Side with big-hitting Bubba Watson

Take the American for win number three

After the drama of last week’s US Open, we’re back to our bread and butter, and a visit to TPC River Highlands for the Travelers Championship. Four days of play gets swinging from Thursday evening, and Sky Sports cater for the needs of armchair fans, while Coral have your punting covered.

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Coral’s sports traders have taken up position on the fence with this one, having Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy as joint-favourites going into the week. Both men are doing the rounds at 10/1, but siding with the shortest price in this competition hasn’t proven a shrewd tactic in the past.

Watson looks a touch of value

Taking a peek at past winners and Russell Knox came out on top here 12 months ago, but two in-a-row has been scored out, Coral offering a bumper 66/1. A previous champion much more likely to relive the glory days is American Bubba Watson, who was the star of the show in 2015, taking the prize money with a winning score of 16 under-par.

The 38-year-old American, a two-time Masters winner, rose to the top of this tournament two years ago thanks to a play-off win over runner-up Paul Casey, taking his second Travelers Championship title, the previous success coming back in 2010, again by play-off.

Driving distance is key to success

The challenges seem to suit him perfectly – it’s a course that favours the big hitters off the tee, and driving distance is an area Watson can more than hold his own against the field. Each of his two wins here were achieved thanks to length off the start, and we should see him build his challenge around that again.

If his driving keeps the selection involved, it’ll be his work with the putter in hand that’ll make the difference between winning and losing at the business end of the week, as we’re expecting to see plenty of low scores here. A real treat for fans from the off, those following the play should be in for a bit of a birdie-fest.