Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and new U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun are among the main attractions as the Travelers Championship tees off Thursday in Cromwell, Conn., and the PGA Tour shifts from its hardest level of difficulty to perhaps its easiest.
Spaun was the only player to finish under par on Oakmont Country Club’s diabolical setup last week, securing his first major victory by two strokes.
TPC River Highlands won’t resemble Oakmont in the slightest. The winning scores at this $20 million signature event the past two years have been 22 and 23 under par.
“This is the perfect sort of chaser for what Oakmont was last week, and nice to get out on a golf course where you feel you can make quite a few birdies,” McIlroy said Wednesday.
The Northern Irishman, who missed the cut at the RBC Canadian Open two weeks ago, showed signs of improvement by finishing tied for 19th at the U.S. Open thanks to a final-round 67. Scheffler carded consecutive rounds of even-par 70 on the weekend and grabbed a T7 finish.
The two best players in the world had their share of struggles at Oakmont, opening the door for Spaun to become a first-time major champion, the sport’s first since 2023. He had two rounds in the 60s and broke out of a five-way tie late on Sunday by birdieing his last two holes, including an amazing 64-foot putt at No. 18.
“Yeah, it’s been a whirlwind,” said Spaun, who rose to a career-best No. 8 in the world rankings and No. 3 in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings. “… The aftermath of this whole championship has been so crazy but so much fun, and all these doors opening, it’s stuff that you don’t expect ever really to happen in your career.”
Though not a household name, Spaun didn’t come out of nowhere last week. He had four other top-10 finishes in 2025, including a playoff loss to McIlroy at The Players Championship.
The last time Spaun played the Travelers, in 2023, was memorable in its own way. His daughter Violet was born on Monday of that week, and his wife was held in the hospital until Tuesday.
“It was our second born, and … she was very nice enough to tell me if I want to go play, I’ll go play,” Spaun quipped. “So I flew out here Wednesday night.”
U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley won the tournament that year with a record 23-under-par 257. In 2024, Scheffler beat South Korea’s Tom Kim in a playoff for the title.
Scheffler ruminated on the narrative that the par-70, 6,844-yard TPC River Highlands was too easy, especially for a signature event field of 72 elite players.
“Golf’s funny in that sense. … You watch the NBA, and you’re like, ‘I wish they couldn’t dunk. I wish they were scoring less. I wish their shooting percentage was lower on 3-pointers,'” Scheffler said. “If you watch tennis, you’re like, ‘Man, I wish the ball was going slower so they look like me out there playing tennis.’ It’s not like that.
“I think sometimes, especially in this day and age, people get way too caught up in the winning score being what is a proper test. I think a proper test is good shots being rewarded and bad shots being punished. I think this is one of the best golf courses for that.”
Notable players in the field include the entire top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking, including Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas; U.S. Open runner-up Robert MacIntyre of Scotland; and sponsor exemption Rickie Fowler.
–Field Level Media
