When the initial field for the Travelers Championship was released Friday evening, Jordan Spieth was omitted.

But the 2017 winner at TPC River Highlands was a late addition soon after, and the golf betting world took notice.

As of Tuesday morning at the BetMGM online sportsbook, Spieth is pulling in the most handle at 12.6% and the second-most tickets at 6.1%. Yet the three-time major winner and former FedExCup champion has +2500 golf odds to win, which is the seventh-best in the field.

With that being said, Spieth doesn’t enter in the best form with just one top 10 in his last four events. And besides his win in 2017, he hasn’t had much success at TPC River Highlands.

After the win in his tournament debut, his best finish is a T-42 in 2018. In 2019 he missed the cut, in 2020 he was T-54, and the Texan was absent last year as his former housemate Kramer Hickok went desperately close over an eight-hole playoff with champion Harris English.

So why is Spieth such a popular play?

When looking at courses that compare to TPC River Highlands, TPC Deere Run and Colonial Country Club come to mind, and Spieth has also won at those courses in 2013 and 2016 respectively.

Scottie Scheffler (+1000) is also a popular play this week. He’s drawing the second-most handle (8.6%) and the most tickets (7.9%).

This has everything to do with his play this year and nothing to do with course history. He’s played the event the last two years, finishing T-47 a year ago and missing the cut in 2020. But he is coming off a T-2 finish at the U.S. Open last week and, of course, has won four times already this season.

Current Handle & Tickets

Handle

1. Jordan Spieth – 12.6%
2. Scottie Scheffler – 8.6%
3. Patrick Cantlay – 8.4%
4. Rory McIlroy – 5.2%
5. Marc Leishman – 5%

Tickets

1. Scottie Scheffler – 7.9%
2. Jordan Spieth – 5.4%
3. Rory McIlroy – 5.7%
4. Seamus Power – 4.5%
5. Justin Thomas – 4.4%

Rory McIlroy also leads the market odds at +1000 and is playing well of late. He won at the RBC Canadian Open two weeks ago and was T-5 last week at the U.S. Open. He’s played the Travelers three times, and his worst finish is a T-17.

Patrick Cantlay, another popular play, has +1600 odds to win.

Defending champion English has +10000 odds to win as he’s played very little this year following hip surgery.

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