PGA Power Rankings: The 2019 Travelers Championship

We do a lot of DFS site specific coverage here at FantasyCPR, so in an effort to bring in new golf fans, and look at Fantasy Golf as a whole, I am excited to bring you my PGA Power Rankings for this weeks Travelers Championship, taking place at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, CT.

This PGA Power Rankings article will cover the top 20 golfers for this event, and with each golfer will come a short blurb with some justification to their respective rankings. Before we do that, let’s touch briefly on the history of the this event.

PGA Power Rankings: The 2019 Travelers Championship – Course and History

We now have three major championships in the books in 2019 after an epic win for Gary Woodland at the U.S. Open, and the PGA Tour will now head across the country to Cromwell, Connecticut for the Travelers Championshp at TPC River Highlands. This event itself dates back to 1952, and Travelers Companies has been the sponsor since 2007.

For the first time in what seems like ages, we find ourselves at a bombers course once again. TPC River Highlands is not at a long course at under 6,900 yards, and there are only two par-fives. Bubba Watson is just many of the bomber types who have won here, and he will return this week after an awful couple days around the greens at Pebble Beach.

Watson is a three-time champ and the defending champ as well, but he looks to have some very stiff competition this year, as this is a pretty solid field overall. Jordan Spieth, Marc Leishman, and Russell Knox are all also former Travelers Championship champions, and all will be in the field this week. Brooks Koepka, Paul Casey, and Patrick Cantlay are among the big names on tour who will join them. Without further ado, let’s dig into this weeks PGA Power Rankings.

PGA Power Rankings: The 2019 Travelers Championship

***The following golfers are my top 20 overall in this weeks field. Each golfer will be followed by their official golf world ranking (OWGR) in parenthesis.***

20. Russell Knox – (71)

Let’s start this week by saying 15-25 are all relatively close for me rankings wise, and this range was fairly difficult to narrow down. We have some youngsters making pro debuts in Viktor Hovland and Matthew Wolff, and there will be a ton of eyes on golf’s next wave as they look to make a name for themselves immediately. While they won’t quite crack the top 20 this week, they are actually a lot closer than you might think. Also meddled in that not quite top 20 range are Brandt Snedeker, Emiliano Grillo, and Benny An.

Moving on to Knox, he was the 2016 Travelers Championship champ with a score of 14-under par, as he held off Jerry Kelly by a stroke. He has started this tournament in each of the last seven years, and has missed just one cut, and he also withdrew the year before his win. In recent action, Knox missed the cut at the PGA Championship, but followed it with a T-8 at the Charles Schwab Challenge, and a T-27 at the Memorial.

19. Charley Hoffman – (76)

Hoffman does not have stellar recent form, but is one of the obvious course horses this week. He has played the Travelers Championship in eight of the last ten years, and has not missed a cut. That span includes three top-tens, with a T-3 in 2017 being the most recent.

He was actually on a solid run of six straight trips to the weekend, highlighted by a T-13 at the Charles Schwab Challenge and a solo second at the Valero Texas Open, but missed the cut at the Memorial in his last action. With plenty of time to prepare at a course he plays well, Hoffman sneaks into the top-20 this week over the young guns.

18. Kevin Streelman – (92)

We do not have many of the 40-something grinders in this field like Matt Kuchar, Jimmy Walker, Jim Furyk types, but Kevin Streelman sort of fits that mold this week. He cracks the top-20 this week for the first time this season, as he is playing pretty decent golf as of late, and is another past champion here at TPC River Highlands, capturing victory in 2014.

His course history is good and bad, but he is a regular here so we have plenty to look at. Not missing a Travelers Championship in the last ten years, Streelman has three top-tens, and three missed cuts.  He followed back-to-back missed cuts in 2015 and 2016 with a T-8 in 2017, and a T-33 last year.

He has done it pretty quietly, but Streelman is actually putting together a solid 2019. He has made five straight cuts at the moment, with three top-tens, and he comes in this week off of a solo fourth place finish at the Memorial. In pretty impressive fashion, Streelman has as many top-tens in 2019 (four), as he has missed cuts.

17. Jason Kokrak – (69)

While he didn’t qualify for the U.S. Open which is unfortunate, Kokrak is still on an incredible stretch of making cuts, which dates back the 2018 Open Championship. He is making cuts every week, but the consistency has been a little shaky as of late. Kokrak dropped to a T-62 finish with a poor weekend in his last action at the Memorial, but overall he has been more good than bad. In total, Kokrak has eight top-20’s in thirteen total events in 2019, with his best finish his T-2 at the Valspar Championship.

Here at TPC River Highlands, you would think a bomber like Kokrak has a little better history than he does, but that is not the case. He has played the Travelers Championships five times since 2012, and has two missed cuts, including last year. His best finish here was a T-26 back in 2016. Despite the mediocre history in this event, his recent form and course fit keep him inside the top 20 this week.

16. Patrick Reed – (25)

Reed is having a poor 2019, as he is yet to crack a top-ten in any event yet this season. He hasn’t played very much as of late, but after a missed cut at the PGA Championship, he was able to make the weekend at Pebble Beach last week, and finish T-32.

Although the good finishes have not been there, Reed is still consistently making cuts, having missed just two all year. Being a bomber, he fits the mold well here at TPC River Highlands, but his game around the green is the big worry. His results here in the past have been up-and-down at best.

For seven straight years Reed has teed it up here at the Travelers Championship. He has missed three cuts including last year, and his best finish was a T-5 in 2017. It seems like many others in this field, Reed could easily go either way this week.

PGA Power Rankings: The 2019 Travelers Championship

15. Chez Reavie – (48)

Reavie is not really your household name, and he cracks the top fifteen for the first time in my PGA Power Rankings this season. After an impressive T-3 at the U.S. Open last week following a missed cut at the Charles Schwab Challenge, it is safe to say that MC was just a slight hiccup. Prior to that missed cut, Reavie also impressed at the PGA Championship where he T-14. He hit a little funk in late March after a solid start to 2019, but has made five of his last six cuts, with three top-20’s in that span.

Here at the Travelers Championships, Reavie has been pretty solid as well over the last ten years. He missed the cut for the first time last year in that span, and his best finish was a T-11 back in 2012. The cut-making history is great here, but the finishes have not been. His recent form and performances in major championships shoot him up the rankings a bit this week.

14. Phil Mickelson – (26)

Phil isn’t as long of the tee as he used to be, but he can still get it out there a good bit. Surprisingly, he has no recent history here at the Travelers Championship, as he will be teeing it up here for at least the first time in over ten years. However, digging a bit further, Mickelson did win back-to-back championships here, way back in 2001 and 2002.

He has been struggling basically since his win at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and the recent form is very shoddy. Mickelson cracked the top-20 with a T-18 at the Masters, but in four events since, he has missed two cuts, and had poor finishes of T-71 at the PGA Championship, and T-52 last week at the U.S. Open.

13. Bubba Watson – (22)

Speaking of struggling as of late, the PGA Power Rankings sort of had a WTF moment on what to do with Bubba this week. Watson is a three-time champ here at the Travelers Championship, with wins in 2010, 2015, and last year. On top of the wins, you can add two additional top-fives over the last ten years, and just one missed cut back in 2017. That stretch here at TPC River Highlands is easily the best in the field, but it has how Watson has played recently is what is holding him out of the top ten this week.

In almost the same course of action as Mickelson, Watson also played well at the Masters with a T-12 finish. However, he has been nothing short of a disaster in his last three. He missed the cut at the PGA Championship and last week at the U.S. Open, and T-63 at the RBC Canadian Open. Although he is long off the tee and leads this field in the key stat this week here at the Travelers Championship, he was horrendous around the greens last week at Pebble Beach, another key metric. It will be very interesting to see what happens with Bubba this week.

12. Tony Finau – (16)

If you believe in weird trends, this may be a week we get the good Finau. Basically over the course of the season, only really skewed by the Match Play event, it seems like he goes decent finish, followed by two bad weeks, followed by another good one. After a T-5 at the Masters, Finau had back-to-back finishes in the 60’s at the Wells Fargo Championship and the PGA Championship, followed by a solo second at the Charles Schwab Challenge.

Since then, he has now missed two straight cuts at the Memorial, and at the U.S. Open last week, so maybe that means he bounces back again? Finau is certainly a course fit being as long off the tee as he is, and if he can get hot with the putter he has what it takes to win here. This will be his fourth Travelers Championship, and he has not finished worse than T-25 here at TPC River Highlands in his three previous trips.

11. Marc Leishman – (23)

It seems like ages ago now, but it actually was just last fall and winter when Leishman had a stretch in which he was a threat to win anywhere he teed it up. Things have changed of course, and Leishman had some struggles at times this season, but he seems to be getting back on track as of late.

After a solo fifth place finish at the Memorial, Leishman T-35 at Pebble Beach last week. The finish at the Memorial marked his fifth top-five of 2019, but his first since way back at the Genesis Open. He has just two missed cuts this year and has been pretty consistent all around.

Also another regular here at the Travelers Championship, Leishman has played in each of the last seven years since his win back in 2012. He made the cut every year except last year, and added an additional top-ten with a T-11 back in 2016.

PGA Power Rankings: The 2019 Travelers Championship

10. Louis Oosthuizen – (21)

Cracking the top-ten this week, we start with Louis Oosthuizen. Oosty has missed just two cuts in 2019 as well as many others before him it seems, and he comes into TPC River Highlands off of yet another solid showing in a major, as he T-7 last week at Pebble Beach. It was an impressive bounce back at a course that played extremely difficult as we seen, and Oosty showed flashes of brilliance at times, after a couple of mediore finishes coming in.

This will be Oosthuizens fourth Travelers Championship over the last ten years, and his first since his T-17 back in 2016. He missed the cut the year prior, and finished T-47 in 2012. His game is not an ideal fit being he is in the middle of the pack in driving, but his game around the greens is some of the best on tour, and that should help him here a bit with scoring on the par fours.

9. Bryson DeChambeau – (10)

If this field was just a hair stronger in the few players ranked here before DeChambeau, there is a great chance he would not have cracked the top ten this week. However, his game fits the mold here at TPC River Highlands, and he has improved on his finish in each of the last three years at the Travelers Championship.

It started with a T-47 in 2016, which was followed by a T-26 in 2017. Then last year, DeChambeau was finally able to crack the top-ten with a T-9 finish. He has had his struggles as of late missing cuts in three of his last five events, but he has now made two straight, following up his T-22 at the Memorial with a T-35 at Pebble Beach last week. He has not cracked the top-20 since the Genesis Open, but he is a proven winner, who seems to be closer to rounding into form.

8. Justin Thomas – (7)

Thomas has played very limited since his wrist injury, and although that is clearly behind him, he is still yet to shake off the rust. After a T-12 at the Masters, it looked as though Thomas was going to be back, but it just is not working out. He missed the cut at the Memorial after a near two month layoff that included missing the PGA Championship due to the injury, but was able to follow that with a respectable T-20 at the RBC Canadian Open in his next action. However, he slipped again last week with his missed cut at the U.S. Open.

Along with the shaky form, his history here at the Travelers Championship is not so great either. He had one good finish in 2016 with a T-3 at 14-under par, but he has also missed two cuts in five chances over the last six years. Thomas finished just 2-under par here last year, and T-56. He seems to be a step behind DeChambeau as far as getting back to form goes, but the 26-year-old former worlds number one ranked golfer gets the slight nod this week at the eight spot in this weeks PGA Power Rankings.

7. Tommy Fleetwood – (20)

Another first timer here at TPC River Highlands, Fleetwood is another consistent cut-maker, who also happens to be struggling for that extra push for big finishes. After his back-to-back top fives back in March at the Florida swing, Fleetwood’s best finish on this side of the pond was his T-25 at the RBC Heritage. He made the weekend in all three major championships up to this point, but his best finish was his T-36 at the Masters. Fleetwood T-65 at Pebble Beach last weekend, after shooting three straight rounds of 73.

6. Francesco Molinari – (6)

After his T-5 at the Masters, shortly after his win at the Players Championship where he got insanely hot, things cooled off quite a bit for the 36-year-old Italian. Molinari first missed the cut at the RBC Heritage, which happened to be his first missed cut since the Northern Trust last fall. He then T-48 at the PGA Championship, and wasn’t much better at the Charles Schwab Challenge, finishing T-53. However, he bounced-back quite nicely last week at Pebble Beach, with a T-16 finish at the U.S. Open.

This will be Molinari’s first Travelers Championship since 2016, and just his second in our ten year window. He T-25 in 2015, and T-47 in 2016. Although not the longest off the tee, Molinari is a magician on and around the greens, and if he gets hot again, he could easily grab another win this week.

PGA Power Rankings: The 2019 Travelers Championship

5. Jason Day – (18)

So we dig into the top five in this weeks PGA Power Rankings, and we have no shortage of star power coming up. Jason Day gets us started at number five, as he will tee it up for just the fourth time in the last ten years at the Travelers Championship. He T-18 in his debut in 2014, but after a two year layoff he missed the cut in 2017. He bounced back well last year though, and T-12 at 11-under par.

Day has not had a big finish since his T-5 at the Masters this year, but he does have four total top-tens in 12 events in 2019. Following the Masters, Day has finished between 21st and 24th in three of his last four events, and missed one cut in that span as well. He comes into TPC River Highlands off of a T-21 at Pebble Beach.

More from FanSided

• Thunder projected lineup and rotations heading into 2023-24 season
• NWSL Challenge Cup news: Courage ruthless against Washington, Racing remain perfect
• 2023 Women’s World Cup: Ary Borges and Brazil showed the entire world what they are about
• Trea Turner’s rough season goes from bad to worse
• Brewers attempt to troll Elly De La Cruz backfires 456 feet

4. Jordan Spieth – (29)

Despite the poor weekend at the U.S. Open, I am having a hard time thinking the T-65 finish after rounds of 73 on Saturday and 76 on Sunday was nothing more than a minor hiccup. Spieth came into Pebble Beach off of three straight top-tens, highlighted by his T-3 at the PGA Championship, and I don’t think the Spieth we saw on the weekend will be the one we see at TPC River Highlands this week.

He won here in his Travelers Championship debut in 2017, and T-42 last year in the midst of a cold stretch. It is pretty evident in my opinion that Spieth just needs to keep his confidence throughout each round. He is his own worst enemy it appears at times, and if he can drain some putts early and start out solid, I would fully expect another top-ten at the very least.

3. Paul Casey – (15)

It isn’t a huge sample size by any means, but what Casey has done here at TPC River Highlands and the TPC River Highlands over the last four years is too good to ignore. It started in 2015 when Casey lost in a playoff to Bubba Watson and had to settle for a solo second place finish. He once again came up short of Watson last year, and T-2 for a second time, and he also T-5 in 2017, and T-17 in 2016.

Casey has had a couple of surprise missed cuts as of late, and a random withdrawal after a nasty virus at the Charles Schwab Challenge, but he comes into this week off of a T-21 at the U.S. Open last week. With his history here, and the overall course fit with the short game and length off the tee, I think we see Casey sneak into the top-five this week.

2. Patrick Cantlay – (8)

Being a California native, and coming off of a win at the Memorial Tournament, Cantlay looked like he was in a great spot to make a run at the U.S. Open last week. The win had given him four straight top tens including at the previous two major championships, and he comes into TPC River Highlands not only in some of the best recent form in the field, but a perfect course fit as well.

Cantlay T-15 last year in his first Travelers Championship since 2014 when he missed the cut. The only thing that really held him back from a better finish last week was his putter, and if he can get that back this week, he should right back in the mix.

1. Brooks Koepka – (1)

Koepka was oh-so close again at Pebble Beach, but Gary Woodland just would not make a mistake and he had to settle for a solo second place finish in his bid for the U.S. Open three-peat. He now has four top-fives in his last five events, and finished no worse than second place in any of the three 2019 major championships to date.

He took a big step ahead of Dustin Johnson in my personal overall rankings, as he is just a step ahead of everyone else at a more consistent pace than everyone else on tour at the moment. This will be Koepka’s fourth Travelers Championshp, and his best finish was a T-9 in 2016. He T-19 last year.

Thanks for stopping by FantasyCPR and checking out my PGA Power Rankings, and our ever-expanding fantasy golf coverage. Be sure to keep an eye out for my FanDuel article coming soon. All information from this article is derived from OWGR, (cited previously) Data Golf, and Smart Golf Bets. Much thanks as always to these free sources of information.

Please give me a follow on Twitter with the link at the top of the page, and feel free to ask any PGA DFS questions if you wish. Good luck with your Fantasy Golf this weekend!