TRAVELERS

year title sponsorship commitment, then Travelers added four more years through to run through the 2014 tournament.

Gov. Ned Lamont and PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan were on the call for the announcement by Travelers, in addition to Schnitzer, Andy Bessette, the executive vice president and chief administrative officer for Travelers, and Travelers Championship tournament director Nathan Grube.

“This is going to be another shot in the arm going forward. I love this tournament,” Lamont said.

Said Monahan, a Trinity College graduate: “Your leadership and support make Travelers one of the premier events on the (PGA Tour) calendar.”

The Travelers Championship will be held June 24-27 at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell.

The Travelers didn’t have any spectators at last year’s event. It was the

third tournament back after the PGA Tour resumed in June. The tour was off from mid-March to mid-June due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Thanks to Gov. Lamont for the support and trust to contest last year’s championship in a safe and responsible manner. It’s a week I will never forget,” said Monahan, who was on site for the tournament.

Bessette and Grube remember standing at the 18th green when Dustin Johnson, who won last year’s tournament, was walking up.

“It was hard on Sunday afternoon when Dustin Johnson was coming up (to the green), there were 38 people. We counted,” Grube said.

Said Bessette: “It should have been the loudest road possible to hear. These are their (the fans’) memories. That was the hard part and fortunately, we won’t be in that situation this summer,” Bessette said. “I don’t want to be depressed two years in a row.

Our fans are the best in the world. We want fans.”

The Travelers has yet to announce plans for spectator attendance for this year’s tournament, but anticipate having some each day. A number of tour events have had spectators at its tournaments thus far.

“It won’t be in the hundreds. It will be in the thousands,” Grube said. “I don’t feel comfortable giving out an exact number.”

Grube did indicate when tickets do go on sale, it will be a digital process rather than actually getting paperbased tickets.

Johnson has already committed to this year’s event, along with Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed and threetime champion Bubba Watson.

In February, Travelers announced it would match any donations made up to $1 million to help The Hole In The Wall Gang Camp, one of Travelers’ primary beneficiaries. Travelers has generated more than $20 million towards its charities since taking over title sponsorship.

“Giving back is in our DNA,” Bessette said.