When the initial field for the Travelers Championship was released last Friday evening, Jordan Spieth was omitted.
But shortly after that, the 2017 winner of the event was a late addition, and the golf betting world took notice.
As of Tuesday morning at the BetMGM online sportsbook, Spieth is the betting favorite for the event. He’s pulling in the most handle at 12.6% and the second-most tickets at 6.1%.
With that being said, Spieth doesn’t enter in the best form – one top 10 in his last four events – and besides his win in 2017, he hasn’t had much success at TPC River Highlands.
After the win in his tournament debut, his best finish at the event is a T-42, which came in 2018. In 2019 he missed the cut, in 2020 he was T-54, and he did not play last year.
So, why is Spieth such a popular play?
When looking at course comps for TPC River Highlands, TPC Deer Run and Colonial Country Club come to mind, and Spieth has also won at those courses – 2013 John Deere Classic (TPC Deer Run) and 2016 Dean & DeLuca Invitational (Colonial Country Club).
Spieth has +2500 golf odds to win, which are seventh-best in the field.
Scottie Scheffler (+1000) is also a popular play this week. He’s drawing the second-most handle (8.6%) and the most tickets (7.9%).
This has everything to do with his play this year and nothing to do with course history. He’s played the event the last two years, finishing T-47 a year ago and missing the cut in 2020.
Scheffler is coming off a T-2 finish at the U.S. Open last week and, of course, has won four times already this season.
Current Handle & Tickets
Handle
- Jordan Spieth – 12.6%
- Scottie Scheffler – 8.6%
- Patrick Cantlay – 8.4%
- Rory McIlroy – 5.2%
- Marc Leishman – 5%
Tickets
- Scottie Scheffler – 7.9%
- Jordan Spieth – 5.4%
- Rory McIlroy – 5.7%
- Seamus Power – 4.5%
- Justin Thomas – 4.4%
McIlroy has the best odds to win at +1000 and is playing well of late. He won at the RBC Canadian Open two weeks ago and was T-5 last week at the U.S. Open. He’s played the Travelers three times, and his worst finish is a T-17.
Patrick Cantlay, another popular play, has +1600 odds to win.
Harris English is the defending champion, and he has +10000 odds to win as he’s played very little this year following hip surgery.
