At the U.S. Open last week, Xander Schauffele faded from a record-setting opening round to an afterthought finish.
After a cross-country flight, Schauffele shifts gears to defend his 2022 title at the Travelers Championship, beginning Thursday in Cromwell, Conn.
The Travelers brings a looser feel and far lower scores to the table as the annual follow-up to the U.S. Open.
There’s a different urgency this time around, though. The PGA Tour set the tournament as the final designated event before the Open Championship and the FedEx Cup Playoffs, meaning a $20 million purse is up for grabs.
The top six players in the world ranking, including No. 6 Schauffele, are among those on hand at TPC River Highlands. U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, who skyrocketed to No. 13 in the Official World Golf Ranking after holding off Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland last week at the Los Angeles Country Club, is also in the field.
Schauffele and Rickie Fowler each shot 8-under 62 to begin the U.S. Open, each breaking the championship record of 63 about 20 minutes apart at a scorable course hosting a major for the first time. While Fowler competed to the bitter end and tied for fifth, Schauffele didn’t have it the rest of the week, shooting 70, 73 and 72 to tie for 10th.
The California native opened the 2022 Travelers with back-to-back 63s, lost the lead during the final round and managed to win anyway after then-rookie Sahith Theegala double-bogeyed his final hole.
“That’s why the Travelers is so exciting,” Schauffele said last month. “It’s so great to watch for people on TV or in person because you can have a five-shot lead entering the back nine, but for me to feel comfortable I would want a nine-shot lead on that property because you’re supposed to birdie par-5. You can hit in the water, and all of a sudden you’re scrambling for bogey. … There’s just so many opportunities there, but also danger looming around the corner that it’s a really exciting finish.”
The Travelers has a propensity for thrilling finishes. In 2021, Harris English beat Kramer Hickok in an eight-hole playoff, tied for the second-longest in PGA Tour history. Jordan Spieth beat Daniel Berger in a playoff in 2017 by holing out from a greenside bunker.
Spieth is not in the 2023 field in Connecticut, but the top eight players in the world rankings are, including top three Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm of Spain and McIlroy. World No. 4 Patrick Cantlay shot a round of 60 at the Travelers as an amateur in 2011.
“This golf course I think demands accuracy off the tee similar to a U.S. Open,” Cantlay said. “It’s obviously a lot easier coming into the greens. It’s one of the shorter golf courses we play. You have a lot of scoring opportunities, a lot of wedges. That’ll be much different than last week where it felt like there were a lot of par-4s over 500 yards. We were hitting a lot of 4-, 5- and 6-irons into the greens. That will be the biggest difference.”
Amateur Michael Thorbjornsen is back on a sponsor’s invite after finishing in fourth place last year. Another amateur to watch is Ben James, a Connecticut native who won the NCAA Division I Phil Mickelson Outstanding Freshman Award.
In addition to Schauffele, five former Travelers champions are in the field: English, Chez Reavie (2019), Russell Knox (2016), Kevin Streelman (2014) and Stewart Cink (2008, 1997).
–Field Level Media
