To win the Travelers Championship on Sunday will require one simple strategy: Shoot a low score. And make that “crazy low” says Justin Thomas if you’re more than four or five shots back (JT is seven back after shooting 62 on Saturday).
And yet crazy low scores have been out there all week at TPC River Highlands, turning the PGA Tour’s latest $20 million designated event into ready-aim-fire test of flag-hunting golf. The worse score that 54-hole leader Keegan Bradley has shot all week in Cromwell, Conn., is the 64 he posted Saturday, which when added to his opening 62 and Friday 63 has him at 21 under, the tournament record through three rounds. The 37-year-old Vermont native feels very much at home in the Connecticut event, giving him a sentimental if not psychological edge on the rest this week.
One back is Chez Reavie, winner here in 2019, who also has a 64 as his worst showing on the par-70 layout. In fact all but one golfer inside the top 10 on the leaderboard heading into Sunday has shot at least one round of 64 or lower. All these players are within seven and have no choice but to be aggressive on Sunday, when the course should remain soft once more.
If there’s a saving grace for the chasers who include several prominent players—Patrick Cantlay is five back in solo third, Rickie Fowler, Adam Scott and Denny McCarthey are six back in fourth, JT and Scottie Scheffler sit seven back in a tie for seventh—it’s that the 54-hole leaders at the Travelers have struggled to turn themselves into 72-hole winners. When Xander Schauffele completed the task last year, he was just the third in the last 11 years to do so, joining Jordan Spieth in 2017 and Reavie in 2019. And four of the other eight who rallied from behind to win did so from at least three shots back.
YEAR: Winner, deficit, final-round score
2021: Harris English, two back, 65
2020: Dustin Johnson, two back, 67
2018: Bubba Watson, six back, 63
2016: Russell Knox, three back 68
2015: Bubba Watson, one back, 67
2014: Kevin Streelman, four back 64
2013: Ken Duke, two back, 66
2012: Marc Leishman, six back, 62
So there’s the blueprint folks. Go low … or crazy low. It’s what’s required if you want to claim the $3.6 million first-place prize money payout from that $20 million overall purse. Here’s prize money payout for each golfer who made the cut this week in Connecticut. Come back shortly after the tournament’s finish and we’ll update this list with individual names and specific payouts.