2023 Travelers Championship Preview, Picks & Analysis

GOLF fans are being spoilt right now. All of the world’s best players will be in action at the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands, the latest of the PGA Tour’s elevated tournaments.

Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy are the star attractions as Xander Schauffele defends the title he won here 12 months ago. They are joined by Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa, Tony Finau, Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa.

Rahm’s victories this year have come at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, The American Express, The Genesis Invitational and the Masters. He won by four shots at Augusta National to secure his second major championship; he won the U.S. Open in 2021. Rahm is enjoying top-10 finishes for fun this year and has won at least one tournament on the PGA TOUR every season since turning professional in 2016, which ties him with Thomas for the longest active streak with a victory.

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

Viktor Hovland and Tommy Fleetwood will also be playing this week.

Hovland made his professional debut at the Travelers Championship in 2019. He tied for second last week at the PGA Championship, his best finish in a major. He also tied for third at The Players Championship was T7 at The Masters and then claimed The Memorial at Muirfield Village. His other PGA Tour victories came at the 2020 Puerto Rico Open, and at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in 2020 and 2021.

Fleetwood’s most recent victory on the DP World Tour was at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in 2022, a tournament he also won in 2019. Fleetwood has had several strong major championship performances in his career, including second-place finishes at The Open Championship in 2019 and at the U.S. Open in 2018. He tied for fourth at The Open Championship in 2022 and was fourth at the U.S. Open in 2017. But a win on the PGA Tour continues to elude him.

Cameron Young, the 2022 rookie of the year, makes his first appearance at TPC River Highlands.  He finished T3 at the US PGA Championship last year and was second at The Open Championship, one of five runner-up finishes throughout the season. This year, he finished second in the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play and was T7 at The Masters. Young was also a member of the victorious 2022 U.S. Presidents Cup team.

A player who has been knocking on the door all season is Denny McCarthy. He was born in Rockville on March 30, 1993 and has made around 160 states without a win. He was bitterly disappointed to lose The Memorial to Hovland in a playoff. But the truth is that he is having an outstanding season, with six top-five finishes and 19 top-10 finishes.

He joined the PGA Tour in 2018 and has won around $13m in prize money, so he is no mug.  He had a successful amateur career, representing the USA at both the Eisenhower Trophy in 2014 and the walker Cup in 2015. He is one of a number of PGA Tour players who lists table tennis among his interests.

The Travelers Championship has a rich history of supporting the community and donates 100% of its net proceeds to charities. More than $25m has been generated by the tournament for nearly 900 local charities since 2007.

Form Guide

Where to start? Scottie Scheffler? Jon Rahm? Rory McIlroy? Viktor Hovland? You could easily make a case for each and every one of them. But this looks like a course that is made for Max Homa

The Course

TPC River Highlands is a par 70 designed by Robert Ross in 1928 and updated by Pete Dye in 1982 and Bobby Weed in 1989. The course record is 58, achieved by Jim Furyk in 2016. It measures just 6,841 yards and you can be certain that the winning score will be low. It features plenty of trees and gently rolling terrain.

Travelers Championship Tournament Winners

It was won in 2015 and 2018 by Bubba Watson, in 2016 by Russell Knox, in 2017 by Jordan Spieth, in 2019 by Chez Reavie, in 2020 by Dustin Johnson, in 2021 by Harris English and last year by Xander Schauffele.

Travelers Championship Picks & Tips

To win:

Max Homa. Looking for third win of season

Each way:

Tony Finau. As consistent as they come

Each way:

Rory McIlroy. If he drives well he could tear this course to shreds

Five To Follow

Max Homa. World-class

Tony Finau. Impressive in everything he does

Rory McIlroy. Just happy to be out on the course doing what he does best

Xander Schauffele. Great short game

Scottie Scheffler. Another week, another top-10 finish at worst

Four Outsiders To Watch

Denny McCarthy. Is quietly having a very good season

Ludvig Aberg. A young player with a big future

Adam Schenk. Getting used to finding his name on the leaderboard

Matt Kuchar. Still one of golf’s hardest workers