The PGA TOUR is making its annual trip to New England for this week’s Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands, just outside Hartford, Connecticut. While Boston has been mentioned as a potential stop for the new-look schedule in 2028, this is the only time in 2026 that the PGA TOUR is in the neck of the woods. With a 72-player, no-cut event, it’s the final Signature Event of the season. The strong field offers many great options across a variety of markets available on DraftKings Sportsbook. Let’s pinpoint a few of the top bets for Round 1 of the Travelers Championship this year.

The field will play in pairs in Round 1, starting only from the first tee. Playing in pairs sets up fun head-to-head matchups. Players in the same pairings should have similar conditions, taking the weather out of the equation. Overall, the weather forecast for Thursday is outstanding before rain rolls in later in the week. The morning should be very calm and offer good scoring conditions, but even the afternoon winds are not bad at their peak. As always, be ready to read and react to how scores are trending if you are live-betting the event.

In this post, we’ll focus on my three best bets for Round 1 of the Travlers on Thursday, June 25.

---

Eric Cole over 4.5 Birdies or Better (+105)

Cole is in one of the earliest groups to tee off, starting at 8:45 a.m. ET alongside Lucas Glover. Cole crashed out of the RBC Canadian Open in his last start, snapping a streak of five top-25 finishes in six events.

Since this course should be a much better fit for his accuracy-focused game, Cole should be set to bounce back to that form, so I included him in my Pivot Plays for DFS this week. He is Cole is fourth in the field in Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green, fifth in Strokes Gained: Putting, and 19th in Total Strokes Gained over the last three months and that precise short game should set him up well for success at TPC River Highlands.

Cole had five birdies or better in his first round in Canada before missing the cut after a rough Round 2. He had at least five birdies or better in two of the four rounds at Muirfield Village Golf Club, which usually plays much closer to par than TPC River Highlands.

Last year at his venue, Cole had six birdies in Round 1, four in Round 2 and four in Round 3 before withdrawing due to illness. With much better form this year, he should be able to get at least five birdies in his first round in great scoring conditions early.

Collin Morikawa to Birdie All the Par 5’s – Round 1 (+330)

Morikawa has the third-best scoring average on the PGA TOUR this season on Par 5’s, averaging 4.43 strokes per hole that plays as a Par 5. He ranks second on the PGA TOUR in Birdie or Better percentage on Par 5’s, converting a birdie or better on 58.6% of his Par 5s this season.

At TPC River Highlands, there are two Par 5’s. One is the 574-yard No. 6, and the other is on the back nine at No. 13 and measures at 523 yards. Last year, they were the two easiest holes on the course, with No. 6 playing -.371 under par and No. 13 playing -.331. There were a total of 244 birdies and 21 eagles on the two holes.

Morikawa finished T42 last year at the Travelers, making a birdie on these two holes in one of his four rounds. In 2024, he finished T13, again birdieing both holes in one of his four rounds. Even when he missed the cut in 2023, he had a pair of birdies on these two holes in one of his two rounds.

Given his strong form this season, especially on Par 5s, I expect a big week out of Morikawa and love getting these long odds for him to make birdies on the two Par 5s on Thurdsay. Morikawa won the Pebble Beach Pro-Am earlier this season and has posted six top-25 finishes in his last nine evnets, including a strong T17 last week in the U.S. Open.

Sahith Theegala over Mac Meissner: 2 Ball (3 Way) – Round 1 (-114)

In the second-to-last group off the tee, Theegala and Meissner tee off at 2:15 p.m. ET. Both players have quietly been having solid seasons, but Theegala comes in with more current form and course history.

Theegala has made the cut in 18 of his 19 events this season with nine top-25 finishes. He showed a few flashes with a T6 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and a T25 at the RBC Heritage before a disappointing May. He has picked things up in June, though, starting with a scorching 64 at the RBC Canadian Open, where he shared the lead after the opening round. He had a rough Final Round on Sunday, though, finishing T45. He didn’t stay down, though, posting an impressive T11 at the U.S. Open last week, highlighted by an impressive 67 in Round 2.  He rank 14th in this strong field in Strokes Gained: Around the Green over the last three months and has been very strong tee-to-green over the last two weeks.

In 2022, he finished T2 at TPC River Highlands but hasn’t spiked in his last couple of appearances.

Meissner has made the cut in 11 of his 15 events with four top-25 finishes. He missed the cut at the RBC Canadian Open and did not qualify for the U.S. Open, but he did have a top-10 finish at the end of May in the Charles Schwab Challenge. He’ll be making his debut at this venue, and since course history matters at TPC River Highlands, Theegala has a distinct advantage in this head-to-head 3-Way matchup at just about even money.