Scheffler part of 3-way tie for lead at Travelers with Fleetwood and Thomas
CROMWELL, Conn. — Scottie Scheffler provided hope with a late double bogey. Tommy Fleetwood charged through with two eagles in three holes, and so did Justin Thomas with five straight birdies. They wound up tied for the lead on a blustery Friday at the Travelers Championship. HT Image
All it took was the fate of the wind, good or bad, to shape the leaderboard going into the weekend at the TPC River Highlands, with 12 players separated by four shots.
Scheffler was comfortably in front when the left-to-right wind his tee shot had been riding laid down, sending his ball into the fairway bunker on the par-4 17th. He put the next one in the water, barely reached the green with his fourth shot and made double bogey. He wound up with a 1-under 69.
Fleetwood felt the wind going right-to-left, then slightly hurting, then slightly helping on the par-5 13th. He had 240 yards to at least cover the water, 264 yards to the hole, and he felt his 9-wood would at least reach the green.
So much depended on the fickle wind that fooled so many players.
'I just sort of caught the right moment,' said Fleetwood, who also chipped in for eagle on the reachable 15th and shot 65. "Came off perfect and then beautiful putt.'
Thomas wished he could have hit the ball a little better off the tee, but he stayed out of trouble, stayed patient and cashed in on the back nine with his five straight birdies, two of them from the 25-foot range, that led to a 64.
They were at 9-under 131, one shot ahead of Jason Day .
Rory McIlroy was 3 over through four holes in gusts that topped 30 mph, at one point falling eight shots behind Scheffler, a daunting prospect. But he kept in the game, found hope when Scheffler dropped back to 9 under, and got a little luck on his own.
His second shot from a bunker on the 17th was so think that he took one hand off the club and waited for the worse, mainly a splash. It founded the water at such a low trajectory that it skipped out onto the fairway.
He failed to get up-and-down, taking bogey, but felt it could have been worse — the shot, and his position going into the weekend He batted for a 71, leaving him only four back.
'The conditions today definitely bunched the entire field together and should make for an exciting weekend," McIlroy said
The conditions — mainly the wind strong that was blowing hats off of heads and sending unoccupied chairs tumbling away — was everything in the second round.
The average score was 70.7, nearly two shots harder than the opening round. It was the highest scoring average for a single round at the Travelers since the second round in 2017.
The toughest part for players was figuring out which way it was blowing. Scheffler experienced that on the 17th.
'The tee shot, I hit exactly the way I wanted to,' Scheffler said. "Somehow the wind either stops or goes back because the way my ball was flying it should have basically gotten to the middle of the fairway and I end up in the left bunker.
'Then I catch it a hair fat, and all of a sudden I'm dropping and hitting my fourth shot, and I hit the shot exactly the way we wanted to, and as the ball is flying, you get a gust into the wind, and all of a sudden the ball is not on the green,' he said. 'You can't get every one correct. You just do your best to manage your way around the golf course."
Day had his own version of a hat trick on the front nine — three pars, three birdies, three bogeys — until hitting all the right shots for a 31 on the back to get in the hunt.
Denny McCarthy and Austin Eckroat were at 7-under 133, followed by Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley 70) and Nick Taylor .
Patrick Cantlay had a 68 with a double bogey on the par-5 13th and joined the large group at 135 that included McIlroy.
If the wind wasn't bad enough, Luke Clanton showed remarkable patience in his second tournament as a pro. He had been playing with Jordan Spieth, who had to withdraw with soreness in his upper back on Thursday. Clanton was a single in the middle of the field, behind Scheffler and U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun, in front of Andrew Novak and Jacob Bridgeman.
He waited on every shot and did well to post a 72, leaving him in the middle of the pack.
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Hindustan Times
10 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Scheffler part of 3-way tie for lead at Travelers with Fleetwood and Thomas
CROMWELL, Conn. — Scottie Scheffler provided hope with a late double bogey. Tommy Fleetwood charged through with two eagles in three holes, and so did Justin Thomas with five straight birdies. They wound up tied for the lead on a blustery Friday at the Travelers Championship. HT Image All it took was the fate of the wind, good or bad, to shape the leaderboard going into the weekend at the TPC River Highlands, with 12 players separated by four shots. Scheffler was comfortably in front when the left-to-right wind his tee shot had been riding laid down, sending his ball into the fairway bunker on the par-4 17th. He put the next one in the water, barely reached the green with his fourth shot and made double bogey. He wound up with a 1-under 69. Fleetwood felt the wind going right-to-left, then slightly hurting, then slightly helping on the par-5 13th. He had 240 yards to at least cover the water, 264 yards to the hole, and he felt his 9-wood would at least reach the green. So much depended on the fickle wind that fooled so many players. 'I just sort of caught the right moment,' said Fleetwood, who also chipped in for eagle on the reachable 15th and shot 65. "Came off perfect and then beautiful putt.' Thomas wished he could have hit the ball a little better off the tee, but he stayed out of trouble, stayed patient and cashed in on the back nine with his five straight birdies, two of them from the 25-foot range, that led to a 64. They were at 9-under 131, one shot ahead of Jason Day . Rory McIlroy was 3 over through four holes in gusts that topped 30 mph, at one point falling eight shots behind Scheffler, a daunting prospect. But he kept in the game, found hope when Scheffler dropped back to 9 under, and got a little luck on his own. His second shot from a bunker on the 17th was so think that he took one hand off the club and waited for the worse, mainly a splash. It founded the water at such a low trajectory that it skipped out onto the fairway. He failed to get up-and-down, taking bogey, but felt it could have been worse — the shot, and his position going into the weekend He batted for a 71, leaving him only four back. 'The conditions today definitely bunched the entire field together and should make for an exciting weekend," McIlroy said The conditions — mainly the wind strong that was blowing hats off of heads and sending unoccupied chairs tumbling away — was everything in the second round. The average score was 70.7, nearly two shots harder than the opening round. It was the highest scoring average for a single round at the Travelers since the second round in 2017. The toughest part for players was figuring out which way it was blowing. Scheffler experienced that on the 17th. 'The tee shot, I hit exactly the way I wanted to,' Scheffler said. "Somehow the wind either stops or goes back because the way my ball was flying it should have basically gotten to the middle of the fairway and I end up in the left bunker. 'Then I catch it a hair fat, and all of a sudden I'm dropping and hitting my fourth shot, and I hit the shot exactly the way we wanted to, and as the ball is flying, you get a gust into the wind, and all of a sudden the ball is not on the green,' he said. 'You can't get every one correct. You just do your best to manage your way around the golf course." Day had his own version of a hat trick on the front nine — three pars, three birdies, three bogeys — until hitting all the right shots for a 31 on the back to get in the hunt. Denny McCarthy and Austin Eckroat were at 7-under 133, followed by Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley 70) and Nick Taylor . Patrick Cantlay had a 68 with a double bogey on the par-5 13th and joined the large group at 135 that included McIlroy. If the wind wasn't bad enough, Luke Clanton showed remarkable patience in his second tournament as a pro. He had been playing with Jordan Spieth, who had to withdraw with soreness in his upper back on Thursday. Clanton was a single in the middle of the field, behind Scheffler and U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun, in front of Andrew Novak and Jacob Bridgeman. He waited on every shot and did well to post a 72, leaving him in the middle of the pack. golf: /hub/golf This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
United News of India
a day ago
- United News of India
McIlroy two behind Scheffler at Travelers Championship
Connecticut (US), June 20 (UNI) World number one Scottie Scheffler hit an opening-round 62 to tie the lead at the Travelers Championship, with Rory McIlroy just two shots behind on six under. Scheffler, 28, finished in the top 10 of last week's US Open and was back to his very best on Thursday with an eagle on the par-five 13th the highlight. The American won the event last year and joins Austin Eckroat at the top of the leaderboard in Connecticut, with five-time major winner McIlroy, Keegan Bradley and Wyndham Clark all hitting 64s. McIlroy said, "I just want to see some good golf and see some better shots. I think if you concentrate on that and you are concentrating on your quality of golf and concentrating on just trying to play to the best of your ability, the result will take care of itself. "There's no point in thinking about the result right now. I'm just trying to play as good as I can and make good swings, and if I do that enough, more than likely I'll find myself in a position to have a chance to win." Three-time Major winner Jordan Spieth was forced to withdraw after 13 holes with a shoulder injury, according to BBC news Spieth was five over for his round, with no birdies, when he informed playing partner Luke Clanton he could not continue and was taken off in a cart. "I've never withdrawn from an event ever, anywhere, at any level, so I didn't really know what to do. It just became too much," Spieth said. "I didn't see it turning around until probably Saturday. These things kind of last an extra day, and no matter what I was going to do, it was just going to be... I don't know, it's unfortunate. "I've been doing everything right, and I think it was just very random." UNI BM
Hindustan Times
a day ago
- Hindustan Times
World No. 1 Scheffler shares lead at PGA Travelers Championship
World number one Scottie Scheffler fired an eagle and seven birdies in an eight-under-par 62 to seize a share of the first-round lead alongside Austin Eckroat in the US PGA Tour Travelers Championship in Connecticut on Thursday. After six birdies in the first 12 holes, Scheffler tied Eckroat on eight-under with a 10-foot eagle putt at the par-five 13th. He landed his second shot from the left rough within five feet at the par-four 15th and made that for birdie and the solo lead, and even after a bogey at the 17th the US star was pleased with a round played in tougher afternoon conditions. "I did a lot of good stuff," Scheffler said. "I felt like the conditions were pretty challenging out there, especially late in the day. I was able to hole some nice putts as well." Scheffler set up his eagle at 13 with a "really nice" three-iron. "Very rarely throughout a tournament do you hit one exactly how I intend to, and that was one of the few," Scheffler said. The leading pair were two shots clear of a trio headlined by world number two Rory McIlroy. McIlroy, coming off a disappointing US Open run last week, had six birdies without a bogey and was joined on six-under by major winners Keegan Bradley and Wyndham Clark on 64. McIlroy said the more forgiving TPC River Highlands layout was "a nice tonic" after the brutal US Open setup at Oakmont, but said his focus was not so much on winning but on his game. "I just want to see some good golf and see some better shots," said McIlroy, who completed his career Grand Slam with a victory at the Masters in April. "I think if you concentrate on that and you're concentrating on your quality of golf and concentrating on just trying to play to the best of your ability, the result will take care of itself." Eckroat had set an early target with his career-low score on the PGA Tour, crediting an adjustment to his grip with sorting out a tendency to miss left that has contributed to eight missed cuts this season. "It's funny," Eckroat said, "a lot of Wednesdays I've felt really good going into the tournament and then Thursday comes around and it hasn't been there. "I don't know if it's just the stress of playing in a PGA Tour event, but this one, it was nice to feel good on Wednesday and then actually take it into Thursday." Eckroat, a two-time winner on the tour, got off to a solid start with three birdies on the front nine then stormed home. He drilled a 35-foot eagle putt at the 13th, then birdied 14, 15 and 18. Three-time major winner Jordan Spieth was forced to withdraw from the elite signature event after 13 holes as pain in his upper back and neck affected his swing. Spieth said the injury came on suddenly on Thursday morning and he hoped to play through it, but he was five-over for his round when he decided to call it quits the first time he has withdrawn from a PGA Tour event in 297 career starts. "It just became too much," Spieth said. US Open champion J.J. Spaun got off to a rocky start in the wake of his first major title, carding a three-over-par 73. bb/rcw
