The Travelers Championship Preview & Golf Tips

The Travelers Championship

• TPC River Highlands
• Cromwell, CT
• June 16-22, 2008

TV Coverage

• 1st and 2nd Rounds Golf Channel 3pm-6pm
• 3rd and Final Rounds CBS 3pm-6pm

Defending Champion: Hunter Mahan

It is always interesting to see where an event originated and how it came to be such a prominent event on the PGA Tour. This event we now know as the Travelers Championship actually started out as the Insurance City Open, and then became Greater Hartford Open. The latter version started taking on celebrity endorsers in 1973 by adding Sammy Davis Jr. to the event title. The mid-80’s was the boom of the corporate sponsors joining event titles. The Greater Hartford Open took on Canon, until 2004 when it became the Buick Championship. Now in 2008 we have the Travelers Championship.

It has been a long standing event on tour despite the different names and has seen some great champions. The inaugural winner was Ted Kroll in 1952. After that the next four winners were Toski, Bolt, Snead, and Palmer. That is a great way to start a great reputation as a great tournament.

In the more recent history of the event we have seen Phil Mickelson win back to back years in 2001 and 2002. Then in 2003, Peter Jacobsen turned back his clock to take home the crown. They were followed by the colorful Woody Austin (2004), the great putter Brad Faxon (2005), and then the last two years were taken by young guns JJ Henry (2006) and Hunter Mahan (2007). So in 2008 will it be another young gun try and make their mark, or will a seasoned veteran show the kids the way?

Players to watch in this year’s field:

• Hunter Mahan – defending champion
• Kenny Perry – Memorial winner, on a great stretch of playing
• Justin Rose – struggled at US Open, look for a good turn a round
• Bubba Watson – longest driver on tour
• Stewart Cink - several top ten finishes this year
• JB Holmes - so much talent, maybe this will be his week

The TPC River Highlands

This is a rare breed on the PGA Tour…a track under 7000 yards. It plays as a par 70 but at 6820 yards it is certainly not the beast they faced last week at the US Open. Therefore accuracy will be a premium without having to hit bombs off the tee.

The front nine is solid and certainly will test the players, but the real fun for the fans starts at #15. How much fun is a drivable par 4 where the green is surrounded by trouble? It’s great action. It tests players on so many levels especially in the final pairing on Sunday. This hole plays 296. Go for it?!The 16th is a relatively short par 3 at 171 yards. However controlling your ball flight to fly that distance is not always an easy feat. The wind can get up and there is water short and sand long. Once you get on the green there are few tricks to the putting surface.

The 17th is all about the tee shot. There is a lake on the right, fairway bunkers and mounds on the left. You have to thread the needle to give yourself a chance to make par.The 18th is 444 yards and also needs an accurate drive. With the tournament on the line and a possible 25 000 people watching from the green side amphitheatre the green look like a dime amongst green side bunkers right and a huge swale guarding the left side of the green.

I hope you enjoy the 2008 Travelers Championship at the TPC River Highlands. Please remember to check back here for my Tour Tips of the leaders before the start of the third round.

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