Four of world’s top five players headline field
Four of the top five golfers in the current world rankings headline the field at next week’s Travelers Championship, which will be held at TPC Rive Highlands in Cromwell.
Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler, the reigning Masters champion, No. 3 Rory McIlroy, who won last week’s Canadian Open, No. 4 Patrick Cantlay and No. 5 Justin Thomas, the reigning PGA champion, are all competing and all made the cut at the U.S. Open.
“When I look at it, our PGA tour event is as strong as it’s ever been and it’s one of the strongest fields ever,” Travelers Championship tournament director Nathan Grube said.
“Four out of the top 5 in the world, that’s pretty good,” said Andy Bessette, the executive vice president and chief administrative officer at Travelers.
The only other player in the top 10 in the field is Sam Burns at No. 9. No. 8 Viktor Hovland, who had committed earlier this week, is no longer in the field.
Also competing next week include No. 12 Xander Schauffele, No. 14 Will Zalatoris, No, 15 Tony Finau, No. 17 Joaquin Niemann and No. 18 Brooks Koepka. No. 20 Abe Ancer was in the field, but he withdrew after also withdrawing from the U.S. Open just before Thursday’s opening round due to illness.
A couple of notable golfers committed to play next week not previously announced include Rickie Fowler, Webb Simpson, Stewart Cink and Jason Day. Also, No. 21 Sungjae Im, No. 28 Harris English, the defending champion, No. 32 Kevin Kisner and No. 40 Tommy Fleetwood are all returning.
All told, Travelers has almost half of the top 50 in the field — 24 in all.
The only two previously announced commitments to the tournament who are now playing in the LIV Golf Series both withdrew: No. 16 Dustin Johnson, the 2020 Travelers champion, who withdrew his PGA Tour membership before being suspended by PGA Tour commissioner Jay Fishman; amd Bryson DeChambeau, who tees it up next week.
Both Grube and Bessette likened the withdrawals to something that happens every year in golf tournaments: players add a tournament, or withdraw, at the deadline quite often.
English won in an eighthole, sudden-death playoff over Kramer Hickok last year, Hickok is also teeing it up next week.
Ben James of Milford, the No. 1 ranked junior in the United States, received one of the four sponsor’s exemptions. Joining James are Chris Gotterup, Cole Hammer and Michael Thorbjornsen.
The final four players of the field will be determined after Monday’s qualifier being held at Ellington Ridge Country Club.