Under a cloud of doubt, old school vs. new school for lead at Travelers
CROMWELL — Within moments of Will Gordon tapping in his 12-inch putt at the ninth hole to complete Friday’s best round at the Travelers Championship, here was Matt Wallace being introduced for his 1:30 tee time.
The 30-year-old Englishman watched his drive carry 320 yards down the first fairway, waved to imaginary fans to the left, waved to imaginary fans to the right and began his long afternoon walk alone at TPC River Highlands.
Wallace’s playing partners Denny McCarthy and Bud Cauley withdrew earlier Friday, McCarthy after testing positive for COVID-19 and Cauley “out of an abundance of caution for my peers and everyone involved in the tournament.”
Why Wallace, who like Cauley tested negative Friday morning, didn’t do the same certainly is a matter worth discussing. Can you spell S-E-L-F-I-S-H? The virus can take some time to show up in testing, and a golf world already holding its breath doesn’t need more spread of COVID, any more bad news.
At any rate, Wallace would find himself outside
the ropes of the Travelers, too, after his second-round 72 left him six shots shy of making the cut.
“I was feeling pretty tired and sore after the first round but didn’t think much of it because I had practiced a lot Monday to Wednesday,” McCarthy said. “Last night, I woke up in the middle of the night with additional aches and soreness and sensed something was off. I felt like the only thing to do was get tested before I went to the course.”
Nothing is certain in the sports world these days. Nothing.
There is a spike in COVID-19 around the nation. Everyone, everything is uncomfortable. Everyone, everything.
A smile can go south with one test result. And now with seven players withdrawn from the Travelers because of the pandemic, there feels like there is this invisible shroud of concern, if not fear, hovering over Cromwell. What will tomorrow bring?
And that sucks. It sucks because Phil Mickelson, the 50-year-old two-time winner of the state’s premier sporting event, leads the Travelers Championship by one stroke over the 23-yearold Gordon, riding a sponsor’s exemption.
There are zero fans to pull for the kid.
There is no gallery of thousands pulling for Lefty, chipping in from the bunker with sunglasses that make a guy a half-century old look cool.
And nobody can hug each other for fear of COVID-19.
One of the undeniable joys of this event is the tradition of sponsor’s exemptions extended to young golfers, watching them bloom on the PGA Tour and then return to Cromwell as a repayment for the good will. Golf fans always wonder, who’ll be the next star? Chances are folks in Connecticut already have seen him.
Gordon is a three-time All-American out of Vanderbilt, 2019 SEC Player of the Year, and on Friday he shot one of two 8-under rounds of 62 to go minus-12 and enter Saturday one stroke behind one of the legends of golf.
This is Phil’s 624th PGA Tour event. This is Gordon’s eighth.
Even tournament director Nathan Grube, who along with Travelers’ Andy Bessette extended plenty of those sponsorship exemptions, didn’t know the numbers before Ben Everill’s piece on PGATour.com: Since 1996, 77 of the 98 unrestricted sponsor’s invitations at Cromwell have been given to golfers with fewer than 15 starts. And 32 of those 77 were given either their first PGA Tour start or their first as a professional. Those 77 have combined for 90 Tour wins.
“When the tournament started this week, four of the top 10 in the world were previous Travelers exemptions,” Grube said. “Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Webb Simpson, Patrick Cantlay. And there’s Bryson DeChambeau (11th). The guys remember. Jon hadn’t been back in a few years and he was telling me, ‘Man, I have such great memories here. It’s such a great spot.’ ”
Yes, the guys do remember. Simpson, given an exemption in 2008, won the U.S. Open in 2012. No questions asked, there he was a few days later at the Travelers.
“It’s our investment in the future,” Grube said.
The First Tee of Champions, if you will.
“We were looking at Will last year,” Grube said. “That college class was so strong, with Collin Morikawa, Matthew Wolff and Viktor Hovland; obviously, those guys have already gone on to win events. Will was like in that fifth spot. We’ve had him on the radar.
“This year he didn’t get a ton of starts. There’s that rising-out-of-college group: If you don’t get on the Tour right away, it’s like, ‘How am I going to do it? The Korn Ferry?’ It worked out we had an opening this year for him.”
The invitation was formalized a few weeks ago.
Since 2010, four players on sponsor’s exemptions have won events: One of them is Wolff at the 2019 3M Open. The others are Billy Hurley III, Padraig Harrington and Lee Westwood.
How fitting would it be if Gordon joined that list at the Travelers? Fitting.
Just not as cool as if Phil won.
“Nathan and Andy have had a long history of giving young guys opportunities,” Gordon said. “Last summer when I was up in Canada (on the Mackenzie Tour) there were guys down here my age getting starts and they were able to take advantage.
“I was supposed to play in three events that got canceled over COVID, so for (Bessette and Grube) to take a chance on me and believe in me means the world.”
Gordon was at home when the Mackenzie Tour was canceled this year because of the pandemic. That’s not what hurt, though.
“I had enough FedEx Cup points to get me in the Korn Ferry finals this year, so it was a bit of a bigger letdown when the Korn Ferry finals got canceled,” he said.
It delays his chances at a PGA Tour card. He does not have Korn Ferry Tour status yet, either. So that leaves Gordon still at the mercy of Monday qualifiers and sponsor’s exemptions. A win, of course, would change everything.
“I can’t force it,” Gordon said. “If it was all up to me, I’d have my PGA Tour card right now, but it’s not. It does make you thankful for the opportunities you do have.
“Webb has been super nice to me and a big mentor through this. We played a lot over COVID. Harold Varner came. It was good to be around those guys and see Webb win last week (at RBC Heritage), and it just furthers my belief in myself that I can hang with those guys.”
Simpson, the No. 5 player in the world, withdrew from Travelers after a family member tested positive for COVID. Brooks Koepka, No. 4, and his brother Chase, a Monday qualifier, also chose to withdraw after Brooks’ caddie Ricky Elliott tested positive. Graeme McDowell pulled out when his caddie Ken Comboy also tested positive. Elliott and Comboy had attended a funeral for a mutual friend in Orlando. Along with Nick Watney last Friday and Cameron Champ this week, Wallace makes for three positive tests among players in three weeks. Among 428 players, caddies and essential personnel, he also makes only three this week at Travelers.
“I’m appreciative we’re able to bring some live sports to people back home, and hopefully give them a little bit of entertainment in some downtime,” Mickelson said. “I feel like the methods that we’ve done, whether it’s no fans or whether it’s face masks at times and sanitizing your hands and all these things, I feel like we’re doing it a very safe way.”
The numbers are low, yes. The precautions are many. Still, the concern is high. Let’s not fool ourselves.
“Denny McCarthy has our full support as he selfisolates here in Hartford,” PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said. “I know I speak for the entire Tour membership in thanking him for doing the right thing in requesting an additional test before heading to the golf course today. What Denny, Bud and others are demonstrating is exactly what we asked of everyone — continue to do your part in taking this virus seriously and keeping not only your own health as a priority, but also that of your fellow competitors and those you may come in contact with.”
Ask yourself. Did Matt Wallace do that?