CROMWELL, Conn. – The “elevated” Travelers Championship was every bit of that word. By all measures, Connecticut’s PGA Tour stop was all the way back to its pre-pandemic levels and beyond, due to its new status as a designated event, with a higher purse and the top golfers drawn to participate.
The only downer was in the form of Rory McIlroy’s take, after finishing tied for seventh. In calling the TPC River Highlands “obsolete” and saying modern golf technology had passed the course by, he drew attention away from the winner, Keegan Bradley, and an interesting finish.
With the outspoken McIlroy, ranked No. 3 in the world, you take the positive with the negative. He stood firm and tall, loyal to the PGA during the mass defections to LIV Golf, and was a sympathetic figure when the surprise agreement was announced.
Here, he threw a grenade into the peaceful platform from which tournament officials have always been able to tout the Travelers as one of the most popular stops with players, who not long ago voted it their favorite stop. It has received 15 awards from Tour players, and players expressed their desire that the Travelers be one of the designated events. It was at McIlroy’s suggestion, incidentally, that a coffee bar, which also served ice cream from UConn’s dairy, was added to the driving range.
So is Rory right? Well, the TPC River Highlands is not a U.S. Open course, everyone knew that. The weather this year, no wind to speak of, and enough rain to slow down the greens on Saturday and Sunday without disrupting play, was conducive to low scores. With 70 of the top 77 players in the field, there were eight rounds of 62 or lower and 1,844 birdies, 70 more than had ever been made in this tournament, shattering the record made in 2020, the mid-pandemic staging. The cut line was 4-under.
Though Bradley’s winning score of 23-under par was a tournament record, it was only so by one stroke over Kenny Perry’s 2009 mark. Things just weren’t as out-of-whack as all that. This is, after all, the course where Jim Furyk shot a record round of 58 in 2016, and Patrick Cantlay shot a 60 as an amateur in 2011.
As long as the Travelers is handing out checks like Bradley’s $3.6 million for winning, or $1.78 million for co-runners up Brian Harmon and Zac Blair, golfers will come join the birdie party. McIlroy earned $650,000 for his finish.
Here are some other takeaways from the 2023 Travelers:
Crowds are back
Officials don’t like to give out figures, but they indicated ticket sales were high, especially in the day-of category. By the looks of things around the course, packed grandstands, long lines and crowd milling about, it’s safe to say crowds were well into six figures, especially on Saturday and Sunday. Director Nathan Grube said fans came from 36 states. And it was an enthusiastic crowd, especially as Bradley, a New England guy, strode to the 18th green to finish it off. You might say it was golf, but louder.
“I can’t even describe what that felt like,” Bradley said. “I dreamt my whole life of playing in Fenway Park, Gillette Stadium, and it feel pretty close to what that would feel like. You know, I had a bunch of people say they’ve never heard the 18th hole sound like that.”
What it means
Bradley, in addition to the big pay day, got his sixth PGA win, second this year, and moved from No. 15 to fifth in the FedEx Cup standings. Blair, with his best finish ever, moved up to No. 90.
How the big names fared
Scottie Scheffler, currently No.1 in the world, tied for fourth, his 14th top-10 finish this season. Jon Rahm, No. 2, missed the cut. McIlroy was tied for seventh, 18 under, and No. 4 Cantlay, who made a late run at Bradley, finished 19 under, tied for fourth, his first-ever top 10 finish at the Travelers. Last year’s winner, Xander Schauffele, tied for 19th at 14 under. U.S. Open champ Wyndham Clark, finished 12-under with a final round 66.
McHighs and Lows
McIlroy made the first hole-in-one of his storied career during the first round, on the 218-yard 8th hole. The next day, the same hole wasn’t so, uh, easy for him. McIlroy hit his tee shot into the water and double-bogeyed. This is McIlroy’s relationship with River Highlands. In 2022, he shot an opening round 62, but then quadruple bogeyed the 14th hole on day two and fell out of contention.
Charity take
The organizers set a goal to raise $3 million for local charities and, on Sunday evening, announced the goal was reached. This is a 20 percent increase over the previous highs of $2.5 million. Since 2007, the Travelers has raised more than $28 million, benefitting more than 900 not-for-profit organizations.
Going forward
Details of the agreement between LIV Golf and the PGA are still to be worked out, so there is no way of being sure what the PGA Tour, or “designated status” will look like in the future. Travelers executive VP and chief administrative officer Andy Bessette said he is close to an agreement for elevated status in 2024, and hopes to retain it for the duration of the current Travelers agreement to be title sponsor, which runs through 2030.
For elevated tournaments in 2024, fields will shrink by about 50 percent, with 70 to 80 of the world’s top golfers, no cut to make.
“It’s only the top of the top,” Bessette said. “A lot of the guys who left and didn’t make the cut, and I say ‘bye,’ and it was sad. … and they know they can’t say ‘see you next year.’ But they do say to us, ‘I know I have to play a lot harder next year, so I’m here next year.’ This is where The Tour’s strategizing is working. That is unbelievable thinking, that if a guy who is otherwise ranked 100th in the world wants to be here, they’ve got to get their game up.”
Eclectic well-wishers
Between his final putt and his press conference, Bradley received hundreds of congratulatory text messages from many friends. Four names he dropped: Michael Jordan, Aaron Rodgers, Tim Wakefield and Gary Dell’Abate, producer of the Howard Stern radio show who is known as “Baba Booey.” That’s an interesting group.
“When you get a text from an athlete it hits different because they know what goes into doing something like this and it means a lot,” Bradley said. “… Baba Booey from Howard Stern texted me. That was probably my favorite.”
