Steady Paul Casey, who had moments in the spotlight at last week’s U.S. Open, is the pick this week at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell CT. Casey’s string of five straight finishes in the top 25, including three in the top 10, ended when he finished 26th in the Open. Still it was an exhilarating four days in Erin WI as he opened with an eagle on his first hole, held the lead at various points, and then faded with a weekend performance of 75-74, five over par. Casey has played the Travelers the last two years. After being runner-up to Bubba Watson in 2015, a final-round one-over dropped him off the leaderboard and down to 17th place last year. According to the Hawley course-fit statistics, the areas most highly correlated with success at TPC River Highlands are driving distance, scrambling, and driving accuracy, in that order. Casey ranks just behind Brendan Steele and ahead of Kyle Stanley among this year’s Travelers entrants in overall fitness of his game for the course.
Multiple-times winners Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, and Justin Thomas trail Casey (but not by much) on the list of contenders. Thomas shot the record-breaking 63 on Saturday at the Open while Spieth never got into contention, finishing 35th, and McIlroy spent too much time in the fescue and missed the cut. The full list of picks is below.