In a crazy year, looks like Travelers in store for super finish.
Early uncertainty with health risk, but golf went on ‘relatively unaffected’
Ever since the PGA Tour announced in mid-April that the Travelers Championship would be held without spectators, immense uncertainty surrounded the tournament.
How could the health and safety of everyone involved be ensured? How would positive tests be handled? Could the tournament continue to lock in big names, and what would the environment be like without fans?
Some of those questions even reemerged right before the tournament started, when five golfers withdrew from the event following multiple positive tests and PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan held an impromptu press conference to confirm the event would proceed as planned.
But as the golf went on relatively unaffected, the product that unfolded through the first three rounds has been full of surprises, movement, big names and intrigue, setting up what should be a compelling finish on Sunday.
Brendon Todd, the 58th-ranked golfer in the world, and No. 6 Dustin Johnson each shot 9-under 61 on Saturday, with Todd finishing two strokes ahead of Johnson entering the final round.
Fresh off his 50th birthday, 44-time tour winner Phil Mickelson was the leader after the first 36 holes before dropping into a tie for seventh on Saturday. Will Gordon, who isn’t even on the tour, made a name for himself after notching a round two 62 and vaulting into second place on Friday.
Six players are within five shots of the lead including Bryson DeChambeau, 2014 Travelers champion Kevin Streelman, Mackenzie Hughes and Kevin Na.
“We feel like our responsibility is to build the stage where the best players in the world can perform,” tournament director Nathan Grube said Saturday. “You can’t control the weather, you can’t control the golf. When we can plan around the weather and starting times and you put the best players in the world on this golf course, I mean, anything goes [Sunday].”
Even as Mickelson staked an early claim atop the leaderboard and Johnson made his impressive run Saturday, the coronavirus never strayed far from attention. Denny McCarthy tested positive and withdrew after playing his first round. Group mate Bud Cauley withdrew out of precaution, leaving Matt Wallace to play an entire round by himself on Friday. Prior to the third round, Jason Day didn’t feel 100 percent and requested a test, which ultimately came back negative.
Tour and tournament officials prepared all along for positive tests and precautionary withdrawals, Grube said, though they had no way of knowing who, when or how many golfers would test positive. Golfers have largely said that they’ve felt safe in Cromwell, and the tour announced Saturday heightened health protocols moving forward.
“We knew that people were going to test positive. You just look at what’s happening, you look at the statistics,” Grube said. “And so we always went at it from that perspective of ‘Okay, people will test positive, players are going to test, caddies are going to test, now the question is when, where, and then how do we work with the local health officials, work with our medical, work with the tour to isolate and then contact trace and all that type of stuff?’
“The tour was great as far as sticking to the plan. It’s almost like there was this net around the tournament and if there was anything that triggered the net — high temperature, ‘I don’t feel good,’ ‘my test came back this’ or ‘I want to get retested’ — it just triggered this whole process that worked.”
Golfers haven’t been able to feed off the energy of fans, who time and time again have given the Travelers Championship its life, but that’s a reality to which golfers must continue to adapt. The PGA Tour won’t allow spectators through mid-July at the earliest and decided it won’t have any for the PGA Championship in August either.
“I got a few claps out there from the houses. There’s some people watching,” said Johnson, who climbed 18 spots on Saturday and is in second place going into the final round. “It’s different. I like the fans. I enjoy playing in front of the fans, especially on the weekends if you’re in the hunt. They just bring a lot more excitement.
“But obviously being my third week in a row, we’re kind of getting used to it. Hopefully we don’t get too used to it. I would like to see the fans back sooner rather than later.”
The absence of fans will surely be most stark on Sunday, where, besides some onlookers from houses overlooking the course, the only live witnesses for the tournament’s final 18 and crowning of the 2020 Travelers Championship winner will be tour and tournament officials. Fans will have to settle for watching the action unfold from their screens at home.