Light the Grill, Grab a Beverage, And Enjoy the Travelers Championship This Weekend

We’re getting spoiled down in Cromwell, Connecticut, this weekend, folks. The best players in the world did their thing over the first 36, and now the top of the leaderboard is loaded with plenty of big names with two days to go.

Surprise, surprise, World No. 1 and Travelers Championship defending champion Scottie Scheffler is T-1. How could anyone have seen that coming? After a 62 on Thursday, Scottie was rolling during his second round until a double bogey on the par-4 17th. After a par on 18, the Texan signed for a 69.

Another man with T-1 next to his name is a Mr. Justin Thomas, winner of the RBC Canadian Open in April. He’s always loved this place, but he’s started to figure it out over the last couple years, tying for ninth in 2023 and for fifth last year. Sure, he missed the cut at both the PGA Championship and U.S. Open, but he’d also won or finished second three times in his last seven starts coming into the week—it’s one of the reasons why I picked him to win.

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A Scottie-JT final group for the third round must make the folks down at TPC River Highlands pretty damn giddy. Walking around that place the last few days, there aren’t many players who get crowd pops as big as those two.

But the last man of the trio of leaders is still chasing his first PGA TOUR win: Tommy Fleetwood. The Englishman went 66-65 to get to nine deep, and most of his damage came on two holes on the back nine Friday afternoon. After hitting a 261-yard approach to nine feet on the par-5 13th and converting the eagle putt, he made another big bird two holes later on the driveable par-4 15th.

That’ll do.

Over his last four regular TOUR stops, Fleetwood’s finished seventh (RBC Heritage), T-4 (Truist Championship), T-4 (Charles Schwab Challenge), and T-16 (Memorial), so if you’re surprised he’s making some noise in New England, that’s on you. He’s going to have to fight off some superstars for his first W, but that would make it taste just that much better.

As for some of the chasers, Jason Day is 8-under and one back, Denny McCarthy and Austin Eckroat are 7-under, Nick Taylor and Keegan Bradley are 6-under, and Rory McIlroy and Patrick Cantlay are half of a group at 5-under.

Now, that’s a tasty board.

After some gusty conditions on Friday that limited the abundance of low scores we usually see around this place, Saturday's forecast looks perfect. Mid-eighties, mostly sunny, and just 5-10 MPH wind. Expect to see a whole lot of birdies on Saturday afternoon.

With all the big names in contention, with the New England crowds showing out, it’s going to be a great day to grab a couple beers, light up the grill, and watch golf all day long.

Sounds pretty damn good to us.

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