Travelers Championship: Top Questions for Round 1

If past years are anything to go by, this week's Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Conn is about as wide open as any event we'll see all year, and it's mostly a result of the golf course. 

TPC River Highlands is not an overly long course and it literally suits just about any style of play.

Long hitters have won there, short hitters have won there, and even Corey Pavin nearly won the event last year.

Here are the top-four stories heading into round one.

Geoff Ogilvy Is Here?

Geoff Ogilvy hasn’t attended the Travelers Championship since 2001, where he tied for 22nd.

Ogilvy suffered a shoulder injury earlier in the year and has been searching for his game ever since.

The fact that Ogilvy is even at TPC River Highlands this week is a clear indication that he realizes time is running out to get his game going before the next two majors and FedEx Cup Playoffs.

“I missed pretty much the whole part of the year between the Masters and the U.S. Open pretty much because I had my shoulder,” Ogilvy said this afternoon in Cromwell, Conn.

“So I started playing again at Memphis the week before the U.S. Open. I pretty much, mentally anyway, ticked every box pretty much between there and the end of the year because I felt like I'd missed so many tournaments, and I really wanted to play.”

Ogilvy is good enough to win at just about any golf course there is, so if he’s on this week. there’s no reason why he couldn’t contend for the title.  

Can Bubba Watson Defend?

Well, we don’t really know how Bubba Watson performs when it comes to defending PGA Tour titles, because this is his first attempt.

Watson won his first PGA Tour event exactly one year ago at TPC River Highland; a win that sparked a run of two more wins, a T-2 at the PGA Championship and a Ryder Cup appearance over the past 12 months.

Watson has truly transformed himself from a driving range sideshow into one of the best American players in the world, and his first PAG Tour win at the 2010 Travelers Championship was clearly the spark that lit Watson’s fire.   

A Long Hitter, a Short Hitter or Something in Between?

TPC River Highlands is one of the few courses on tour where shorter hitters are really at no disadvantage to the bombers.

Of course hitting the ball longer offers players the advantage of hitting more wedges into greens than the shorter hitters, but the advantage is by no means as significant at TPC River Highlands as it is at other courses on tour.  

TPC River Highlands course is more about accuracy and placement than grip it and rip it golf.

Last year we saw a playoff between Bubb Watson  (one of the longest hitters on tour), Corey Pavin (probably the shortest hitter in the field) and Scot Verplank (another fairly short hitter).

In 2004, Woody Austin (a short hitter) won the event.

In 2005, Brad Faxon (another short hitter) won the event.

Then we’ve had bombers like Kenny Perry, Phil Mickelson and Watson win the event.

This is truly a course where anyone in the field has a legitimate chance to win.

How Low Will They Go?

There is an 80 percent chance of rain tonight in Cromwell, Conn, and between a 30-60 percent chance of afternoon rain and thunderstorms over the next few days.

Whether the course is saturated or not, TPC River Highlands is never going to play overly long.  A soft course will, however, allow players to attack more pins than they ordinarily would.   

If conditions are soft tomorrow, don’t be surprised if the course record of 61 is challenged, if not broken.