Bolton: Fantasy play is obvious at TPC River Highlands

Because of the provision that limits PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf gamers to three starts per golfer per Segment, the construct of the schedule takes precedence as it concerns strategy. However, with three majors and five Signature Events in 11 tournaments spanning Segments 2 and 3, judging where you rank at the conclusion of this week’s Travelers Championship is more relevant in the long-term than it was after starts were replenished following the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday three weeks ago.

After this week’s Travelers, which will not include a cut, nine stops remain, but five of the next six will be full-field, standard PGA TOUR events (awarding 500 FedExCup points to their winners) with cuts. This upcoming sequence will be decisive for three reasons:

1. Its timing in the last Segment of the season.
2. Numerous golfers who have been popular choices in the 11 tournaments immediately before it will be resting for as many as four stops.
3. Ownership dispersion will result in a blend of chalk and hopefuls.

The expected churn and when it happens will deserve its own level of patience and planning. Until then, decisions made at TPC River Highlands, where the winner is awarded 700 FedExCup points, not only feed into the long game of saving studs for The Open Championship and the trio of no-cut competitions that comprise the FedExCup Playoffs, but they also will serve to position you for what hasn’t been a familiar stretch since the start of the season.

If you’re pacing, this wouldn’t be a bad time to burn your first start on Scottie Scheffler. He’s a former winner of the Travelers, and he leads the FedExCup with just one victory contributing. It’d be a move that presents both aggressiveness and an acknowledgment that you’d be able to survive one of the first two legs of the Playoffs without him. Save your last for the TOUR Championship no matter what and never mind The Open as a spot to play him unless you need a jolt at the time. More on that when we arrive at that bridge.

If you’re chasing, you’re also advised to play Scheffler so as not to lag further behind. If you do, you’re likely to push at worst, and that’s OK because there’s still time to make up ground. Resist abstaining from the world’s top-ranked talent because that’ll only apply more pressure on you to need him to perform in the Playoffs when you likely are going to be stymied twice, anyway. The guaranteed spot will be at the finale where all gamers should cancel each other.

After having reserved a spot for Scheffler, roster management for Tommy Fleetwood, Xander Schauffele and Matt Fitzpatrick will require delicate calculus over time. Pencil down likely spots now to make your job easier. Similar thinking as it pertains to rationing Scheffler’s starts is in play, but it’s also possible that none of those guys will step forward as captains due to the other factors that contribute to that weekly decision, so allow for some flexibility in favor of retaining pressure on your pursuers or reducing, if not eliminating, your deficit.

Captain

Scottie Scheffler … As obvious a decision as any, all season is fueled by the fact that he’s gone winless since opening it with a victory at The American Express that paid off the earliest of investors in Segment 1.

Other considerations

• Patrick Cantlay: First, the reminder that if you’re rostering Scheffler, he needs to be your captain. If he’s not, you’re getting cute and overanalyzing. Should your other option perform better, then consider yourself lucky because it’ll be the exception to his rule. Second, Cantlay has been a TPC River Highlands whisperer who will not let you down as he spells Scheffler. That he’s No. 8 in my Power Rankings (and not higher) is a reflection more of his recent form than of his course success.
• Justin Thomas: The No. 5 in the Power Rankings rolls into central Connecticut having departed with a top 10 after each of the last three editions of the tournament. Current form is solid and you know he’s itching to win again, not only because that’s why he plays but also to turn the corner for good after his microdiscectomy last year.

Rounding out the roster

The absence of a cut encourages a build of charges for which you’re unlikely to need three starts, but personal situations always vary. As a conservative gamer by nature, I tend to want to win with control of the ball and a field goal at the buzzer, but I’d be lying if the onus of a threepeat isn’t influencing the long-range plan.

My starters

• Patrick Cantlay
• Russell Henley
• Scottie Scheffler (C)
• Justin Thomas

My bench

• Brian Harman (1)
• Ryan Gerard (2)

Careful

For almost every tournament, a usually impressive subset of the field warrants avoiding, and it might be represented in my Power Rankings which is not written in the context of any fantasy golf format. In this section, I single out who demands pause and why.

• Collin Morikawa: Because there’s no cut, it can be heavy-handed to fade anyone, but just as sleepers are relative in exceeding expectations, there are guys for whom expectations must be tempered. The recent first-time father will snap out of his mild funk at some point. A T17 at the U.S. Open is somewhat impressive in a vacuum but it was fueled by a 5-under 65 in the second round, so it was very much not a consistent performance from opening tip to final tape. We’d also love for his back issue to ancient history, so with only one top-35 finish in five starts at TPC River Highlands (T13, 2024), this is another one that we can sit out. That’s not what 31.8 percent of the rosters saved have chosen, however
• Si Woo Kim: Despite missing the cut at the U.S. Open – an outcome that I always advise overlooking given the variables contributing to all majors – he’s enjoyed a phenomenal season, but he’s had nine chances to make noise at TPC River Highlands and hasn’t. Indeed, current form trumps a negative track record in many instances, and that no doubt contributes to an ownership percentage north of 30 at last check, but even if he records his first top 10 on the course, he’ll be useful in the upcoming non-majors.
• Cameron Young: Although his last three starts consisted of two majors and the Memorial, he didn’t crack the top 25 in any, so he has cooled after a blistering stretch that lifted him to the top of the FedExCup standings. With only one top 50 at TPC River Highlands (T9, 2024), he’s a sensible save for the Playoffs.
• Robert MacIntyre: With only one top 40 in his last eight starts (T15, RBC Canadian Open), he could use the guarantee of four rounds to right the ship, but he had a couple of those opportunities in recent Signature Events to achieve the same objective, and it didn’t pan out. He looks tasty to course-history buffs for whom two top 20s in as many starts is attractive, but both were extensions of form at the time.

Returning to competition

• Jason Day: With three top 10s and two top 20s at TPC River Highlands, the Aussie has a very nice record here, but his most recent four starts were not impressive. His last resulted in an injured back that forced him off Shinnecock Hills Golf Club during his opening round of the U.S. Open. Gamers with years under their belt are all too familiar with his maladies, but this was his first mid-tournament withdrawal in five seasons! The promise of four rounds in the final Signature Event will at least give him the runway to recalibrate physically, but leave him alone.
• C.T. Pan: In the field at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Memorial Health Championship presented by LRS. It’ll mark his first live-action role since having surgery on his left wrist 13½ months ago. Salary leaguers who bought in essentially sight unseen are thrilled because he has 19 starts on a Major Medical Extension on the PGA TOUR, but he also presents as a potentially impactful addition to other full-season formats when he returns to the big leagues. But he needs to stay healthy...
• Nicholas Lindheim: Also committed to the Korn Ferry Tour stop this week. A chronic back injury limited him to exactly one start in 2025 and one early this year (when he withdrew during the Puerto Rico Open). It was only three years ago when he went on a heater on the Korn Ferry Tour, proving that he can be lightning in a bottle, but like Pan, the 41-year-old struggles to stay physically fit for the rigors of professional golf. Lindheim has five starts on his medical extension on the PGA TOUR, so there’s some potential value in DFS down the road.

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