Travelers Championship First-Round Leader Tips: Theegala can go low

Dave Tindall
22 June 2022
3:00 min read

Sahith Theegala can get on the birdie trail

Join

View market

Twitter

Facebook

The PGA Tour stays in the north-east and Dave Tindall has three picks to be First-Round leader at TPC River Highlands...

"In his last five starts, he's finished seventh after 18 holes at both the Mexico Open and Memorial, the latter helping him take fifth place."
Back Sahith Theegala each-way at 81.080/1

Weather forecast for Thursday:

It looks a day for low scoring with very little wind and temperatures of around 70 degrees. It's a little cooler to begin with for the very early starters but there's no bias so let's pick freely regardless of tee-times.

Side with Sahith

We've seen plenty of ultra-low scores recorded at TPC River Highlands so I want players who can make a bunch of birdies and then keep going.

Sahith Theegala first did just that during those weird days when players teed it up on the Outlaw Tour to get some golf in when everything else was shut down.

In his very first round after turning pro, the American blasted a 62 in the Lone Tree Classic - a 54-hole event (an idea that will never catch on, surely) in Arizona.

Since then we've seen him shoot another 62 at The American Express in California earlier this year.

Other low ones: Theegala was the first-round leader at the Sanderson Farms Championship after a 64 while an opening 66 put him second following the first lap in Phoenix.

More recently, in his last five starts he's finished seventh after 18 holes at both the Mexico Open and Memorial, the latter helping him take fifth place.

The 80/1 shot is out from the 10th tee at 6.55am.

Count on Clark

Wyndham Clark has been making fast starts of late and I like the look of him here at huge odds.

A 63 gave him first-round honours in the Canadian Open two weeks ago while he was seventh on the R1 leaderboard after a 68 in the Memorial Tournament.

An even-par 70 at the US Open was another decent day one score although he eventually missed the cut on the number.

The 28-year-old has a tied 15th at TPC River Highlands after shooting all four rounds in the 60s in 2019 and, despite being a bomber, he ranks 44th in Par 4 Scoring Average and only 174th for Par 5s.

That suggests he'll enjoy this par 70.

Take the 12pm starter at a hefty 125/1.

Pick Nick

Nick Hardy had a US Open to remember when starting 69-68 to lie eighth at halfway before finishing tied 14th.

That added to 35th in the Canadian Open and second place in the Korn Ferry's NV5 Invitational.

Hardy's R1 positions in his last three starts show 14-18-2 and earlier this season he was sixth after day one in Puerto Rico and ninth following his first lap of the Farmers Insurance Open.