Betting the Travelers Championship: The best bets, DFS tips and fades - ESPN

The PGA heads to TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut, for the Travelers Championship.

The profile for this week is an elite short-iron player who creates birdie chances, gains around the greens when misses happen and has enough putting upside to win a race to 15 under.

Approach is the foundation, but if we can learn anything from year's past, it's that season-long putting is less indicative; meaning I care more about recent spikes. Is a player solid everywhere else in his game that if he putts lights out, he contends? That's what we're looking for this weekend.

Odds by DK Sports (with ties) and subject to change.

Aaron Rai

Top 20 +136

Top 10 +345

Top 5 +790

To win +5500

Rai has the textbook profile: hits fairways, has elite short irons and avoids mistakes. He's first in accuracy and in the top 16 on approach, tee-to-green and around the green. The putting is the question mark here, but you're not betting the putter. Rai hits with control and if he does so again this week, we know he's capable of spiking with the putter, having gained nearly seven strokes to win the PGA Championship. Plus, he finished T24 and T17 on the course in back to back years losing with his irons, something he's done just twice all season. He has the template to win.

Scottie Scheffler

Top 5 -102

To win +450

Scheffler's profile is pure Travelers DNA; first on approach and from tee-to-green, and third in greens in regulation. He's a proven winner on tour but also proven on this course as he won the 2024 version and has recently finished top six in two of his last three starts. He's stayed neutral around the green all season, but because his ballstriking is so elite and poa annua (annual bluegrass) is his best putting surface,