RELIVING AN EPIC
Vivid memories of the Travelers’ longest day helps fuel Harris English’s fire to recover, return and defend his title
We fist-bumped a couple of times, him making a 6-footer, me making a 6-footer, him making an 8-footer, me making an 8-footer. We just went back and forth and that’s what made it a lot of fun. We both brought a lot of intensity to it.”
— Harris English, on 2021 Travelers Championship playoff with Kramer Hickok
CROMWELL — Harris English is working his way back from the hip surgery he had put off for years. If all goes well, he’ll be walking more this week, back on the PGA Tour by mid-june and rounding into form when he returns to the TPC River Highlands for the 2022 Travelers Championship June 23-26.
If he needs motivation to complete the grueling rehab work all he has to do is close his eyes and remember the sounds and the feel of excitement as dusk descended on the course last June 27, the latest sunset of the year.
“It brings back a lot of great memories,” English said during the Travelers Championship media day on Tuesday. “Coming up 18 a number of times, the adrenaline and seeing how much fun people were having as we were keeping the playoff going. The crowd cheering, doing a lot of chants. It was fun to be a part of.”
The chants were not necessarily for English. He was locked in a playoff duel with Kramer Hickok, the crowd favorite. So English was the heavy, going up against the kid looking for his first tour win.
It didn’t happen that day for Hickok, but what did happen was unforgettable. The two went headto-head for eight holes, tied for the second-longest playoff in PGA Tour history.
“When you’re in that situation, you never want to see the guy you’re playing fail and give it to you,” English said. “You want the best out of him and hopefully that brings the best out of you.
We fist-bumped a couple of times, him making a 6-footer, me making a 6-footer, him making an 8-footer, me making an 8-footer. We just went back and forth and that’s what made it a lot of fun. We both brought a lot of intensity to it.”
They played the 17th and 18th holes over and over, and with sunset coming at 8:37 p.m., there was time for one more hole before having to continue it the next day. English rolled in a birdie putt to win it on the eighth playoff hole. As the capped crowd of about 10,000 — nobody wanted to go home — roared its approval, the combatants shook hands and hugged.
It was one of the great moments in sports in 2021, reminding us that grace, dignity, class and sportsmanship are still out there, even amidst the fiercest competition.
“I knew Kramer a good bit before the playoff,” English said. “He’s a great guy, a great kid. I’ve seen him since then and we’ve had a couple of good laughs about it. Somebody had to win and we didn’t give each other anything. We had to work for it, we had to grind for it. We both made some really clutch shots, clutch putts, and that’s really all you want from a playoff. He can still hold his head high and know that he played really good golf and played good under pressure. I’m pulling for Kramer to get back in that situation again and pull it off.”
There was another symbol in the moment. It was, and we say this with
appropriately crossed fingers, the last of COVID’S intrusion into our state’s large, annual summer picnic. The Travelers returns next month and there will be no crowd restrictions. Several of the top-10 golfers in the world will be back, and the charities who benefit from the tournament can again expect the full benefit.
As part of Tuesday’s event, New Britain teenager Zaire Ramiz, an aspiring singer, told his story of fighting sickle cell anemia and the important role the Hole In The Wall Gang Camp in Ashford, where he is a senior camper, plays in his life. The camp has recovered from a devastating fire with the help of money raised by the tournament, which has contributed more than $22 million to local charities since the Travelers became title sponsor in 2007.
The tournament went on in
2020 with zero attendance, one of the first events staged after the pandemic stopped the sports world. It was carried off last year with a 10,000-per-day cap in attendance.
Next month, tournament director Nathan Grube says, there could be more fans than there were in 2019.
“The energy, I can already tell you, is going to be tremendous,” Grube said. “People have missed it. It was not easy, the whole world was going through it. Especially in ‘20, everyone was watching to see how we were going to do it, and there was a responsibility, ‘We better do this right.’ It’s such a relief to be talking about our field, ticket sales, things I didn’t talk about for two years.”
Tournament officials presented English with a Georgia football
helmet, his alma mater’s team, signed by quarterback Stetson Bennett. English, 32, had been feeling the affects of a torn labrum and a bone spur since his college days. He has four wins on the Tour, two last year to crack the top 10, and is currently ranked 24th. He shut it down after the Sony Open in January to have surgery and hopes to put the hip pain behind him once and for all by the time the Travelers rolls around.
“It’s a combo of having great memories that put a smile on your face,” he said, “and it kind of warms your heart a little bit and you want to defend it. It is really hard to win a tournament backto-back years, you have an increase in focus and intensity. You know everybody’s gunning for you.”
The limited crowds adopted Hickok, chanted his name, and gained respect for English, who was playing like a seasoned pro as they battled toward sundown. Maybe this time they’ll be sticking around and chanting for Harris English, just as well-suited for the good-guy role.
“I actually don’t mind that,” English said. “I actually feel it helps me when they’re cheering for the other guy, helps me focus more. I didn’t mind that at all. Kramer was the new guy, the unknown looking for his first win, and I had to make it tough on him. I couldn’t just give it to him. He made an unbelievable putt on 18 to get into the playoff so I knew how bad he wanted it. We both gave it everything we had, somebody had to come out on top.”