The first round of the 2023 Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands could be a bit of a slog.

The field for the Travelers is absolutely loaded relative to previous years because of its status as a designated event, but it’s still taking place just a few days after the final round of a grueling U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club.

That means most of the elite players will be traveling cross-country just a couple of days before teeing it up in Cromwell, Conn. on Thursday.

With that in mind, here are four players worth backing to go low on Thursday and be the first-round leader:

There’s something about K.H. Lee at TPC courses.

Not only did Lee collect his two career wins at a TPC track — he won back-to-back at the AT&T Byron Nelson at TPC Craig Ranch — but he’s also got a runner-up at TPC Scottsdale to go along with a top-20 finish at TPC Southwind and a T19 at this event last year.

Lee is no stranger to getting off to hot starts, so he’s worth a punt at this number.

It’s been a rough go of it for J.T. Poston of late.

The Georgia native has four missed cuts in his last six starts and has just one top-20 finish in his last 12 events (not including matchplay tournaments).

Despite that, Poston could be setup for a bounce-back week in Connecticut.

TPC River Highlands should fit Poston’s skillset a lot more than the grueling tests we’ve seen over the spring and early summer and his runner-up finish in 2022 backs that up. 

This is an easy one.

It’s all about Chez Reavie’s history at TPC River Highlands.

Not only did Reavie win this event back in 2019, but he’s finished T46-T25-T8 in his three trips since.

He may not be in great form, but there’s something about this course that fits with how Reavie plays golf.

A player with such strong course history is absolutely worth playing in this range.

Similar to Poston, Mackenzie Hughes has endured a rough few weeks on the PGA Tour.

But also like Poston, Hughes can get white hot with his putter and that always makes him a threat to go on a run in a short sample like one round of golf.

The Canadian has a decent track record at TPC River Highlands — he finished T3 here in 2020 and was T25 last year — and also owns some decent results on other TPC courses.