Welcome to our weekly PGA Tour betting tips column, featuring picks from GOLF.com’s expert prognosticator, Brady Kannon. A seasoned golf bettor and commentator, Kannon is a host and frequent guest on SportsGrid, a syndicated audio network dedicated to sports and sports betting, and is a golf betting analyst for CBS Sportsline. You can follow Brady on Twitter at @LasVegasGolfer, and you can read his picks below for the 2026 Travelers Championship, which starts Thursday in Connecticut.
The PGA Tour will spend most of its summer east of the Mississippi River. Less than 150 miles north of Shinnecock Hills, many players will travel from the US Open to Cromwell, Conn., this week for the Traveler Championship, the eighth and final Signature Event of the 2026 golf season. After that, the John Deere Classic in Silvis, Ill., then crosses the pond for the Scottish Open and the Open Championship. The regular season concludes at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, NC, and the FedExCup champion will be crowned at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta in late August. It’s not until October when the Tour heads west again for the Black Desert Championship in Southern Utah.
Back in April we talked about the post-Masters bash in Harbor Town and how the short trip from Augusta to Hilton Head Island, SC, should be a fun, almost vacation-like decluttering. It feels the same way this week, from an incredibly tough test at the US Open, to the Traveler Championship at TPC River Highlands, where the winning score was set 19 shots short of what it was at Shinnecock last week. Players are guaranteed a payout here this week too, as this is a 72-player, limited-edition event with no 36-hole cut.
I wouldn’t call it a birdie-fest, but the average score over the last eight shows has been 18 under par, so I expect that to be close to what we’re getting again this year. TPC River Highlands is a Pete Dye design. It’s a par 70 and relatively short by tour standards at just under 6,850 yards. The fairways are narrow and thickly lined with trees that provide a punishing border. However, the fairways are not too difficult to find as players will release short clubs, and golfers have learned to cut more angles and climb over more obstacles. Greens are smaller, Bentgrass/Poa Annua is more. Approaching, hitting greens in regulation, and putting have proven over the years to be the most important skill sets in winning this tournament. I looked at all of this in addition to Birdies or Better, Scrambling, Strokes Jained: Around the Green, and Hole Proximity from 125-175 yards. Also, save for a few par 4s, most par 12s between 400-450 yards.
The history of the course here is very sticky. Guys who play well in Travelers tend to do that. Keegan Bradley is the defending champion and won in 2023. We know of the connection between Harbor Town and TPC Sawgrass – both Dye designs – and that extends to Sedgefield Country Club (Wyndham Championship) and East Lake Golf Club (Tour Championship). I used each of these courses this week as a possible matchup with TPC Deere Run (John Deere Classic) and Oakdale Golf & Country Club (2023 Canadian Open).
It is interesting to note or consider how players play in the week after a major tournament. This is more than a mental disability. Who is tired after being in a fight and under a lot of pressure? Does cutting hurt or help? Will Sam Burns be emotionally drained this week after getting so close last week, or will he ride the momentum? If you look back at the Travelers over the last 10 years or so, there is very little of everything. Bubba Watson won here twice after missing the US Open. Bradley skipped the US Open before his win here in 2023. Chez Reavie and Harris English had each finished a week at the US Open before winning here – and there were a number of winners who finished somewhere between 15 and 40 leading up to their victory at the Travelers.
Ludwig Aberg (20-1)
The young Swede had a respectable 17 last week at Shinnecock and finished in a flash, shooting a 66 on Sunday. As a champion, he got strokes in the field in all major categories. Two starts ago, Aberg was 17 at the Colony and before that went 4-8-4 at Harbor Town, the Truist Championship, and the PGA Championship. He also finished fifth earlier this season at TPC Sawgrass and is eighth there in 2024. It sounds like he’s always going into big events with a lot of anticipation but I wonder if people are looking at him this week when it’s not a big one. Price feels like maybe he’s a little underrated and most of the time, that’s the right time to jump in. He is one of the best in the field off the tee, on approach, and on the par 4s. If his putting and performance on the green are strong this week, he could earn his third PGA Tour win.
Aaron Rai (50-1)
Speaking of not being noticed, that seems like a good price for someone who just won his first medal in less than two months ago. Rai took 11 last week at Shinnecock, his first major test since becoming a major champion – and that’s a pretty good response. He also gained strokes in the field in all the elementary sections and gained over a stroke in the field around the green. His swing is amazing, he makes a lot of birdies, and he’s No. 1 in the field in the last 20 rounds at 400-450 yards on par 4. Rai won at Sedgefield, finished seventh at John Deere, and was third at Oakdale at the 2023 Canadian Open.
Getty Images
Eric Cole (100-1)
I return to Mr. Cole again after an oh-so-close finish at Colonial, and what looked like a good start a few weeks ago in Canada, where he went from being the first-round lead to just missing out. He has been playing excellent golf for the past three months now. Over the past 20 rounds, Cole ranks in the top 15 in the field in SG: Approach, Around the Green, Hole Proximity, and is No. 1 in Birdie or Better Percentage. He previously was seventh at the John Deere Classic and the Wyndham Championship, and finished sixth at Oakdale in 2023.
Jackson Suber (200-1)
I think I’m a glutton for punishment. We narrowly missed Cole in the playoff at the Charles Schwab Challenge and two weeks later in Canada, there was Suber’s lead on Sunday with eight holes to play – but we missed that one too. Suber missed the cut last week at Shinnecock but current form has been excellent with two top-5 finishes in his last four starts, and it shows just how high he figures to be in the field over the last 20 rounds. He’s a really tall player, and I understand that this is a stronger field than what we saw in Canada, but the field is also half the size and yet Suber’s odds are much higher than the 175-1 we had a few weeks ago in Toronto. The way he’s going, he deserves a shot in the mix again on Sunday.
