Expect low scores at TPC River Highlands, but Scottie Scheffler says Travelers Championship isn't 'easy'

Joe Arruda, Hartford Courant on Jun 18, 2025

Published in Golf

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CROMWELL, Conn. – Last week’s U.S. Open at Oakmont was enjoyable for golf fans who like to imagine professionals in their shoes.

As bogeys were collected and pars were celebrated – the winner, J.J. Spaun, finishing just one shot below par, the week was full of frustration familiar to average golfers. That won’t be the case at the Travelers Championship, where birdies will decorate scorecards and the winning score has been double-digits under par every year since 1994.

Scottie Scheffler shot 22-under-par 258 to win in a playoff at TPC River Highlands last year. The world No. 1 wasn’t buying the idea that the course might be too easy, rather that PGA Tour players might just be too good.

“As much as some people want us to feel like them, professional golf is different than amateur golf,” Scheffler said. “We get a lot of time to prepare to go out and play. The guys out here are really good at golf. If you stand here on the driving range and watch a range session, that ball doesn’t go offline very often. 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.”

Three of the four lowest-ever scores at the Travelers have come in the last three years. Keegan Bradley shot a record 23-under to win in 2023, and Tom Kim’s 22-under was only enough to force a playoff with Scheffler last year. Kenny Perry shot the same number to win in 2009.

Several changes were made to the course in 2024 to reward good shots and punish bad ones without adding any yardage. The idea was to “increase the competitive nature of the course without (anyone) really noticing,” senior vice president of rules and competitions for the PGA Tour, Gary Young, told The Hartford Courant last summer.

“There’s opportunity out there, and there’s also punishment. You look at the closing stretch; 15, if you hit a good shot, you’ve got a birdie opportunity. If you try to bail out right, you’re going to be in a bunker short right of the green and have a 40-yard bunker shot, a hard shot. Sixteen, if you hit a good shot, you’re going to have a good look at birdie. If you bail out and go long, it’s a tough chip down the hill. Seventeen, you hit the fairway, you have a chance to hit in there close to the pin. If you hit it in the left rough, you probably can’t get to the green,” Scheffler said Wednesday.

“That’s what we look for in golf courses in terms of you want good shots to be rewarded and bad shots to be punished. It’s as simple as that… Across the board, the way we get tested in professional golf is very good. We play different types of golf courses, different types of grass, we play different types of winning scores. We just see different tests, and I think not one is better than the other.”

So, for the professionals, TPC River Highlands is a breath of fresh air, especially with the signature event coming after the week that was had at the U.S. Open.

Rory McIlroy, who two years ago criticized the course for being “obsolete,” said Wednesday that it is the “perfect chaser” for Oakmont. Bradley, a New Englander, said it is “pretty stressful” coming back home, but “such a nice change of pace” after the U.S. Open.

“The most frustrating thing for me when I play a golf tournament is when you see good shots not getting rewarded and bad shots not being punished properly. That’s all we look for. Do we care that 22-under wins this week? No,” Scheffler said. “I played good last year, and if they somehow change it to 12-under by making the pins in silly spots and doing things to trick up the golf course, what we want is a fair test. I think having birdies at the end sometimes is a pretty exciting finish. That’s really all there is to it.”

Jordan Spieth, who shot 12-under in 2017 and won the Travelers in a playoff, said golfers can easily separate scores by prioritizing strokes gained, which measures scores in relation to the field.

“Although overall it kind of stinks to shoot 75 no matter where you are when you’re not used to doing it, in general you think of it as shooting a few under. Everything is five to six shots higher at a U.S. Open round to round than maybe the average score out here,” he said. “Having said that, the rough’s up about as high as I’ve seen it here ever, and then it played obviously very long yesterday and today with these conditions, which will change.

“It’s no gimme golf course, especially if we’re going to see windy conditions.”

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