2026 Travelers Championship Picks & Predictions: PGA Longshots

TPC River Highlands plays host to the 2026 Travelers Championship during this week’s Signature Event on the PGA Tour. It’s the final Signature Event of the year, so all 72 golfers in this field will be able to compete without sweating a cut line at this short par 70.

This course is among the shortest in length on the PGA Tour at under 6,900 yards, while plenty of water hazards and fairway bunkers do come into play. Average greens measuring 5,000 square feet with a 12-foot Stimpmeter pace, combined with four-inch rough and tree-lined fairways, means tee-to-green accuracy is huge this week.

My 2026 U.S. Open Sleepers (Longshots) never had a realistic chance to cash on Sunday’s final round at Shinnecock. Wyndham Clark’s second U.S. Open win saw him take a dominant lead with a 64 in Round 1, which wound up being enough to lock up a wire-to-wire win over Sam Burns. My best prospects, Alex Fitzpatrick (80-1) and Keegan Bradley (125-1), placed T23 and T32.

I’ve got three more longshots to sprinkle on ahead of Keegan Bradley’s title defense at the 2026 Travelers Championship. Follow me on X at Matt_MacKay_ for more free picks and analysis for the rest of the PGA Tour season. 

2026 Travelers Championship Picks & Predictions: PGA Sleepers

(Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook)

Keith Mitchell (+6000)

I like how Keith Mitchell’s game looks on the golf course right now. He’s logged a pair of top 5 finishes in his last four events, including at Shinnecock on Sunday, while securing a T6 finish at the 2025 Travelers Championship.

Mitchell ranks sixth in SG: Off-the-Tee, 46th in SG: Approach, 12th for greens in regulation (69.3%), and 24th in sand save rate in 2026. It’s why he’s 10th in scoring average and 11th in birdie average.

Let’s bet a 0.25 unit on Mitchell to snap a seven-year win drought with his second PGA Tour victory at the Travelers Championship this weekend.

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Akshay Bhatia (+7000)

We’ve cashed on Akshay Bhatia as a longshot earlier this season during his win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He’s been bouncing between missed cuts and a bunch of 25 finishes since The Masters, so without a cut line looming, we might see Bhatia settle in nicely at TPC River Highlands.

Bhatia logged a T5 finish at the 2024 Travelers Championship before sliding out of the top 50 last year. He’s ranked ninth in SG: Putting, 39th in SG: Approach, fifth in sand save rate, and 10th in putting average this season.

At 13th in birdie average and fourth for par 4 scoring, Bhatia is definitely worth a 0.25 unit wager at 70-1 odds in Connecticut for his second win of the year.

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Eric Cole (+10000)

At 100-1, it feels right to finish our longshots with Eric Cole. He had defeat snatched from the jaws of victory during Russell Henley’s improbable final stretch to win the Charles Schwab Challenge in a playoff.

Now, Cole, who has three career runner-up finishes, looks to the Travelers Championship for a chance to finally post his first outright win. Although Cole missed the cut at the RBC Canadian Open in his last event played, he’s posted four top 10 finishes across his past six starts.

Ranks 55th in SG: Approach, sixth in SG: Putting, 30th in scrambling, 14th for sand save rate, and leads the PGA Tour in putts per round, one-putt rate, and putting average. Basically, we’re betting on Cole’s flat stick to manufacture birdies against this condensed field.

He does have issues with his driver, although a course like TPC River Highlands does allow golfers to opt for longer irons off-the-tee due to its shortness. Let’s bet on Cole to get a breakthrough win at +10000.