Edwards, Bessette to enter CT Golf HOF

Former longtime PGA Tour caddie Bruce Edwards and Andy Bessette, the executive vice president and chief administrative officer for Travelers, and will both be inducted into the Connecticut Golf Hall of Fame on June 20 at the Downtown Marriott in Hartford.

Edwards, who was from Wethersfield, spent most of his career caddying for Tom Watson, who won eight major championships, including five British Open championships. Edwards also caddied for Greg Norman before returning to Watson.

Edwards died of ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, in April of 2004 at 49.

The Bruce Edwards Foundation for ALS Research was created shortly after Edwards’ death.

It was Travelers that in essence saved the PGA Tour from leaving in Connecticut. Travelers took over title sponsorship beginning with the 2007 tournament, taking over Buick, which held title sponsorship from 2004-06.

Since taking over, Travelers has built a state-ofthe-art practice facility and a new clubhouse. It has also extended title sponsorship three different times.

The biggest one was a 10-year commitment made between Travelers and the PGA Tour in February of 2014. Then, in late March of 2021, Travelers extended its partnership for six more years through the 2030 tournament.

Thanks to its Fan Zone, which includes a place to hold concerts, the Travelers

Championship has been the PGA Tour’s Most Fan Friendly event three times (2010, 2012 and 2017) and both the Tournament of the year and the Players Choice recipient in 2017.

Also a member of the University of Connecticut Board of Trustees, Bessette is also a member of Travelers management committee and operations committee, among other responsibilities at the company.