The Travelers (aka Keegan Bradley) Championship Preview
So this week we’re in Connecticut. TPC River Highlands. The Travelers Championship. And, as you by now know, the Stool and Keegan’s Crew will be there. Feits is there caddying for Bonino as we speak (check him out on BarstoolSports snapchat) and Prez and the rest of the crew will be following Keegs tomorrow.
Me? I’ll be following Keegs and everyone else on my laptop. Updating. Shot tracking. Blogging. Keeping the lights on. But it’s not about me — it’s about the golf. Let’s get to it.
The Track
Short. Birdies. Lots of birdies. Since 2000, TPC River Highlands has surrendered the 2nd most birdies of any venue on Tour. Tipped out at just 6,841 yards, it’s one of the shortest tracks on Tour (Baltusrol was around 7,500 last week, for example, and Erin Hills, next year’s U.S. Open venue, is rumored to stretch over 8,000 yards). So yeah, it’s gettable.
Fan-favorite Bubba Watson has won twice here in the last 6 years, including a playoff victory last year against anti-American Paul Casey. His 2010 Travelers Championship was his first win on Tour. After topping his second shot into the water and making double on 17, he birdied 18 and played a 3-way, 2-hole playoff at 1-under. Pretty nifty. This shot helped.
Bubba Watson won the Travelers Championship in 2010.
He did so with this shot.
#TOURVault https://t.co/x2hWhaWuNP
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 2, 2016
Notable Holes
15th, 296-yard par 4
The 15th is a classic example of the contemporary golf architectural romance. We LOVE reachable par-4s these days. Can’t get enough of ‘em. The U.S. Open throws one in nearly every year and everybody from the players to the announcers talks about how super cool and awesome it is.
Well the 16th is River Highlands’ that. It’s a slutty sub-300er, giving up 95 eagles since 2000 — the most on Tour.
17th, 420-yard par 4
Like I mentioned, this is where Bubba awesomely topped one into the drink on 17 in 2010.
It’s a hard dogleg right with bunkers left and water hugging the right. If you want to win, you need to hit the fairway here and get one in the air on your second. At least it helps.
Here’s who’s won this thing and how low they’ve gone since ’07.
The Field
Okay John Daly’s not playing but that’s a fantastic picture from one time when he was. With the PGA last week and the Olympics next week, this isn’t the strongest field of the year. The Travelers does provide a lot of exemptions and opportunities to younger players; therefore, let’s call it an energetic field. Bubba’s obviously playing. There’s also guys like Zach Johnson, Louis Oosthuizen, and Angel Cabrera in the field. You know, major champs.
Ryder Cup
With the RC looming, many of the bubble guys are looking to acquire RC points any and every way possible. Playing in the Travelers is one of those ways. So we’ve got the likes of Justin Thomas, Daniel Berger and Jimmy Furyk in the field and playing for some serious stakes. The Ryder means A LOT to all these guys and making the squad is as pressure-packed as winning big events.
Oh, did somebody say Daniel Berger? (hi Tori)
Winner
Patrick Reed. The pudgy, cocky Ryder Cup savage hasn’t won since January of last year. After declaring himself a top-5 player in the world on the 72nd green of the 2014 WGC-Cadillac at Doral, he took a lot of heat, a lot of flak, and was even accused of some crazy cheating scandals from back in his college golf days. Anyway, this dude lives for fall golf and, even though we’re not quite there yet, this week he’ll march right into his favorite time of year with a nice little win in Connecticut.
DFL
Steven Bowditch.
Speaking of Bowditch, he’s agreed to come on the Unnamed Golf Podcast once the FedEx Cup Playoffs start — when he’ll clearly have some free time.
Onward And Upward
Should be a fun week of birdies, low scores and watching less boring golf than Jimmy Walker golf. If you’re around town, join our guys either tonight, tomorrow morning or both.
Join Barstool Sports and EL PREZ Wednesday night!! They are giving away T-Shirts to the first 75ppl at 8 pm!! We… https://t.co/xzS5AxiMXA
— ChicagoSams Cromwell (@ChicagoSamsCrom) August 2, 2016
PS — The Walkers are getting less boring.
Wanamaker heads to Vegas. Thanks for the ride @Bellagio @MGMResortsIntl pic.twitter.com/gSefX2LFzg
— Erin Walker (@tourwifetravels) August 2, 2016