PGA TOUR Best Bets: 2025 Travelers Championship Outrights, 'One-And-Done' Pick

Winners for 'The People's Championship' at TPC River Highlands.

After a grueling, but thrilling U.S. Open, the PGA TOUR tries to keep the momentum with its final "signature event" of the season: 2025 Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut. Regarding difficulty, the Travelers is the complete opposite of the U.S. Open, where only the winner, J.J. Spaun, shot under-par

Oakmont Country Club, host of the 2025 U.S. Open, is among the toughest courses in the world, while golfers need to "go low" to win at TPC River Highlands. This is the third season the Travelers has been a "signature event" on TOUR. Keegan Bradley won two years ago with a -23, and Scottie Scheffler beat Tom Kim in a playoff when both shot -22 last year. 

Listen: OUTKICK BETS PODCAST's 2025 TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW FEATURING MARK HARRIS & GEOFF FIENBERG

For the record, I dropped -2.92 units (u) at the U.S. Open, but I'm not sweating it since last week was a bloodbath and no one picked Spaun. I cashed a top-20 bet on Viktor Hovland and Hideki Matsuyama as the "Top Japanese" player. This week, I'm risking to win 25u per outright bet. Here are my horses for the course and One-And-Done pick for TPC River Highlands. 

Travelers Championship 2025 Betting Card 

'Horses for the Course'

The following odds are from when I bet the golfers, and they might have moved since

  • Patrick Cantlay (+2500) via FanDuel, risking 1u.
  • Justin Thomas (+3000) via Caesars Sportsbook, risking 0.83u.
  • Robert MacIntyre (+4500) via FanDuel, risking 0.56u.
  • Akshay Bhatia (+7500) via Bet365, risking 0.33u.

Patrick Cantlay (+2500)

My One-And-Done league, the "Race for the 2025 Mayo Cup," is dictating my outright betting card for two reasons. First, I’m eighth, which is good for $18,000 in a $1 million prize pool, and the winner collects $100,000. The seven people ahead of me have already used Cantlay, so I can gain ground if he wins. 

Second, I didn’t bet Russell Henley when I used him in a win at the 2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational. I split my Mayo Cup entry with my girlfriend, and she pushed me to use Henley for the API. We went with her gut because my picks at that point sucked, and she was seeing it better than me. I didn’t bet Henley because I didn’t believe he’d win. Well, he won, and I’m still pissed off about it. 

Also, Cantlay’s season has been disappointing, and he hasn’t won since the 2022 BMW Championship. Yet, he’s played well at the courses he is usually good at — T5 at the American Express and The Genesis Invitational, T13 at the RBC Heritage, and T12 at the Memorial Tournament — and Cantlay has been in the top 15 in his last seven Travelers, including a T4 and T5 in the past two years. 

As an amateur, he shot a 60 in a round at the 2011 Travelers. Between my options, his "win equity" and course history, Cantlay works here. Perhaps I’m wishcasting, but the eight-time PGA TOUR champion is due in the same way Justin Thomas was due for his win at the 2025 RBC Heritage in April, my biggest golf betting win ever

Justin Thomas (+3000) 

Speaking of JT, he drifted to a number I have to bet. He opened in the low 20s, and high teens in some places, and fell below his true value of +2000. I could pass on Thomas at +2500, but not +3000. We are "buying low" on Thomas after missing the cut at the 2025 PGA Championship and U.S. Open, and his game is perfect for this course. 

He broke his three-year winning drought at the 2025 RBC Heritage at Harbour Town, a comp course to TPC River Highlands. JT followed that win with a T2 at the Truist Championship, a "signature event," the following week. He's finished T5 and T9 at the last two Travelers, which have been signature events with the TOUR's best golfers. 

The Truist and RBC Heritage are "birdie fests" and JT is first in birdie average on TOUR this year, fourth in Par 4 scoring, and eighth in Strokes Gained (SG): Putting over the last 36 rounds, per Fantasy National. Ultimately, Thomas's game is better suited for easy courses right now, and I'm ignoring how he played in the majors because those courses and fields are much tougher. 

Robert MacIntyre (+4500) 

TPC River Highlands is biased towards lefties, and MacIntyre is the best left-handed golfer on TOUR. Notable lefties Bubba Watson and Phil Mickelson have won three and two Travelers, respectively, and Brian Harman, another lefty, has six top-10 finishes in his last seven Travelers. Bobby Mac was T16 in his debut here last season and Akshay Bhatia, the other lefty I'm betting, was T5. 

He is on the cusp of winning a "big-boy" tournament. MacIntyre finished second at last week's U.S. Open and got into the clubhouse Sunday with the best score before Spaun had the moment of his life. He won two national opens last year: RBC Canadian Open and the Genesis Scottish Open, which is like a major for MacIntyre, a Scot.

Bobby Mac has been flushing it recently. He's gained strokes with his irons in six straight starts and five of six with his driver. His putter is coming around, too. MacIntyre has gained strokes putting in four of his last five tourneys, including the PGA Championship, Memorial Tournament, and U.S. Open at courses with some of the toughest greens in golf. 

Akshay Bhatia (+7500) 

This place sets up well for Bhatia, who is more accurate than long off-the-tee, 14th in SG: Putting on TOUR this season, and fourth in birdie-or-better rate. He ranks 25th in SG: Approach this year, especially in the 150-175-yard bucket where most approach shots at TPC River Highlands are from. I.e., Akshay should be hitting a mid-iron in the fairway and carding birdies with his putter.

Bhatia won the 2024 Valero Texas Open at another TPC course in San Antonio with a -20, which will be around the winning score this week. His best finish this year was T3 at THE PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass, which had the hardest non-major field. Akshay is one of the best young golfers on TOUR with the talent to pick off the last signature event of the season. 

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2025 Travelers Championship ‘One-And-Done Pick’: Patrick Cantlay 

Like the seven people in front of me in the Mayo Cup, I’ve already used Scheffler and Rory McIlroy. Six people and I used JT, four picked Xander Schauffele, and five used Collin Morikawa. Those are one to five on the odds board for the Travelers. While I still have Schauffele, I prefer Cantlay here for the reasons above. 

Even though Xander is a better player, who won the 2022 Travelers, he’s not putting well enough to win in a birdie-fest. He is 126th on TOUR this season in SG: Putting, and his best score is -17 at The Sentry 2025, 18 strokes behind the winner (Matsuyama), before missing time with a rib injury. 

Cantlay is third in greens-in-regulation on TOUR this year, and, since the greens at TPC River Highlands are small, all you need to do is hit the green-in-regulation to give yourself a makeable putt. His short-game has been a weakness this season, but not historically and not on this course. Cantlay has gained strokes chipping and putting in five straight Travelers. 

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Follow me on X (or Twitter, whatever) @Geoffery-Clark, and check out my OutKick Bets Podcast for more betting content and random rants. I'll add bets to my PGA Tour 2025 betting record via X all season.