Day one of the Travelers Championship was a hot and humid affair around the fescue lined fairways of TPC River Highlands. Seamus Power had a strong opener for the Irish contingent in Connecticut with his opening salvo of three under par, as Shane Lowry too, sits well placed after 18 holes on one under.
Waterford’s Power was first out of the pair and had to scramble from the very beginning, with his drive off the par-4 first going way right. Power recovered well to par the opener before bogey on the following hole would compound his early wobble. A show of resilience would steady the ship however, with four pars on the bounce. The fight back began with two birdies on the 7th and the par-3 8th, holing out after hitting the heart of the green. Despite a bogey on the 12th , Power went on to card three birdies on his way home. The par-3s again working for him with another beauty on the 16th. A good day for the Tooraneena man, he sits T18 in the clubhouse overnight and right in the mix.
Next out was Lowry, who also hit a speed bump on the first, pulling his drive left before missing the green and then chipping close, only to two-putt and drop a shot. This was clawed back on the par-5 6th ,however. Two good blows left him a short-sided chip that was deftly knocked close, only to miss the short eagle chance. He would par his way around the turn before an even more eventful back nine. A disappointing short miss for par on the 10th was quickly brushed aside by Lowry on the par-3 following hole. A heat-seeker high in the air landed soft only to trickle right and shave the cup. No ace, but one of the shots of the day from the Offaly man. Two more birdies followed on 13 and the par-4 15th. Another short two-putt would add to the drama on the 17th leaving Lowry on -1 overnight on T33, seven back from the overnight lead.
That belongs to South Korea’s Tom Kim. All day it looked like -6 would be the magic number with a group of four stubbornly on top all afternoon. Then, the 21-year-old elbowed his way through the field to sit clear by two on eight under. His 62 couldn’t be matched and his blemish free round will see him confident heading into round two. The chasing pack of four in T2 includes Rickie Fowler and Will Zalatoris, while lurking a shot further back sit another bunch of seven including world number one Scottie Scheffler, Tony Finau and past champion Xander Schauffele. Sparkling company for the young Korean on his 19th event on tour.
Friday’s second-round tee times at the Travelers Championship have been moved forward one hour due to weather, PGA TOUR Communications announced. Heavy rain is due to hit Connecticut on Friday afternoon, and the weekend could be soggy as well. The first tee time will now be at 7:05AM local time at TPC River Highlands but players will still compete in pairs off the first tee as originally scheduled. Will Zalatoris (-6) will kick off proceedings playing alongside Ben Griffin (+1) in the opening pairing.
Power hits the course on Friday evening with Lowry following suit into what could be the teeth of the inclement weather in Connecticut.
The defending champion Keegan Bradley was on hand after his -1 opening round and spoke of his fond memories of winning his hometown event.
“It’s great,” he said. “I have great memories of here throughout my whole entire life, so it’s fun to come back as a winner of the tournament, but I can think of when I was a 12-, 13-year-old kid coming here to watch David Duval play. And then now getting to come as defending champion is pretty cool.”
Asked to sum up his season so far and his approach heading into today: “Yeah, I mean, it’s been a weird season of a couple chances to win, the Florida swing wasn’t very good. Then I played very well, in the last like couple months I felt really strong. I played especially well at the PGA. I didn’t have the greatest finish, but I really feel like I haven’t putted the way I putted last year and I’m starting to putt a lot better. Sometimes coming to a course like this that you’ve had some success at is just what you need to maybe hopefully contend.”
With the weather rolling in over the weekend. Anything can happen as we look ahead to day two around the picturesque TPC River Highlands.
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