Travelers Championship: Your form guide for River Highlands

With America's three major championships done and dusted for another year, the post-US Open party takes place in the New England state of Connecticut.

This week's Travellers Championship is once again being played at TPC River Highlands, which has been part of the PGA Tour schedule for over three decades.

TPC River Highlands is a gently undulating parkland course which was given a facelift six years ago.

This well-wooded layout with lush fairways has plenty of subtle changes in direction, while water comes into play on just five holes - most of these towards the end of the round.

Situated approximately 120 miles north-east of New York City, and around 30 miles from the coast, the course gets its name from sitting high above the Connecticut River.

Traditionally a low-scoring venue, the average winning 72-hole total since 2005 (last 16 tournaments) is 264.19.

In 2016, Jim Furyk posted a PGA Tour record score of 58 during the final round, en route to finishing fifth.

And five years earlier, while still an amateur, 19-year-old Patrick Cantlay carded 60 to grab the lead after 36 holes - he ended up in a tie-for-24th.

All of which means, a hot putter is absolutely necessary this week with plenty of birdies available.

Last year's winner Dustin Johnson bagged 25 of them, although this particular category was led by third-placed Will Gordon who made 27 birdies in all. That's one every 2.66 holes.

Teeing-up

Despite its close proximity to the US Open, a decent field has assembled this week.

Five of the world's top 10 are in attendance, two of which will be licking their wounds following Torrey Pines.

Bryson DeChambeau, who midway through the final round of the US Open appeared to be in a strong position to successfully defend his title, suffered a woeful back nine which he covered in 44 shots. He went from first to tied-26th by the end of his round.

Latest odds for this week's Travellers Championship in Connecticut

His most recent three visits to River Highlands have all yielded top-10s but he'll need to be strong mentally to bounce back from Sunday afternoon's calamitous meltdown.

Dustin, the defending champ, is yet to 'show up' at a big tournament in 2021. His highest finish in any of the three majors played so far, or The Players Championship, is tied-19th.

And on Sunday he also lost his No 1 World Ranking to Jon Rahm, golf's newest major champ who won't be teeing-up this Thursday.

Count on Casey

Maybe a better bet this week would be Paul Casey, the world No 20 whose six visits to this course have yielded four top-five finishes.

His last three starts this season read 4th-6th-7th, which incorporate a brace of major championships.

And this week may offer Scottie Scheffler the perfect opportunity to grab a maiden PGA Tour title.

The in-form world No 18 from Texas could benefit from an atmosphere that is likely to resemble 'after the Lord Mayor's show.'

Brian Harman and Kevin Streelman are two other pros who may also find this ambience more to their liking.

Both are in decent shape and possess a strong course history.

Highlands history

The land on which TPC River Highlands was built began life as Edgewood Country Club in 1928.

This remained the state of play until the early 1980s when Pete Dye was commissioned to completely re-design the layout, ahead of hosting a PGA Tour event in 1984.

Latest odds for next month's Open Championship at Royal St George's

The course, which by now was owned by the PGA Tour, was christened TPC Connecticut.

During the late 1980s the venue underwent a series of minor modifications and, before the 1990 Greater Hartford Open, the course had changed its name to TPC River Highlands.

Course Comparisons (1.1.16 - 31.12.20)

Greens in Regulation (%)
75.98: Sedgefield (Wyndham) (1/29)
70.88: TPC River Highlands (Travellers Championship) (5/29)
58.99: Innisbrook (Valspar Ch`ship) (29/29)

Putting (GiR)
1.664: PGA West (host) (American Express) (1/29)
1.754: TPC River Highlands (Travellers Championship) (17/29)
2.668: Augusta National (Masters) (29/29)

Key: Above stats are for all 29 courses which staged four or more PGA Tour events between January 1st, 2016 and December 31st, 2020. To qualify for a ranking (between 1 & 29), tournaments must have a minimum of 50 players competing over the final two rounds of the event. Averages do not include players who failed to complete at least 54 holes.

Twitter: Andy Swales@GolfStatsAlive

MC* - Missed Additional 54-Hole Cut

Note: List Contains Leading Reserves