Potential for furious finish drive players to Travelers Championship

If there’s a hangover in the golf world in the aftermath of the U.S, Open, the Travelers Championship is here to provide a little pick-me-up.

The TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Conn., is the place to be this week, thanks to a Bobby Weed-designed golf course that can produce birdie opportunities in bunches. It carries a reputation for scoring and fun that’s much needed by the 156 PGA Tour players that will tee it up here beginning on Thursday.

They all will be chasing a total purse of $6.8 million, with $1.224 million and 500 FedExCup points going to the winner.

The field that challenges the 6,841-yard, par-70 course includes three of the top six players in the world — Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, Jason Day of Australia and Jordan Spieth, ranked third, fourth and sixth, respectively. McIlroy and Day missed the cut last week at the U.S. Open, while Spieth finished tied for 35th.

Then there’s six players who finished inside the top 10 at the U.S. Open last week at Erin Hills: Brian Harman (who tied for second), Xander Schauffele (tied for fifth), Charley Hoffman (eighth) and Trey Mullinax, Justin Thomas and Brandt Snedeker (who all tied for ninth).

In all, there are 13 major championship winners accounting for 24 majors on the grounds.

The 23-year-old Spieth, a nine-time PGA Tour champion and two-time major winner, will make his debut at the Travelers Championship.

“I just haven’t played the week after the U.S. Open, and thought, ‘Why don’t I?’” Spieth said. “You play a U.S. Open, any course you play right after should seem a bit easier and should be fun because of that. I’ve heard unbelievable things about this tournament.”

Spieth explained that he was drawn to the event because of the course’s penchant for allowing a final charge and bringing any player close to the lead into contention.

“I’ve watched the exciting last seven holes where anything can happen, and that’s always fun for us,” Spieth said. “When you get opportunities to make birdies or even make a couple eagles on a nine-hole stretch with just hitting good, solid shots, you can come back from anywhere. It’s also a lot more exciting because you have to play aggressive, and I think that that’s something that if I’m forced to do, helps us.”

Jim Furyk understands better than anyone the kinds of low scores that aggressive and solid play can produce here. Last year, Furyk became the first player in PGA Tour history to shoot 58 as well as the only player in history to break 60 twice on the Tour (2013 BMW Championship, where he shot a 59 in the second round).

Furyk hit all 18 greens in regulation, made 10 birdies and a hole-out eagle to finish tied for fifth.

The 2016 edition of this event was won by Scotland’s Russell Knox, who posted a final-round 68, highlighted by a 12-foot par putt on the 72nd hole, to secure a one-shot victory over Jerry Kelly. The win marked Knox’s second career PGA Tour title in his 110th start.

Knox said Monday that TPC River Highlands plays totally different in the morning (when Furyk went on his tear) than in the afternoon.

“If you tee off in the morning you can always shoot a mega-low score,” Knox said. “But teeing off in the afternoon, especially on a weekend, shooting under par is a great score. The course changes significantly as the day goes on, just the firmness of the greens and I think players like that.

“Whoever wins this week can say, ‘Hey, I beat Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Bubba Watson.’ The winner is going to have to earn it. He’s going to have to play incredible golf because those guys that I named, I mean, they’re capable of shooting unbelievable scores.”

A total of 17 players have picked up their first PGA Tour victory at the Travelers Championship and six of the last 11 winners here have been first-time Tour champions: J.J. Henry (2006), Hunter Mahan (2007), Watson (2010), Fredrik Jacobson (2011), Marc Leishman (2012) and Ken Duke (2013).