Spieth pairs up with mentor Henry for final round

CROMWELL — Jordan Spieth has won 11 tournaments on the PGA Tour, including three majors and the 2017 Travelers Championship. He’s risen to eighth in the world rankings and boasts one of the biggest followings in the sport.

Before any of that, he heard from J.J. Henry.

“J.J. was probably my first mentor on the PGA Tour,” Spieth said Sunday after his final round at the Travelers Championship. “We were managed by the same guy (Jay Danzi) when I came out on Tour, and he really kind of took me under his wing.”

Spieth, 24, and Henry, 43, shared the same agent when the former turned professional in 2012, and they currently live only 45 minutes apart in the Dallas/Forth Worth area of Texas. They’re pupil and mentor, and on Sunday they played 18 holes together at TPC River Highlands.

“He’s been a really, really good friend and somebody I’ve looked up to,” Spieth said. “So anytime I get paired with him it’s a lot of fun. To be paired with him here, yeah, it certainly added to the crowds. They love him.”

They also love Spieth, who returned to Cromwell bidding to become the first repeat champion since Phil Mickelson in 2001 and 2002. They arrived at the first tee just before 9:54 a.m. to the delight of a large crowd that proceeded to follow their every move.

Spieth and Henry, a Fairfield native, both shot 69 on the day to finish at 4-under par for the tournament, placing them in a tie for 42nd.

“It’s always fun to play,” Henry said. “We both hit it pretty good, we just didn’t score probably as well as we could. I had a lot of good opportunities, especially on the back-nine, to really shoot a pretty good one.”

Henry felt let down by his putter, especially on the back-nine. Spieth felt out of whack.

“It’s tough when you hit a good swing and you look up and the ball could be 15 yards right or 15 yards left, and it’s all because of alignment,” Spieth said. “Just kind of the basics that I need to get back in order, but I’ve got a few weeks back to get them in order.”

As the day went on, Spieth and Henry talked about their games and this week’s experiences in Cromwell. The pupil and mentor certainly had plenty to discuss.

“Jordan and I go way back,” Henry said. “He’s a great kid. We had the same agent/manager for a long time. We stayed together at some tournaments, a couple majors. He’s just a great kid.”

TIME TO REST?

Brooks Koepka will get a much-needed break now that the Travelers Championship is over … well, sort of.

Koepka finished tied for 19th after shooting a finalround 65. The reigning two-time U.S. Open champion won’t tee it up again until the British Open in four weeks at Carnoustie. But he will have some fun in the meantime.

“I’m going to go see a couple of my buddies in Boston and hang out there. He’s got a bachelor party,” Koepka said. “So I don’t know how much rest I’m going to be getting over the next few days, but I’m looking forward to it.”

His playing partner Sunday, Madison native Brett Stegmaier, finished at 4under 276 for the tournament. Stegmaier was as low as 7-under before a rough three-hole stretch

“I hit two really good shots on 13 and made 7 (double bogey),” Stegmaier said. “Playing into the wind, my 5 wood from 230 (yards) was a little over the back. I put it in the water from there. That was disappointing.”

Stegmaier will take next week off then play the final six tournaments he is eligible for before the FedExCup playoffs begin. He will need a lot of points to get into the top 125 to qualify for the postseason and retain his playing privileges for 2019.

“Honestly, it was a disappointing week based on not making a jump in the (FedExCup) points,” he said. “At the end of the day, that’s all that matters.”

Stegmaier and Koepka played in the same group before at the Waste Management Open in Phoenix. The two just live about 10 miles apart in Florida. Stegmaier resides in West Palm Beach.

WILL THEY OR WON’T THEY?

For the second straight year, Rory McIlroy said he would “definitely be back.” Koepka said he would like to come back.

But both golfers, along with Spieth, acknowledged the difficulty in logistics of coming from the West Coast next year to TPC River Highlands, even with the charter that the Travelers provides. The U.S. Open will be held next year at Pebble Beach Golf Club in California.

“It gets tough with the U.S. Open going coast to coast the next few years,” Spieth said. “So we’ll have to assess how the year’s going next year, especially because of the schedule change and everything being bunched in and a shortened schedule.”

Said Koepka: “The schedule is going to be shaken up so much next year where I don’t even know what events are what, the order of anything. But everything’s going to be crammed, and you’ve got to keep playing.”

The PGA Tour has yet to announce its condensed schedule for 2019 — one that should end around or before Labor Day. But while other tournaments are moving to different dates and different parts of the country, Travelers will remain the week after the U.S. Open, likely through its current title sponsorship agreement in 2024.

“There’s going to be quite a lot of events leading into the U.S. Open. So, yeah, I think when the U.S. Open is back at Winged Foot in 2020, you’ll have a really stellar field again. But just to go from West Coast to East Coast after playing such a big tournament might be a bit of a stretch for some guys,” McIlroy said.