The withdrawals of Brooks Koepka and Webb Simpson from the 2020 Travelers Championship made headlines on Wednesday, just one day before the first 2020 Travelers Championship tee times on Thursday. Neither Koepka nor Simpson has tested positive for coronavirus, but they were among five players to withdraw from the event. Koepka's caddie tested positive for COVID-19, as did Cameron Champ. Without Koepka, the fourth-ranked player in the world, and Simpson, who won last week at the RBC Heritage and is ranked No. 5, the 2020 Travelers Championship field could be even more wide open.
World No. 1 Rory McIlroy is atop the 2020 Travelers Championship odds at 12-1 despite not finishing in the top 30 in the last two weeks. Justin Thomas and Bryson DeChambeau are close behind McIlroy at 14-1. Before locking in any 2020 Travelers Championship picks or entering any PGA DFS tournaments on sites like FanDuel and DraftKings, be sure to see the golf predictions and projected leaderboard from the proven computer model at SportsLine.
SportsLine's prediction model, built by DFS pro Mike McClure, has nailed two of the last three majors entering the weekend. It predicted Gary Woodland's first career major championship at the U.S. Open even though he wasn't the favorite entering the weekend. The result: Woodland held off a late charge from Brooks Koepka and won by three strokes. The model also called Koepka's historic victory at the 2019 PGA Championship, predicting he'd hold his lead in the home stretch.
In all, their advanced computer model has nailed a whopping six majors entering the weekend. And already this season, the model called Justin Thomas (15-2) winning the CJ Cup, Rory McIlroy (11-2) taking down the WGC-HSBC Champions and Viktor Hovland (11-1) earning his first career PGA Tour victory at the Puerto Rico Open.
McClure also returned a whopping +788 during the 2020 Charles Schwab Challenge, including nailing top-five bets on Xander Schauffele +650 and Collin Morikawa +900. Additionally, the model was extremely high on 30-1 long shot winner Webb Simpson at the RBC Heritage last week. The model had him in the top five from the start and McClure's best bets included Simpson winning outright. Those who followed that advice saw a whopping +3000 return. Anyone who has followed his golf picks has seen huge returns.
Now that the Travelers Championship 2020 field is locked, SportsLine simulated the event 10,000 times, and the results were surprising. Head to SportsLine now to see the full projected leaderboard.
The model's top 2020 Travelers Championship predictions
One huge shocker the model is calling for at the Travelers Championship 2020: Bryson DeChambeau, a five-time PGA Tour champion and one of the top Vegas favorites, stumbles and barely cracks the top five. He comes into this week with momentum after recording five straight finishes of ninth or better, but driving accuracy has been holding him back from better results.
He's outside the top 50 on the PGA Tour in greens in regulation (69.02 percent), making it challenging for him to string together four strong rounds. He's been plagued by poor Saturday play as well. He's shot 70 or higher on Saturday in all but two events this year, including a disastrous Saturday 76 at the Safeway Open. The model has factored that in and is fading him this week, making him one of 2020 Travelers Championship favorites to avoid in this loaded field.
Another surprise: Sungjae Im, a massive 35-1 long shot, makes a strong run at the title. He has a much better chance to win it all than his odds imply, so he's a target for anyone looking for a huge payday. The 22-year-old Korean superstar has been playing well throughout the 2019-20 PGA schedule, including a standout performance in a losing effort at the Presidents Cup.
The 20th-ranked player in the world, Im captured his first PGA Tour victory just before the coronavirus outbreak by winning the Honda Classic. Im followed that with a third-place finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and a 10th at the Charles Schwab Challenge three weeks ago. Those efforts have vaulted him over $4 million in earnings already and he's up to third in the FedEx Cup standings. Im fared well in his maiden performance at TPC River Highlands, placing 21st last season. With plenty of momentum, Im has all the skills needed to climb the 2020 Travelers Championship leaderboard starting Thursday.
How to make 2020 Travelers Championship picks
Also, the model says four other golfers with odds of 25-1 or longer will make a strong run at the title. Anyone who backs these underdogs could hit it big. You can only see them here.
So who wins the 2020 Travelers Championship? And which long shots stun the golfing world? Check out the odds below and visit SportsLine now to see the projected 2020 Travelers Championship leaderboard, all from the model that's nailed six golf majors, and find out.
2020 Travelers Championship odds (via William Hill)
Rory McIlroy 12-1
Bryson DeChambeau 14-1
Justin Thomas 14-1
Jon Rahm 20-1
Patrick Cantlay 25-1
Dustin Johnson 28-1
Justin Rose 28-1
Xander Schauffele 28-1
Bubba Watson 33-1
Paul Casey 33-1
Abraham Ancer 35-1
Sung-Jae Im 35-1
Collin Morikawa 35-1
Jordan Spieth 40-1
Patrick Reed 40-1
Gary Woodland 45-1
Sergio Garcia 45-1
Marc Leishman 50-1
Joaquin Niemann 50-1
Tony Finau 50-1
Matthew Fitzpatrick 50-1
Viktor Hovland 66-1
J.T. Poston 66-1
Kevin Kisner 80-1
Joel Dahmen 80-1
Jason Day 80-1
Louis Oosthuizen 80-1
Ryan Palmer 80-1
Brian Harman 80-1
Scottie Scheffler 80-1
Corey Conners 80-1
Branden Grace 80-1
Ian Poulter 80-1
Chez Reavie 100-1
Ryan Moore 100-1
Kevin Na 100-1
Russell Henley 100-1
Billy Horschel 100-1
Byeong Hun An 100-1
Keegan Bradley 100-1
Brandt Snedeker 100-1
Jason Kokrak 100-1
Shane Lowry 100-1
Dylan Frittelli 125-1
Luke List 125-1
Patrick Rodgers 125-1
Phil Mickelson 125-1
Kevin Streelman 125-1
Max Homa 125-1
Danny Lee 125-1
Russell Knox 150-1
Matthew Wolff 150-1
Zach Johnson 150-1
Harold Varner 150-1
Sebastian Munoz 150-1
Jim Furyk 150-1
Bud Cauley 150-1
Matthew NeSmith 150-1
Lucas Glover 150-1
Rafa Cabrera Bello 150-1
Charley Hoffman 150-1
Charl Schwartzel 200-1
Brendon Todd 200-1
Wyndham Clark 200-1
Chris Stroud 200-1
C.T. Pan 200-1
Stewart Cink 200-1
Matt Wallace 200-1
Cameron Tringale 200-1
Kevin Tway 200-1
Talor Gooch 200-1
Doc Redman 200-1
Michael Thompson 200-1
Jamie Lovemark 200-1
Cameron Smith 200-1
Matt Jones 200-1
Grayson Murray 200-1
Si-Woo Kim 200-1
Brice Garnett 200-1
Brendan Steele 200-1
Harry Higgs 200-1
Vaughn Taylor 200-1
Emiliano Grillo 200-1
Kevin Chappell 200-1
Hudson Swafford 200-1
Luke Donald 200-1
Tyler Duncan 200-1
Kyle Stanley 200-1
Carlos Ortiz 200-1
Jhonattan Vegas 200-1
Beau Hossler 200-1
Cameron Davis 250-1
Aaron Wise 250-1
James Hahn 250-1
Scott Stallings 250-1
Xinjun Zhang 250-1
Lucas Bjerregaard 250-1
Bo Hoag 250-1
Joseph Bramlett 250-1
Danny Willett 250-1
Troy Merritt 250-1
Keith Mitchell 250-1
Robby Shelton 250-1
Mackenzie Hughes 250-1
Sung-Hoon Kang 250-1
Aaron Baddeley 300-1
J.J. Spaun 300-1
Denny McCarthy 300-1
Seung-Yul Noh 300-1
Mark Hubbard 300-1
Peter Malnati 300-1
Will Gordon 300-1
Lanto Griffin 300-1
Sahith Theegala 300-1
Tom Hoge 300-1
Sam Burns 300-1
Sam Ryder 300-1
Wesley Bryan 300-1
Bronson Burgoon 300-1
Adam Long 350-1
Sepp Straka 350-1
Richy Werenski 350-1
Brian Stuard 400-1
Hunter Mahan 400-1
Nate Lashley 400-1
Zac Blair 400-1
Austin Cook 400-1
Matt Every 500-1
Scott Brown 500-1
Peter Kuest 500-1
Ted Potter 500-1
Ryan Armour 500-1
Hank Lebioda 500-1
Brian Gay 500-1
Greg Chalmers 500-1
J.J. Henry 500-1
Scott Harrington 500-1
Adam Schenk 500-1
Kyoung-Hoon Lee 500-1
Roger Sloan 500-1
Patton Kizzire 500-1
Henrik Norlander 500-1
Steve Stricker 500-1
Michael Kim 1000-1
Martin Trainer 1000-1
Davis Love 1000-1
Bo Van Pelt 1000-1
Vijay Singh 1000-1
