Cup Playoffs still remaining, some save logic applies for the very top options. However, this is still a week where deploying strong golfers makes sense, and playing to your position in the standings becomes increasingly important.

➔ View Strokes Gained: Approach rankings on PGA TOUR

For one-and-done this week, target a precision iron player over a bomber — TPC River Highlands is short enough that distance is largely neutralized, and strong iron play has historically prevailed here, so the profile that wins is the player who controls his wedges and short irons rather than the one who overpowers the course. That makes SG: Approach (again) the single most important category to weigh: with the field hitting a steady diet of scoring-range approaches from 125-175 yards and almost nothing from beyond 200, the golfers who consistently stuff it close generate the volume of birdie looks needed to keep pace in what is annually a birdie-fest, with a hot putter as the tiebreaker that separates contenders from winners. Lean further toward players with proven course history, since results here are unusually sticky year to year, and don’t overlook the strategic gift of the no-cut format — because every entrant is guaranteed four rounds, your pick carries no missed-cut risk, which makes this a sensible week to deploy a strong-but-not-elite ball-striker you’re comfortable burning while saving your true studs for a higher-variance week down the stretch.

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