‘Consistency’ key: Golf’s best heap praise on tourney
In each and every direction in which tournament director Nathan Grube looked last week at the Travelers Championship, he had reason to smile.
He saw three-time champion and face-of-the-tournament Bubba Watson playing whiffle ball with children in the backyard of the clubhouse on Thursday. He saw Watson’s son, Caleb, tossing a Nerf football around inside like it were his family’s home.
He saw Zack Sucher’s life change with a second-place finish Sunday, a six-figure purse helping to erase debt and keep his dream alive. He saw Chip McDaniel — to whom he toyed with the idea of handing an exemption — qualify on Monday, rise up the leaderboard and make the Friday cut. He heard the roars of fans cheering for New England native Keegan Bradley late Sunday afternoon as he made a push for a win.
He saw fans brave the rain, lining the course on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with umbrellas in hand. He watched the things that fans and players might not notice — the tiny tweaks and logistical improvements — work to a T. A revamped exit system for cars leaving the tournament helped break up traffic; 600 yards of rubber mats acquired midweek to compensate for muddy walkways could be spotted left and right.
He could smile. He and his team had done it again.
The Travelers Championship, twice given the Players Choice award by golfers on the PGA Tour for the best tournament of the year, drew rave reviews once again from some of the tour’s best.
Even in defeat, Keegan Bradley — who finished runner-up to Chez Reavie on Sunday at the tournament he had dreamed about winning — could speak nothing but glowingly about it.
“Travelers does the best job of any tournament I play,” he said. “I know that. Just the people that run the tournament and the people at Travelers, they figured out how to put on probably the best event of the year. I think a lot of the players would say that.”
A lot of players did say that, including Brooks Koepka, the No. 1 player in the world, who raved about the facilities and how the tournament treats wives, girlfriends, families and caddies, and called it one of his favorite events. Phil Mickelson remarked on how far the tournament has come since he last played in 2003. Sucher told Grube it was the most fun he’d had in his life. Paul Casey, a fourtime top-five finisher, ever the gentleman, had nothing but positive things to say.
“Great championship,” Casey said. “The support by all the crowd we get out there, you know, this is just a joy to play this golf event. Travelers does such a great job.”
Even former UConn men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun, who knows a thing or two about sports in Connecticut, raved at the celebrity pro-am on Wednesday.
“All you have to do is meet [Travelers executive vice president and chief administrative officer] Andy Bessette and Nathan [Grube],” he said, in regard to the tournament’s success.
Andy and Nathan: two names that golfers (and apparently, celebrities) can’t keep out of their mouths. The brains behind the tournament, the two spend much of their year traveling around the country from tournament to tournament, meeting with golfers and agents, swaying them to come to Cromwell.
Grube added that they’re not just popping into these tournaments and leaving as quickly as they came. They spend time, meet with as many golfers as they can. Even back in Connecticut, they work. Bessette said that when a player has a child, they’ll send the family a Travelers-branded onesie, either blue or pink.
The players have taken notice. This year’s player field was one of the best yet, despite many being skeptical of the talent we’d see based upon the U.S. Open being across the country in California the week before. Five of the world’s top 10 players, and 16 of the top 30 speaks for itself.
“When he and I go out on tour, it’s the title and the tournament director that have been out there for 13 years working together,” Grube said. “Going, ‘ Hey, how can we make this event better?’”
“Better” is something Grube and Bessette strive for. Both have said on multiple occasions that resting on their laurels will never be an option. Grube chalked that up to the team around him and Bessette — namely Tara Gerber (senior director of strategy) and Kevin Harrington (senior director of operations) — who have worked with Grube and Bessette since the beginning.
Years together has built trust among the tournament brass as they strive to improve season after season.
“There’s some real consistency there that helps us,” Grube said. “Where like if we say, ‘Hey, let’s do this!’ the group can be like, ‘Remember, we tried that in 2009 and it didn’t work? Remember how good of an idea we thought that was back in ’09?’”
“Having a group that is that knitted together … we’re able to make fewer mistakes. We’re still going to make mistakes, but we’re going to make fewer mistakes and keep things moving.”
The planning for the 2020 Travelers Championship has already begun. Those mistakes that Grube mentioned? He and his team spend much of the tournament week pinpointing them, and ensuring that they won’t happen again next year.
While golf’s best heap praise upon them, Grube, Bessette and their team keep working.
Shawn McFarland can be reached at smcfarland@courant.com.