Travelers Championship 2025: Dave Tindall's each-way picks from 40/1 to 60/1

• 50/151.00 Hideki Matsuyama is a class act and could be ready to strike

• 40/141.00 Ben Griffin has made the top 10 in the last two majors

• 60/161.00 Brian Harman has a great record on Pete Dye courses

• Read Steve Rawlings' preview of the tournament here

Introduction to the Travelers Championship

After the gruelling test of Oakmont where it took a monster 65-foot putt at the 72nd hole for JJ Spaun to register the only under par score for the week, a very different test awaits at the annual Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands.

Scottie Scheffler posted 22-under to walk away with the spoils last year and that didn't even beat the winning score of 12 months earlier - 23-under from Keegan Bradley.

Scheffler is back for more as are all the big guns. Yep, once again, we have a Signature Series Event following straight on the heels of a major. This really needs to be sorted out.

The limited 72-man field features 63 players who grafted away at Oakmont and all will play 72 holes this time as there is no cut.

TPC River Highlands, like Oakmont, is a par 70 but the average score there last year was nearly seven strokes fewer than it was at Oakmont last week!

The Pete Dye creation is one of the very shortest courses on the PGA Tour at just 6,844 yards and plenty of putts need to be holed on the Poa Annua greens to keep pace.

As is standard though on the PGA Tour, SG: Approach stands out as a key stat.

The first four home last year ranked 6th, 4th, 1st and 5th in that category while four of the last five winners were in the top 6 for Approach.

Home players have won 11 of the last 12 editions and generally high-grade Americans too.

Bet 1: Back Hideki Matsuyama @ 50/151.00

Two prices jumped out at me when the betting opened for this year's Travelers Championship - the 14/115.00 about Rory McIlroy and the 50/151.00 for Hideki Matsuyama.

Rory's price has been clipped to 12s but still looks large. This is shorter than I go in this each-way preview though so will leave him to one side.

But the 50s for Matsuyama in the 6 Places market is just too tempting.

Obviously it's there for a reason and no top 10 since he blitzed the field at the season-opening Sentry provides it.

But, come on, this is Hideki Matsuyama - an elite player who beats world-class fields far more than those much, much shorter in the betting.

Without doubt he'll have another big week very soon and it's just a case of trying to anticipate it if we want to land the big odds.

So why here? Well, it's not like he's completely out of form, a run of 21-17-MC-36-38 being added to with 42nd at Oakmont.

If that US Open performance seems a tad underwhelming the key is that he signed off with a 68, ranking 1st for Tee To Green and 2nd for Approach in that Sunday performance. Only two players shot lower.

The Japanese star is relatively new to TPC River Highlands but he's shot every round in the 60s in his two appearances which resulted in 13th on debut and 23rd last year.

Looking at round scores, he fired a Friday 64 in 2023 and closed with another 6-under round last year.

Matsuyama might need to get the putter going a little better (although he's gained strokes in four of his last five events) but ranking 6th overall for Approach at Oakmont suggests the irons are on point.

Two top sixes in his last three starts at Sawgrass bodes well in terms of playing well on Pete Dye tracks so let's give him a whirl at 50s.

Bet 2: Back Ben Griffin @ 40/141.00

Only three players have made the top 10 in the last two majors - Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm and Ben Griffin.

Griffin continued his purple patch with 10th on his US Open debut at Oakmont, adding to an eighth in the US PGA at Quail Hollow.

He'd never previously made a cut in a major which really highlights his rapid improvement.

Those two excellent displays bookmark a run of form which reads 10-2-1-8. The '1' was at the Charles Schwab Challenge and the '2' at Memorial.

But we can trace the good form further back and there are a couple of interesting reference points.

His first big finish of the season came in The American Express when seventh while his first ever PGA Tour victory came in the Zurich Classic pairs event at the end of April.

The significance? Both came on Pete Dye tracks. He was also ninth at The American Express in 2024.

Griffin is now 14th on the Datagolf World rankings, putting him above the likes of Patrick Cantlay, Corey Conners, Viktor Hovland, Jordan Spieth, Shane Lowry and Ludvig Aberg.

While in this purple patch he's worth a follow at decent prices and although Griffin hasn't got any TPC River Highlands course form to shout about, note that his missed cut in 2023 included a Friday 66.

He just wasn't in anywhere near the same form he is now when shooting three 71s and a 67th last year.

But on his current displays, Griffin is a bet at 40/141.00 (8 Places).

Bet 1: Back Brian Harman @ 60/161.00

Having dabbled in the 6 and 8 Place markets, I'll complete the set with a bet from the 10 Place offerings. All are 1/5 Odds by the way.

The man I like is Brian Harman and it's a fairly straightforward case.

Quite simply the 2023 Open Championship winner is the strongest of course horses at TPC River Highlands and seems to love Pete Dye courses in general.

In this event he's been outside the top 10 just once in seven attempts. Yes, you read that right. Those are the numbers of a super-elite player's Masters record at Augusta.

Harman's finishes reading back from last year are 9-2-8-5-MC-8-6.

He signed off with a 62 last year to add to the top 10 streak.

If we widen the lens to results on Pete Dye tracks, more good news awaits.

This year he's already finished third at The Heritage (another Signature Event played on a short course held the week after a major).

In 2024 he was ninth here, 12th at The Heritage and runner-up in the Players Championship.

And in 2023 he was second here and seventh at The Heritage.

That's five top 10s (three of them top threes) and a 12th in his last eight starts on Dye creations.

It all means we can rather take his very recent form with a pinch of salt although the positive spin is that he's made four of his last five cuts even if finishing down the field.

Harman won the Texas Open in April off the back of form showing MC-40 so put him on one of his favourite tracks again and it's fair to expect good things to happen.

*You can follow me on Twitter @DaveTindallgolf

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