Travelers Championship Power Rankings

The PGA Tour heads to Connecticut this week for the Travelers Championship.

Taking place at TPC River Highlands, players will face a hugely different test to the one faced last week at the US Open.

A short course, the long drivers will have their biggest asset stripped from them this week, with players frequently clubbing down and still leaving themselves a wedge into most greens.

The greens are small and the rough around the greens isn’t easy to scramble from, but those players who can find fairways and greens throughout the week will be unlikely to be far from contention.

But to go from contending to winning will require a good week with the flat stick, and those who don't hole their share of putts will struggle to win the final Signature Event of the PGA Tour season.

You can read our Power Rankings for this week's Travelers Championship below with tips available from the Racing Post's Ian Wilkerson.

5 – Rory McIlroy

Rory McIlroy’s driving issues persisted at the US Open, and the lengthened rough at TPC River Highlands won’t exactly be a welcome reprieve.

But his fourth round as Oakmont was superb. Of course, he wasn’t in contention and that takes a lot of pressure off, but his -3 round (SG: Total +6.21) will give him a bit more belief heading to Connecticut.

His wedge play isn’t comparable to many of his peers, and although McIlroy likes to open his shoulders and take advantage of his length off the tee, he also his nice results on courses where driver is taken away from him, winning at Pebble Beach and TPC Sawgrass this season.

McIlroy missed last year’s Travelers Championship after his devastating US Open defeat the week prior, but his record at River Highlands is good, finishing T17-T12-T11-T19-T7 in his five appearances.

4 – Xander Schauffele

Xander Schauffele’s driver is still a bit all over the place, though he did find his share of fairways at Oakmont last week, putting together four good rounds en route to an impressive T12 finish.

It’s the only part of his game that’s letting him down at the moment, and frequently being given a fairway wood on the tee won’t do him any harm as he returns to TPC River Highlands, the site of his 2022 Travelers win.

Although Schauffele gains separation from the field with his longer irons, he’s still a superb wedge player and his overall approach play looks back to its best.

While Schauffele has uncharacteristically struggled on the greens this season, he did experience a bit of joy with the flat stick at the US Open and has historically putted well on bent/poa greens, seen at recent BMW Championships, last year’s Open at Royal Troon where he lifted the Claret Jug and the Olympics at Le Golf National.

A former winner, Schauffele should enjoy a fruitful return to River Highlands.

3 – Collin Morikawa

To succeed at TPC River Highlands, you need to find fairways, be accurate from less than 150 yards and putt well, and they’re three areas where Collin Morikawa excels.

Amongst his rivals, only two players are better than Morikawa this year from 100-150 yards (Sepp Straka and Justin Thomas) and – barring a couple of dry weeks – he’s putting better than he ever has in his career, owning an enviable record on bent/poa greens, including a T2 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic two years ago.

Unfortunately for Morikawa, he holed absolutely nothing at Oakmont, ranking dead last for strokes gained: putting amongst players to make the cut at the US Open and first for strokes gained: tee to green.

A similar tee-to-green performance and a slight improvement on the greens and Morikawa can build on his T13 from last year.

2 – Justin Thomas

He’d threatened for a while, but with his win at the RBC Heritage, it felt safe to say that Justin Thomas was officially back.

Thomas has never been the most reliable player; he could win one week and miss the cut the next (something he’s actually done three times in his career). Since his season opener at The Sentry, he’s either finished in the top 10 or outside the top 30 in all 13 events.

But if there is a reliability to Thomas, it’s on shorter courses where he’s frequently got a wedge in his hand. The Truist Championship and the RBC Heritage are two such venues and it’s no coincidence they’re his two best finishes of the season.

Thomas is never at home on the most difficult of courses – see his miserable US Open record – but can tear venues like River Highlands apart, posting a 63 last year and a 62 the year before.

He’ll be refreshed after the weekend off following the missed cut at Oakmont and should contend this year.

1 – Scottie Scheffler

Golf is very much a horse-for-courses sport; some venues simply won’t suit certain players due to their demands of length or accuracy.

There is no course that doesn’t suit Scottie Scheffler. He’s a long and accurate driver, he’s as good with a wedge as he is with a long-iron, his touch around the greens be it from tight lies, rough or sand is immaculate, and he’s become one of the world’s best putters.

Scheffler never really got himself in contention at Oakmont and yet in the final round, ultimately finishing T7, it seemed hard to believe that he was as close to the leaders as he was and yet equally hard to believe he wasn’t leading by three.

He neither found many fairways nor holed many putts, but his approach play was so outstanding that he gave himself looks.

If there is one thing to count against Scheffler, it’s that a course where most players are teeing off to similar places and hitting wedges into small targets can become something of a putting contest, but Scheffler won last year and is justifiably the clear favourite again.