We’re at the end of June, with the PGA venturing out East for another big signature event near Hartford. At the Travelers Championship, DraftKings users can play in DraftKings PGA Pick6 contests for all four rounds. If you’re new, Pick6 is a single-user daily fantasy game where you select players to go over or under the totals.

Players teeing things up at TPC River Highlands this week will be taking on a shorter course that features slimmer fairways and smaller greens, but also a venue that offers up birdie chances on every hole for those hitting their approaches and short irons well. River Highlands is a small Par 70 that measures under 6,900 yards, and in the past, we’ve seen players go extremely low at this venue (Jim Furyk shot a closing 58 here in 2016 and still didn’t win). Winning scores for this event fluctuate because cooler temperatures can make things tougher, but in general, expect a ton of birdies and lower Pick6 totals this week.

I reviewed additional statistics and course dynamics in the Travelers Championship PGA Cheat Sheet and included some notes on the course below for Pick6 research.

“The course itself was originally designed back in 1928, but it was reworked by perennial PGA TOUR course designer Pete Dye in 1982. It is relatively comparable to other more technical tracks around the PGA TOUR, but it does differ in some respects from older venues like Waialae CC and Harbour Town in that its fairways are extremely easy to hit. This tends to give the big hitters a little more leeway off the tee, and it’s helped players like Bubba Watson and Dustin Johnson find success at River Highlands in the past. The poa greens are also noteworthy as they tend to be a surface we see only on the West Coast. West Coast specialists like Dustin Johnson, Harris English, and Chez Reavie (among others) have found this course appealing for that reason alone, and taking a look at who tends to putt well on poa is a good idea if you are diving into some recent form stats.

In general, Strokes Gained: Approach and Strokes Gained: Putting stats have been the most important metrics to target here. Of the past nine winners at TPC River Highlands, only one (English 2021) has failed to gain over 4.0 strokes on approach in the week of their win. This venue is extremely short by PGA TOUR standards, so good proximity stats from 150 yards and in should also be essential to success.

The PGA TOUR attempted to make the course play slightly tougher two years ago by modifying four or five tee boxes and growing out some of the rough. It didn’t slow down the players at all in 2024, as Scottie Scheffler shot 65 or better in all four rounds and won at -22 in a playoff over Tom Kim, who opened with a 62. However, last season the winner finished at -15, the worst winning score at this venue in four seasons.”

As of now, we have Round 1 totals up on the Pick6 site for play, so that’s where we’ll be focusing this week. The players out first are expected to have slightly better conditions, but low winds are expected throughout the day. If you’re targeting stroke totals or birdie-or-better totals, keep that in mind. 

With that in mind, I’ve focused on a few of my favorite plays for the Travelers Championship in Round 1 below.

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Top DraftKings Pick6 Plays for the 2026 Travelers Championship

Justin Thomas Less Than 67.5 strokes

Thomas has often found the U.S. Open to be his toughest major, so it was encouraging to see him secure a top-20 finish last week at Shinnecock. After that strong showing, we should see a step up from him this week as well. He’s finished in the top 10 here at River Highlands each of the past three years and is in good form with his short game, perhaps among the best in golf right now.

While his approach numbers haven’t quite reached their usual elite standard yet, there’s little reason to doubt that his iron play is trending in the right direction. It’s also worth noting that Thomas’ most recent PGA TOUR victory came the week after another major (the 2025 Masters) at Harbour Town, another course where precision and course management outweighed pure power.

Just given where Thomas is at and his motivation levels (he hasn’t won in over a year now) a solid opener is the side I would lean heavily towards this week. At 67.5, the lower than is a great way to start a Pick6 lineup for me on Thursday.

Sungjae Im More Than 4.0 birdies or better

Im’s birdie rate doesn’t jump off the page, but he does tend to step his birdie making at some of these easier venues. The South Korean had a solid top 10 showing at TPC Craig Ranch recently and has performed well at this week’s venue in the past, finishing T3 in 2024 with rounds of 63 and 64, and also placing T29 on his debut in 2023, when he opened with a 65. As a strong putter, whose last win was at the easier TPC Summerlin, he’s a player who could surprise this week and contend again.

I see no recent form issues to hesitate taking the more than on this Round 1 total for Im either. The South Korean, like Thomas, is progressing nicely after an injury break, and although Im didn’t perform as strongly as Thomas did at the U.S. Open, he still made the cut and is just three tournaments away from a top-10 finish at TPC Craig Ranch, on another extremely soft course.

Scottie Scheffler Less Than 1.5 bogeys or worse

Scheffler leads the PGA Tour in Bogey Avoidance stats with just a 10.58% bogey rate on the season. This week’s course is also miles easier than many of the courses that Scheffler has played this year, putting his actual rate for this week’s event at a much lower value. 

I’d hesitate to take the Less Than here if we had some sort of weather concerns, but that’s not the case for Round 1 at least, as everything seems fairly manageable. Scheffler has also already proven this venue is more than to his liking, having won here as recently as 2024. With the four-time major winner still seeking his second win of 2026, after a string of close calls, I’m not worried about his motivation in the week after a major either. 

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What is DraftKings Pick6?

Pick6 is a peer-to-peer fantasy variant where you build a lineup (your “Pick Set”) of 2+ players and select whether you believe each will outperform their listed stat projection. Enter your Pick Set in Pick6 contests to compete against other users. Get enough picks correct and win a share of cash prizes.

How to Play

Create a Pick Set

Create a Pick Set by choosing 2+ players from the same sport and Pick Group (a set of picks available from a group of competitions). For each player, simply select if you think they’ll have more or less than their listed stat projection. In each Pick Set, you can not pick the same player twice and you must pick players from at least two different teams.

Enter an Amount

Once you finalize your Pick Set, choose your entry fee amount. Your entries will be automatically distributed into available contests, subject to your confirmation.

Sweat Your Picks

When the games go live, use the My Picks tab to follow your picks in real time to track how your players are performing against their projections and how they stack up against other users.

Compete for Prizes

Make enough correct picks and win a share of the contests’ guaranteed prizes. Any prizes won will be credited to your DraftKings account after contests are finalized.

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