Bradley eyes a repeat at Travelers
Former Hopkinton High star relishes PGA Tour home win
NORTON — Prior to his final round of the 2023 Travelers Championship, 54hole leader Keegan Bradley played basketball outside with his young son, Logan.
As the two shot hoops in the driveway of their rental house, fans honked and shouted words of encouragement at Bradley, who nervously awaited the potential of fulfilling a dream: winning his home-region tournament.
Growing up in Vermont and New Hampshire prior to moving to Hopkinton before his senior year of high school, helping the Hillers win their second straight Division 2 team state title while also capturing the 2003 MIAA Div. 2 individual state championship, Bradley acknowledged putting a great deal of pressure on himself to perform well at the Travelers in past years.
But all those woes were washed away on that sunny final day back on June 25. Bradley completed the tournament with a championship-record score of 257, 23 under par, to earn his sixth career PGA Tour victory. The emotion cascaded through him as he marched up the 18th fairway with fans chanting his last name proudly.
“For us, we have these small little moments,” Bradley said during the Travelers Championship Fall Media Day, held Monday at TPC Boston. “You have to really cherish them, and I didn’t do a good job of that early in my career.
“I’m trying now, when I’m in a moment like that, to literally talk to myself, and say, ‘Enjoy this moment. Look around, take it in, look at the people’s faces, look over at your family.’ I got to do that at Travelers and that’s a memory that I’ll have for the rest of my life.”
Bradley had always dreamt of winning the Travelers, a tournament that he would frequent as a child to watch the best in the sport compete. For the tournament directors, Hollywood could not have written a better script: New England’s native son winning the region’s lone tournament and setting a championship record.
“You don’t have to be from the state or even the town, but if you’re from New England, you’re in it together,” said Bradley. “That is special to me, and I hope that maybe that inspires some of the other kids growing up.”
The Travelers Championship has skyrocketed in popularity since returning to the PGA Tour in 2007. Capturing the “Players Choice” award in 2017 and 2018, as voted by players for best tournament experience, the innovation and unceasing desire to maintain the highest standards has put the region’s sole championship among the pinnacle of the sport.
“When you can provide that type of environment, and you have some of the best fans on tour, where you get something like thousands of fans chanting Keegan’s name up 18, or Jordan [Spieth] holing out of the bunker in 2018 and the place just erupts, you don’t get reactions like that at every tour event,” said tournament director Nathan Grube. “We try to set the stage where if something cool happens, the players will remember that forever.”
In 2024, with Bradley set to defend his title, the stakes have never been higher. The Travelers Championship will be a Signature Event, one of eight on the 2024 PGA Tour schedule. A field of 7080 of the world’s best golfers will descend upon TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Conn., in a no-cut format that will offer a $20 million purse.
Thousands of fans from Massachusetts attended the tournament and hundreds more volunteered, proving that the entire region embraced the championship. An agreement with Travelers to sponsor the event through 2030, and the PGA Tour constructing a new clubhouse at TPC River Highlands, in addition to the players’ unbridled support, helped the Travelers achieve Signature Event status.
“It’s been a journey, but it’s been one that if we didn’t have Travelers pushing every year to get better, I don’t think we would have had this track record to actually show that, ‘Hey, we are going to take this Signature Event seriously and we’re going to knock it out of the park,’ ” said Grube.
The brain trust behind the tournament stops at nothing to ensure that every need of the players, their families, caddies, and fans are met. The location of the daycare was moved closer to the course. Older children of the players go on hikes, enjoy art festivals, and play wiffleball games, equipped with a Green Monster replica, by the 18th green.
The addition of umbrellas at each hitting area on the driving range to shield caddies from the sun and rain help illustrate that the tournament does not view smaller details as minutia, rather opportunities to improve the experience.
Several holes will change, a request from players to ensure the competitiveness and playability of the course are at peak conditions. The par-3 11th hole will feature a smaller green, the par-4 12th will now have rough in the middle of the hill in the fairway, eliminating a short chip in from the valley after a long drive. The tee box on the par-3 fifth will be elongated, and the hill along the left side of the par-4 first hole will be flattened out, enabling wayward shots to roll into the rough.
The Travelers has exploded in popularity among golfers and fans alike thanks to the relentless passion from all of those involved.
“It’s taken a while, because it has to be something compelling,” said Travelers executive vice president Andy Bessette. “Now that we’re a Signature Event, it’s compelling.”