McIlroy, Spieth get their work in
CROMWELL — Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth found time for some small talk on the practice range Monday afternoon at TPC River Highlands. This quick discourse between two of the world’s top seven golfers came after Spieth playfully putted a ball in McIlroy’s direction.
Spieth, who like McIlroy failed to make the cut at the US Open at Shinnecock Hills in New York, asked his counterpart where he spent the rest of last weekend.
“Stayed there,” McIlroy responded, meaning the Hamptons.
And Spieth? Well, he made the near three-hour trek into New York City because “there was nothing else to do.”
Despite that earlier-thananticipated exit from the year’s second major championship, in which McIlroy finished at 10-over par and Spieth at 9-over, both players find themselves back in Cromwell for the Travelers Championship. So, too, do three other reigning major champions: 2017 PGA winner Justin Thomas, 2018 Masters winner Patrick Reed and Brooks Koepka, who carded 2-under par 68 on Sunday to capture his second straight U.S. Open title.
“We talked this morning. All set,” Travelers tournament director Nathan Grube said, confirming Koepka’s commitment. “I don’t know where he’s going (the next few days), but he’s going somewhere. We talked about the schedule and the whole deal. We are all good.”
Since changing sponsors in 2007, the Travelers has been held the third week of June every year but one. There were times when its placement on the calendar concerned Grube, who worried that players would choose relaxation and recuperation over competition following the US Open.
“We started talking to the players (and asking), ‘Why is it a tough week? Why is it a tough week?’ Grube said. “The answers that we got were the travel, the U.S. Open is a hard test, and X, Y and Z.
“All these things, we were like, ‘Wait a minute, we can address all these things. We can address the travel, we can address how we take care of the families post-U.S. Open. Our fields started getting better year after year.”
It’s grown to the point where this year’s field includes the last four major champions and four of the top seven players in the world. Among them is
Spieth, who is back for a second time after edging Daniel Berger in a playoff last year.
“I would’ve bet you money, and I would’ve lost, that the years we had a West Coast Open versus an East
Coast Open that our field wouldn’t have been as strong. It hasn’t happened,” Grube said. “I think what’s going on is these guys are playing globally now. Take the European guys who just played in the Open, they’re playing in Germany now (at the BMW International Open).
“I think the world is much smaller for the players than it used to be. It’s just so much easier to get from Point A to Point B that the week after, traveling West Coast to East Coast, it doesn’t affect us as much as I thought it would.”
That theory, of course, will be put to the test next year when the U.S. Open returns to Pebble Beach Golf Links in California. As for the present, Monday served as a day for players to get comfortable on the range. Spieth, the first big name to arrive, was there for more than an hour practicing his swing.