CROMWELL, Conn. – Rory McIlroy seemed to be in good spirits when he addressed reporters at the Travelers Championship on Wednesday.

After a series of skipped press conferences and openly-expressed frustration with the media during last week’s U.S. Open at Oakmont, McIlroy appeared excited for his return to TPC River Highlands.

“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, a few hours before playing the front nine in the pro-am.

McIlroy canceled his trip to Cromwell last year after making bogey on holes No. 15, 16 and 18 to finish second at the U.S. Open, two strokes behind Bryson DeChambeau. But he has played in Travelers five times and never finished outside of the top 20. His best result came in 2023, when he placed seventh at 18-under-par 262 and criticized the difficulty of the course.

He felt better after this year’s U.S. Open, where he didn’t threaten the top of the leaderboard but was happy with the way he played to finish 19th at 7-over-par 287.

“I missed this event last year, licking my wounds from Pinehurst, but I made a commitment to Travelers to be back this year. I’m excited to be back,” McIlroy said. “I think the weeks after major championships in these events sometimes when you’re in contention and you’re trying to win them, it can feel quite difficult to go play the next week. After a week like I had at Oakmont last week, where you’re not quite in the mix but you might feel you find something in your game, you’re excited to come back and play again.”

Most PGA Tour players are looking forward to the traditionally low scores at the eighth and final signature event of the season after just one player – champion J.J. Spaun – finished below par at last week’s U.S. Open.

“The one thing on the PGA Tour that I’m always – I think we’re all aware of, is not short-sighting yourself,” McIlroy said. “If you short-sighted yourself last week at Oakmont, it’s like automatic bogey, if not more. Sometimes when I go back to Europe or come to a tournament like this, you have to remind yourself, no, you can go at the pin. You can actually fire at the pins here. That takes a little bit of a mental adjustment at times.”

Spieth remembers ‘The Shot’ to win in 2017

Jordan Spieth didn’t wait to be asked. As soon as he sat down to speak with reporters, he brought up “The Shot.”

“First and foremost, every time I come here, I think about maybe the coolest moment I’ve had, like moment in golf, which is in 2017 in that playoff,” he said. “So it’s always fun to kind of relive that when I come here and get out on the course.”

Spieth’s bunker shot to win The Travelers in 2017 lives on in Cromwell. Though he says he doesn’t go out of his way to find the video when he needs a pick-me-up, it pops up now and again.

“Less and less as time has passed,” he said. “I felt like it was on every promo thing that would come on past the TV. It’s on the Golf Channel, on a promo with other winning moments with other guys from a number of years, but now it’s been so long. But you come back here, you walk down by the locker room, there’s a big screen, and it will show different moments from this tournament, so I see it there. It was just one of those I just don’t know how or if I would ever have something that’s kind of that epic in the sport. I mean, there was, I don’t know, 20,000 people around the hole, amphitheater setting, and everyone just going crazy. I’d love to have another opportunity, but stuff like that, you just have to relish and recognize that they’re few and far between.”

Before Spieth finished his answer, it came up on the screen in the media room.

U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley enjoying responsibilities

Keegan Bradley was named the United States captain for the Ryder Cup last July and now with the event 100 days away, his responsibilities are building but not taking away from his play.

“On a normal day, today, I went out and played, I’d be thinking about a shot that I hit or a shot I’ve got to hit tomorrow or the new club that I’m worried about. For the most part, I go and I’m thinking only about the Ryder Cup,” he said. “I’m looking at the points list. I’m looking at potential pairings. I’m talking to the scouts. I’m talking to the vice captains. We’re talking about strategy, bus ride schedules, media schedules. It is a very nice distraction for me when I’m normally 24/7 thinking about golf. So there is some aspects to this that have helped, I believe.”

The 2025 Ryder Cup, a biennial team match play competition between European and American golfers, will take place Sept. 26-28 at Bethpage Black Course in Farmingdale, N.Y. Englishman Luke Donald will be the captain of Team Europe.

Notes

Wednesday’s pro-am featured ESPN’s Chris Berman alongside former Patriots quarterback Doug Flutie and linebacker Andre Tippett. Mary Kate Morrissey, who starred in “Wicked” on Broadway, played with a group of guests and will be part of Thursday’s Signature Women’s Day Breakfast. … UConn men’s ice hockey coach Mike Cavanaugh and field hockey coach Nancy Stevens played in a group with musician Ray Lamontagne and ESPN anchor Michael Eaves. … J.T. Poston won the “Umbrella Challenge,” getting his shot between the 15th and 16th hole closest to the pin, 21 feet. He designated the North Carolina-based Luke Garrison Foundation – which supports organizations that promote science, nature, sports and church – to receive his $10,000 charity earnings. … WTNH-TV (Channel 8) won the first round of the celebrity mini-golf competition, and WFSB (Ch. 3) won the second. Both earned a $2,500 check for the charity of its choice, WTNH choosing the CT Humane Society. WFSB the Dense D’Ascenzo Foundation.

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