Johnson wins Travelers crown
Golfer closes in on Tiger’s streak with his 13th straight year on PGA Tour with a win
Nothing is certain in this world other than death, taxes, and if Dustin Johnson gets his putter going, he’ll take home the trophy.
That’s exactly what happened outside of Hartford on Sunday as the long-hitting Johnson shot a 3-under-par 67 to win the Travelers Championship on a spectator-less TPC River Highlands with a 19-under-par total.
Johnson finished one shot clear of Kevin Streelman.
“It was definitely strange playing with no fans, but you still can feel the pressure, you still can feel how important a golf tournament it is,” Johnson said. “Coming down the stretch, to me it felt the same, whether it was a million fans or zero.”
Johnson entered the week 134th in strokes-gained-putting for the season, but was 10th in the field on Saturday and seventh on Sunday.
The win is Johnson’s 21st career PGA Tour victory and his 13th consecutive year with a win, a streak only bettered by Tiger Woods (14), Jack Nicklaus (17) and Arnold Palmer (17).
“Winning 13 years straight on the tour is a pretty big accomplishment,” Johnson said.
“Any time you’re mentioned with those guys, with Tiger,
Jack, Arnie, you’ve got to feel good about that because they’re the best that’s ever played this game.”
First-round leader Mackenzie Hughes dropped back-to-back bombs on the last two holes on Sunday to jump into a tie for third place at 17-under along with Will Gordon.
Hughes made the putt of the week on the 17th hole, a 48-footer with a 90-degree break for birdie. The 29-year-old Canadian then followed it up with a 44-foot birdie at the 18th to shoot a final round 3-under-par 67.
“The fact that they both went in was one of the craziest things I’ve ever done,” Hughes said after his round.
After shooting an opening round career-best 60 on Thursday, Hughes spent the next three days trying to rekindle the magic in his putter. It finally happened, just a little too late to fight for his second PGA Tour victory.
“Those last two holes were a huge bonus,” Hughes said. “The weekend was pretty frustrating for me. I felt like I was playing well enough to shoot some better scores, and it just wasn’t quite happening.”
It’s been a strange season on the golf course for Hughes, who missed nine of 11 cuts to start the 2019/20 campaign, earning just $30,000. In the four tournaments since then – interrupted by the three-month COVID-19 shutdown – the Dundas, Ont. native has a runner-up finish at the Honda Classic and, now, a third-place finish.
Kevin Na finished at 15-under, one shot behind Hughes and Gordon. Golf’s new must-watch man Bryson Dechambeau finished tied for sixth in a large group at 15-under.
Johnson entered the final round two shots behind 54-hole leader — and comeback story extraordinaire — Brendon Todd, who was looking for his third win of the season. The 34-yearold has come back from a nearly career-ending battle with the driver yips. A year ago, Todd was ranked 1,011th in the world, a year before that he was 2,006th.
Todd shot a 5-over 75 to finish tied for 11th at 13-under.
There is a saying that you can’t win a golf tournament on Thursday, but you can lose it. The same now can be said about Mondays and Tuesdays as players wait for their COVID-19 pre-tournament tests to come back.
A very positive start to the PGA Tour restart was dealt a reality check this past week when coronavirus made quite a dent in the Travelers Championship field.
The tournament saw seven players withdraw due to a positive test or their proximity to a positive test. Golfers Cameron Champ and Denny Mccarthy both tested positive; Brooks and Chase Koepka both withdrew after Brooks’ caddie Ricky Elliott tested positive; Graeme Mcdowell’s caddie also tested positive; Bud Cauley decided to call it a week on Thursday after playing alongside Mccarthy in Round 1; and one week after winning the RBC Heritage, Webb Simpson withdrew after a family member apparently tested positive.
Besides being a wake-up call for any player who had fallen into a false sense of security inside the tour’s ‘travelling bubble,’ this week has shown how difficult it will be to keep professional sports up and running during an ongoing pandemic.
On Wednesday, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan held a surprise news conference that had some predicting doom and gloom for golf’s return to play. That wasn’t the case though. While Monahan didn’t go as far as to deliver Leonardo Dicaprio’s “THE SHOW GOES ON!” speech from The Wolf of Wall Street, his message was that positive tests were always expected, and that the tour will continue to modify its protocols to keep players safe and keep the golf balls flying.
“It’s pretty clear that this virus isn’t going anywhere,” Monahan said. “We are just going to continue to refine and get better and better and identify ways where we can further mitigate risk.”