Cromwell, Conn. – Scottie Scheffler had one of those rare rounds where he hit a shot so pure it makes his confidence soar. So many other shots were pretty good, too, and they added to an 8-under 62 to share the lead Thursday with Austin Eckroat in the Travelers Championship.
The week after a rough-and-tumble U.S. Open was a welcome break for so many at the TPC River Highlands, even with the rough just as long (but not quite as thick) as soaked Oakmont.
TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP SCOREBOARD
Rory McIlroy played bogey-free for a 66 and didn’t look to break too much of a sweat.
“This is a nice tonic compared to last week in terms of it’s a slightly more benign golf course and the penalty for missing isn’t quite as severe,” McIlroy said.
Scheffler faced the hot afternoon when a refreshing breeze turned into a strong wind, and he wasted no time getting in the mix with four birdies in six holes and a 30 on the front nine.
And then came the par-5 13th, 236 yards away into the wind, over a pond to a pin on the right. It was perfect – that’s coming from golf’s No. 1 player – and settled 10 feet away for birdie.
“That 3-iron I hit in there was really nice,” Scheffler said. “It was pretty much exactly what I was trying to do. It was kind of one where I had to hit it really solid in order to get it there with the water short, and I just did pretty much exactly what I wanted to and it felt nice.”
McIlroy was at 64 along with Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley and Wyndham Clark. Another shot back was Cameron Young. He was in the mix late on Sunday at Oakmont, and started the Travelers Championship by going from the rough to the bunker, and then a three-putt from 25 feet for a double bogey.
“I managed to get around Oakmont for four days with no doubles and I made it zero holes here,” Young said. “Typically that’s not kind of what you expect around here.”
Not to worry. He followed with eight birdies in a day with a new routine. His caddie went down with a stomach virus and the best option was to turn the bag over to his father, Dave Young, recently retired as the longtime pro at Sleepy Hollow.
The surprise was Eckroat, already a two-time winner on the PGA Tour but struggling so much this year that he has only two finishes in the top 20 and eight missed cuts. The last two weeks served him well, however, as Eckroat said he figured out how to eliminate the miss to the left.
He played the last six holes in 5-under par, starting with a 35-foot eagle putt on No. 13.
“I wasn’t fearing the left ball today, which is huge, and then whenever you’re feeling comfortable with other things, other things start to fall in line,” Eckroat said. “Felt great over the putter, and just a really solid day, and I felt confident, which it was nice to feel that this season. It’s been a while.”
U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun felt the fatigue, and the steamy heat didn’t help the cause. Playing along Scheffler, he was hanging in there until it took him two chips and two putts to cover 40 feet for a double bogey on No. 12, and a bogey-bogey finish for a 73.
Jordan Spieth didn’t even make it to the finish line. This was the first time Spieth didn’t need a sponsor exemption for a $20 million signature event, and he only lasted 13 holes when his shoulder blade got tight on the range, spread across the back of his neck to the other side and left him no choice but to withdraw.
Scheffler saying he hit a great shot is worth paying attention to because it doesn’t happen very often. He rarely hits it offline. But this was something special.
“Hit it really solid and really straight, just barely right of the pin, and kept it nice flat flight, get it to go through the wind, and it was good,” he said.
In fact, he could only recall two other shots in recent years – a 6-iron on the fifth hole in the final round at the 2022 Masters, a 9-iron he hit on the par-3 third hole in the final round of the 2023 Players Championship.
“Those are shots that kind of get lost in terms of the tournament,” he said. “I’m not even sure if I birdied No. 3 at The Players, and I know I didn’t birdie No. 5 during the Masters. But those are the shots when you’re playing and you’re in the moment, those are the ones that give me a lot of confidence.”
It’s hard to imagine him needing much more of that. He hasn’t finished out of the top 10 since The Players in March, a stretch of eight tournaments. He didn’t hit the ball very well for two days at the U.S. Open and still had an outside chance on the back nine
And in his 19th round at the TPC River Highlands, he posted his lowest score at 62.
Gonzalez tied for lead at senior tour major
Akron, Ohio – Soren Kjeldsen of Denmark and Ricardo Gonzalez of Argentina each shot 3-under 67 on Firestone South to share the lead Thursday after the opening round of the Kaulig Companies Championship, the third major of the year on the PGA Tour Champions.
Gonzalez opened with eight pars, took bogey on No. 18 and then played the front nine with five birdies to offset one bogey
Stewart Cink, who lost in a four-hole playoff to Tiger Woods at Firestone in 2006 at a World Golf Championship, was poised to take the lead until two bogeys on his final three holes.
He was at 68 along with Retief Goosen and Steven Alker.
Angel Cabrera, who already has captured two majors at the Regions Tradition and the Senior PGA Championship at Congressional, opened with a 71.
The winner of the tournaments earns a spot in The Players Championship at the TPC Sawgrass next month.
Firestone South previously hosted the World Series of Golf and then a World Golf Championship. It’s a strong test for players who next go to the U.S. Senior Open in Colorado.
Dumont de Chassart shoots 59 in Wichita Open
Wichita, Kan. – Adrien Dumont de Chassart of Belgium shot an 11-under 59 on Thursday in the Wichita Open for the 14 sub-60 round in Korn Ferry Tour history.
Dumont de Chassart had 12 birdies and a bogey in the morning round at storm-damaged Crestview Country Club, with players allowed to lift, clean and place their golf balls in the fairways because of wet conditions.
“Honestly, with all the rain and storms that they got, I thought the course was in really good shape,” Dumont de Chassart said. “Greens were rolling nice. You still got some bounces on the green, which is pretty impressive with all the rain they got. It was ideal, right, 80 degrees, about to be 95 the next two days. Probably blowing about 10 miles per hour max. It was a good day to shoot 59 that’s for sure.”
The 25-year-old former Illinois player broke the course record of 60 set by Justin Suh in the 2022 final round and matched by Alejandro Tosti in the 2023 final round.
Cristobal del Solar set the Korn Ferry Tour record last year with a 13-under 57 in the Astara Golf Championship. Frankie Capan III and Stephan Jaeger have shot 58 on the tour.
Dumont de Chassart began play on No. 10, and birdied the first three holes. He birdied No. 14, bogeyed the 15th and birdied Nos. 16 and 17 to get to 5 under. On the front nine, he birdied the first five holes and hit a 6-iron close on the eighth for his final birdie.
“Played really well down the stretch,” Dumont de Chassart said. “Missed a shorty on 7, but that’s what’s cool about golf, you feel nervous even on 4-footers, right? So I’m glad I bounced back and hit a really, really good 6-iron on 17, hole 8, to set up an easy birdie.”
Charlie Woods qualifies for U.S. Junior Amateur
Coral Springs, Fla. – The 16-year-old son of Tiger Woods is heading back to the U.S. Junior Amateur.
Charlie Woods bogeyed his final hole Thursday to fall into a three-way playoff for the final spot out of Eagle Trace Golf Club. Woods, who shot 71, won the playoff.
That sends him to the U.S. Junior for the second straight year. Next up is 36-hole qualifying in stroke play for 264 players, with the top 64 advancing to match play.
The U.S. Junior Amateur, which Tiger Woods won three straight times, is July 21-26 at Trinity Forest in Dallas. The course briefly hosted the Byron Classic on the PGA Tour.
Charlie Woods last year qualified for the U.S. Junior Amateur but had rounds of 82-80 and didn’t come close to reaching match play.
Charlie Woods, a junior at Benjamin School, recently won his first significant American Junior Golf Association title.
Korda even par to start Women’s PGA
Frisco, Texas – Nelly Korda shot an even-par 72 in the opening round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship on Thursday, three days after the world’s top-ranked player reaggravated a neck injury during a practice round.
While Korda said she doesn’t feel pain hitting shots, the two-time major champion said she has pain “just with rotation” of her neck and that it is hard to get comfortable to sleep at night.
“It’s better, yeah. Getting better every day, which is nice,” she said. “Just because I injured it last year, whenever I do injure my neck it takes a little bit longer than normal. I kind of tweaked it before my round with Ariya (Jutanugarn) in Vegas this year, during the night I couldn’t move then, so thankfully it wasn’t as bad as that day. … Just takes me like a week to kind of recover when I tweak my neck now.”
Korda late last year skipped two tournaments during the LPGA’s Asia swing because of a minor neck injury, and that loss to Jutanugarn in match play was in April. Korda said earlier this week that her neck “went into a full spasm” after hitting a shot out of the rough during a practice round at the Fields Ranch East course at PGA Frisco on Monday, before skipping the champions dinner that night.
In the first round of the season’s third major, Korda had two birdies and two bogeys. She was four shots behind Jeeno Thitikul, the world’s No. 2-ranked player who was in the same group and the early leader at 4-under 68.
“Overall I mean, even par to start the major … it was windier in the morning than I thought it would be. So played a little tougher. Yeah, I’m pretty happy with my first round in the conditions,” Korda said. “It was pretty windy. It was hot. It definitely takes a toll on you, the Texas heat. So happy with my position. I haven’t even really looked at the leaderboard, to be honest.”
Korda opened with seven consecutive pars, including at the 317-yard, par-4 seventh hole, where she hit a 294-yard drive into a valley just short of the green. Her initial pitch from there ricocheted off the edge of the green and rolled back down the slope to where she was. Korda hit her next shot to 2 feet and saved par.
On the par-3 eighth, Korda’s tee shot went over the green to set up her first bogey. She got free relief after her approach at the par-5 ninth went right and settled next to a temporary structure, and she pitched to 3 1/2 feet and made the birdie putt.
“It’s great to rebound with a birdie. Wasn’t sure where to drop. The grass was like pavement. It was so firm, it’s been walked on a lot,” Korda said. “Whenever you get to bounce back with a birdie and you get to kind of have in a sense a fresh start for the next nine holes, that’s always good.”
