Stars try to find game
River Highlands right place
CROMWELL, Conn. — Under normal circumstances the best players in the world do not play golf the week after the U.S. Open. They go on vacation or they go into therapy, depending on just how mind-bending the USGA made things on them at the Open.
That is not the case this week for three of the game’s top five players and arguably its biggest attractions: Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Jason Day. All are here in part because no tournament is more solicitous to players than the Travelers Championship, but the other reason is more fundamental. If your game needs a tune-up, TPC River Highlands is the place to do it.
“After talking to a lot of players who’d been here, it seemed a good place to destress after the Open,’’ McIlroy said. “Change of pace from last week. If you’re on with your scoring clubs, you can score here.’’
Considering McIlroy didn’t make the cut last week after an opening 6-over-par 78 at Erin Hills, he probably could use some “de-stressing.’’ In fact, most of us could use it after a round of golf, which is why the 19th hole exists.
For McIlroy, though, part of his reason for being here is an early-season rib injury that has limited him to only seven events, about half his norm at this stage. He failed to make top three in any and conceded after missing the Open cut what he needs most to make a run at the season’s final two majors — the British Open and the PGA — is to play more.
Where better to do that than River Highlands, which normally has a winner shooting 15-under on its inviting, short par 4s and finishes with a string of holes during which birdies can be made and thrill rides can be boarded?
“If you want to play a round of golf, there’s no place better than here,’’ McIlroy said joyously. “You can see shots go close to the hole. You can make birdies.
“I think at this point in time, I just need to play a round of golf. I know it’s in there. It’s just a matter of getting it out of me and getting myself in the right frame of mind. . . . I feel like that’s going to help me to get back into contention.’’
McIlroy added his rib no longer bothers him, and although he “hadn’t lifted a weight this year,’’ he doesn’t feel strength is an issue. Playing is the issue. Or rather not playing.
For Day, the Open was equally disappointing. His tournament, like McIlroy’s, lasted two days, during which he was a stunning 10-over. After the second round, he joked he simply was trying to stay out of playing partner McIlroy’s way, which he said he found easy considering how often his shots were off line.
Day has finished in the top 10 in only 2-of-12 starts. Although he lost the Byron Nelson in a playoff against Billy Horschel, it’s fair to conclude he’s in a seasonlong slump. Now No. 4 in the world, he agreed to play this week in part because, like McIlroy and Spieth, he understood it’s a place where struggling golfers can find their game.
Spieth finds himself in a similar though less leaky boat, although his stats argue otherwise. He’s won once and finished in the top 10 six times in 15 starts, but he’s also finished outside the top 10 at both the Masters (T-11th) and the U.S. Open (T-35th) so by his standards, something is amiss. Where better to reverse fortune than a course that smiles on duffers and major winners alike?
“You play a U.S. Open, any course you play right after should seem a bit easier and should be fun because of that,’’ Spieth said. “I began thinking about (the Travelers) a month back maybe. What put me over the edge was other players’ recommendations. It was all positive comments from every player.
“We recognize it’s high teens (under par) that wins this golf tournament, no matter the conditions. If you accept that and allow it to be that and just let the golf course play the way it’s supposed to, which I think historically this tournament has done extremely well, then that’s fun.
“It puts a little bit of extra pressure on you because you can’t get away with a 1-under round.’’
For Spieth, that pressure falls primarily on his putter. When his flat stick is hot, he might be the best putter in the world, and he needs to approach that to win against the game’s longer hitters. Oddly, he’s been doing everything but putting well lately, which is one reason he’s looking forward to this week.
“I’m striking the ball well but the putts just aren’t going in,’’ Spieth said. “I really only had, I would say, two solid putting tournaments out of all the events I played this year. When I say solid, I’m not talking about the actual result. That just happens. It’s my comfort level on the greens. It only takes one or two events in a row before we’re right on track.
“This week you have to make birdies. You have to convert. You’re going to have plenty of chances, so going back to the way things have been the last few events, it would yield to an even more frustrating week if it’s the same because you’ll have so many more opportunities.
“It’s more like I’m going to give myself enough putts to where they have to (fall) eventually. It’s just a matter of trusting that it’s there, seeing a couple go in. Then the hole starts to look bigger.’’
There’s no better course to find that than here, which is why this week you’ll see three of the top five players in the world toiling at the Travelers, looking for their game on the kind of course where you can find it.