Travelers Championship Dark Horse Picks, Sleepers and Longshots (Power, Pereira, & Harman Worth a Look)
By Joe Summers
The U.S. Open this weekend was tremendous television, as Matt Fitzpatrick held off Will Zalatoris and Scottie Scheffler to win his first major and give BetSided's Iain MacMillan a huge +2500 cash.
I'll do my best to follow Iain's lead this week at the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands. You can check out my tournament preview here, but now I want to get into some slept-on golfers that could land us a massive, long-odds payout.
Using the odds from WynnBET Sportsbook, here are my favorite dark horse picks for the Travelers:
Want even more golf betting coverage? Check out this week's episode of "Green on the Greens!"
Travelers Championship Dark Horse Picks and Predictions
Seamus Power (+4500)
It feels like a big win is coming for Power sooner than later. He was T12 at the U.S. Open and T9 at the PGA Championship and has five top-10 finishes already this season. Power is second on Tour in Par-5 Scoring Average, 17th in scrambling percentage, and 32nd in Strokes Gained: Putting.
Most total strokes gained through the first three men's majors of the year:
— Phillip Allen (@PhilAllenTFG) June 20, 2022
Will Zalatoris - 40.12
Rory McIlroy - 38.12
Matt Fitzpatrick - 34.12
Scottie Scheffler - 32.24
Justin Thomas - 26.12
Collin Morikawa - 25.12
Seamus Power - 23.12
Shane Lowry - 20.50
Cameron Smith - 20.50
That's some elite company, but the one thing all those other guys have that Power doesn't is a PGA Tour win.
The real draw for Power is that he excels at approach shots from 125-200 yards, a key statistic in picking a Travelers Championship winner. He's accurate off-the-tee and with his strong putting combined with ninth-best GIR percentage, he'll consistently have birdie opportunities throughout the weekend.
Mito Pereira (+5000)
Mito is too good to have odds this large. He missed the cut at the U.S. Open, but finished in the top-20 in four straight tournaments before that, including two top-10's. Were it not for an errant tee shot on the 18th hole at the PGA Championship, we'd be talking about a major winner here.
Due to that one poor shot, we're getting tremendous odds on a player that fits the profile of a Travelers Championship victor. Pereira ranks ninth in Strokes Gained: Approach, ninth in Par 4 Scoring Average, and 11th in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green this season.
He's an accurate driver and gives himself birdie opportunities by having the seventh-highest GIR percentage on Tour. If Pereira hadn't botched that single shot, we'd be talking about a guy in the +2500 range. To get him at +5000 is a steal based on his performance.
Brian Harman (+5500)
The former Georgia Bulldog seems to love TPC River Highlands and has a real chance to contend this week. He's made the cut in five of his last six events but is still looking for a marquee win.
Brian Harman is another one to pay attention to this week. His previous 4 Travelers Championships @ RBC River Highlands:
— Preston (@FF_Engineer_) June 20, 2022
2021 - 5
2020 - cut
2019 - 8
2018 - 6
Three top-10 finishes on the season + one bring a top-3 finish.
Made cut at 15 of 20 events this season.
Harman is third on Tour in driving accuracy and 14th in Par 4 scoring average while consistently posting great results at this tournament. Familiarity with the course is a crucial predictor for winners here, so Harman's three top-10s in his last four Travelers Championships should pay dividends.
At +5500, Harman is exactly the kind of dart through I'm looking to add to my card at WynnBET this weekend.
Follow all of Joe Summers' betting picks here.