Travelers Championship 2025: Predictions, Best Bets

A week after a grueling test at the U.S. Open, players will get a bit of a break at this week’s Travelers Championship. 

TPC River Highlands, located just outside Hartford, Connecticut, will host the PGA Tour signature event.

It is one of the easier courses on Tour, with the winning score coming in at 19-under or better in four of the last five years. 

Scottie Scheffler headlines the field and has the best odds to win at +275. Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Ludvig Aberg are among the stars also teeing it up.

Scheffler is also the defending champion.

When it comes to metrics, I will be prioritizing the following: Strokes Gained: Approach, Proximity 100-150 yards, Birdie or Better Gained, Double Bogey Avoidance and Strokes Gained: Putting.

*Odds as of June 17

Travelers Championship Prediction

Scottie Scheffler is predicted to win the U.S. Open with a 26.67% implied probability, according to betting markets. Rory McIlroy is next at 7.69%.

Implied probability is the overall chance of a potential outcome in relation to the odds.

Travelers Championship Best Bets

Patrick Cantlay Outright Winner (+2000)

Cantlay hasn’t won a PGA Tour event since the 2022 BMW Championship, so he’s beyond due.

Returning to Hartford could give him good vibes for a few reasons. It was where he made his professional debut on the PGA Tour in 2012 and set the then-course record (60) as an amateur the year prior.

Cantlay hasn’t finished worse than T-15 in seven starts since 2018, including back-to-back top-5 finishes. 

He rates high in several key metrics, including ninth in Strokes Gained: Approach among all players in the field over the last 24 rounds, according to Fantasy National. 

Coming off a missed cut at the U.S. Open, he will be more refreshed than most players in the field and can fall back on top-12 finishes in the last two PGA Tour signature events.

Given his track record, he will likely put himself in a position to win come the weekend, where he’ll have a chance to snap a nearly three-year winless drought. 

Rory McIlroy Top-10 Finish (+120)

McIlroy seemed to find something at Oakmont over the weekend, finishing T-19 and +7 after entering the third round at +6.

The key to that turnaround was his driver, as he gained close to two strokes off the tee overall, after losing strokes at the RBC Canadian Open the week prior.

McIlroy has had some good results here before, finishing no worse than T-19 in five starts overall and a T-7 in his last appearance in 2023.

Getting McIlroy at this number to finish inside the top 10 in a 70-player field seems like some solid value that may not be there again anytime soon.

Brian Harman Top-20 Finish (+200)

Harman has a tremendous course history at TPC River Highlands, logging four straight top-10 finishes.

Sure, he doesn’t enter in the best form, with his best finish being T-46 in his last five events, but he finished T-3 back in April at the RBC Heritage, where Harbour Town Golf Links is a Pete Dye design, just like TPC River Highlands. 

This seems like a prime week for Harman to get back on track.