Teeing it up: 2024 Travelers Championship
The Travelers Championship is hosted at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut. Keegan Bradley won in 2023. Can he repeat in 2024?
What a week it has been after Bryson’s spectacular 50-yard bunker shot that led to the U.S. Open winning par putt on the 18th at Pinehurst Number 2 on Sunday. Rory blazed a trail through the sandhills to get back home in Florida, and he withdrew from the Travelers Championship before landing. After releasing a statement that he’s taking time away from golf until his title defense at the Genesis Scottish Open, it is easy to understand the impact this U.S. Open loss has on Rory’s mind. It certainly will become part of his legacy - to give away two U.S. Open titles and one Open Championship with poor fourth round performances would bury the common golfer. Rory is not a common golfer, and will bounce back. I think he has a couple of majors left in him, although I don’t see him ever wearing the Green Jacket.
In other news…look at Neal Shipley having the year every amateur would dream of. Low Amateur at The Masters AND the U.S. Open? That battle on Sunday afternoon for low-am at Pinehurst was a tournament within the major that took on a life of its own. It was back and forth coming down the stretch, but a clutch putt (imagine that) on his 72nd hole clinched that medal at his second major of the season.
Now, to the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut. This is the final signature event of the season. Tough to believe we’ve seen seven come to a close already. Having a signature event immediately after the U.S. Open means back-to-back weeks of some major coinage. This event carries with it a $20Million purse with $3.6Million going to the winner. It also means no cut, so everyone in the field will play through the weekend. The Travelers also is known for players going low, I mean really low. Rickie fired a 60 in the third round last year. So did Denny McCarthy in the first round of 2023. Jim Furyk dropped a casual…58…back in 2016. Keegan Bradley holds almost every other tournament scoring mark after blitzing the field in 2023, in fact the only scoring record he didn’t come close to was Jim Furyk’s single-round mark of 58. TPC River Highlands is also the site of another Jordan Spieth short-game miracle, when Spieth holed out from a greenside bunker on the first playoff hole to defeat Daniel Berger in 2017. Needless to say, the Travelers Championship has never been short of great finishes or record setting performances. There is no reason to think 2024 will be any different after everything we’ve seen so far this year. And now….to our PICKS!
Kevin Matznick: Life off the Links Podcast
@Lifeoffthelinks
Pick to win: Max Homa
Insight into the tournament:
It will be interesting to see if there is any “mental exhaustion” from some of the guys who were in the hunt of the US Open after playing such a brutal test. I’m curious to see if one of the guys who missed the cut at the US Open ends up at the top of the leaderboard.
Nate Hyrn: Founder, Acorn Hills Clothing Co.
@AcornHills
Pick to win: Sam Burns
With some pretty long odds this week, it would be great to see Sam Burns take the trophy at TPC River Highlands!
TJ James: Basic Bogeys Podcast & more!
@BasicBogeys
Pick to win: Rickie Fowler
Back to TPC River Highlands this week for the Travelers Championship. An elevated event for the tour and NO CUT this week. Perfect opportunity for some of these golfers a bit further down in the FedEx Cup Standings to get some much needed points. One of those golfers being my personal favorite, Rickie Fowler.
I don’t go out there and pick him to win too often but I’m rolling with Rickie this week. He posted a 60 (-10) last year in the 3rd round and he’ll be looking to go low again this year. I think not having that cut helps to relieve quite a bit of the stress for these golfers especially with quite a few of the big names in the field this week that missed the cut last week at the US Open. Be on the lookout for some low rounds at this course and maybe even another 59 watch this year.
My Pick
@longleafgolf
My Pick: Keegan Bradley
After stumbling upon Keegan Bradley & Shane Lowry last Friday at Pinehurst, I felt like I had to pick one of them to win this weekend. Keegan is somewhat on home turf & I think he defends his 2023 Travelers title this year. This is where his game all came together last year. He’s playing some good golf deep into 2024 and should play himself into contention come Sunday.
