Travelers Championship Preview

After a shortened break because of the rain-delayed US Open, the PGA Tour heads for Connecticut this week and the Travelers Championship. Stewart Cink won here last year and is looking to become the first man to successfully defend the title.

Stewart Cink defends
Fergus Bisset
By
published

Lowdown: After a shortened break because of the rain-delayed US Open, the PGA Tour heads for Connecticut this week and the Travelers Championship. Stewart Cink won here last year and is looking to become the first man to successfully defend the title. At last year’s Travelers Championship Stewart Cink secured a narrow victory over Tommy Armour III and the defending champion Hunter Mahan. Cink had to get up and down from the back of the 18th green to win by a single stroke. The Travelers Championship has had a number of different guises since it was first contested in 1952. Over the years there have been some notable winners including Arnold Palmer, Charles Sifford, Lee Trevino and Greg Norman. Phil Mickelson is the only man to have won the tournament in consecutive years, a feat he accomplished in 2001 and 2002. Cink will be looking to alter that fact when he tees it up tomorrow.

Venue: TPC River Highlands, Connecticut Course stats: par 70, 6,844 yards Purse: $6,000,000, Winner: $1,080,000 Defending Champion: Stewart Cink (-18)

Player Watch: Stewart Cink – Last year’s winner, Cink has an excellent record in this tournament. The 36-year-old has five top-10 finishes at TPC River Highlands including two victories. Hunter Mahan – Winner in 2007 and runner-up in 2008, Mahan clearly enjoys this layout. He’s also fresh off the back of a solid performance in the US Open. Kenny Perry – He always seems to contend on the PGA Tour at the moment. He has seven top-10 finishes in this event and he’s already won twice on tour this year.

Key hole: 13th. A relatively short par five at just 523 yards. Everyone in the field should have the opportunity to get home in two, however, water waits short and a dangerous bunker lies over the back. It’s a real risk and reward hole.

Skills required: Putting – 2007 winner Hunter Mahan averaged just 27 putts per round in the week of his victory. Most of the field will find a high percentage of greens in regulation so it’s the man who’s on fire with the flat-stick who’ll pull away from the field.

Fergus Bisset
Fergus Bisset
Contributing Editor

Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He has also worked with Golf Monthly to produce a podcast series. Called 18 Majors: The Golf History Show it offers new and in-depth perspectives on some of the most important moments in golf's long history. You can find all the details about it here.

He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly.

Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?

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