The Travelers Championship

Well last week was one for the books. Jon Rahm managed to cap off an absolutely incredible come from behind victory to capture the U.S Open and his first major championship. The road to victory at one point seemed like a tough uphill battle, but as the final round continued player after player started folding like cheap lawn chairs leaving only two players with a chance to win. As players fell back, Rahm propelled himself forward. Rahm capped off his incredible Sunday round with a birdie on 17 and 18 to make his way to 6 under par for the week. After Rahm finished there was one player left on the golf course, Louis Oosthuizen. Now Louis played flawless golf all week and managed to hang around with the best of them. It wasn’t until 17 where a costly bogey forced him to have to make eagle on the 18th to get into a playoff. Unfortunately Louis missed the fairway on 18 and had to lay up. He was forced to try and hole out from the fairway, which he ultimately missed. Although Louis made birdie on 18 he finished one shot back for yet another 2nd place finish in a major. The most impressive thing about it all was Rahm’s two birdie putts on 17 and 18. Both putts outside of 15 feet, both putts were a must make and he sealed the deal. Hats off to Rahm, not a bad way to spend his first Father’s Day. 

There was one thing that really surprised me about the back nine of Sunday, every single top ranked player fell apart. Going into the back 9 Bryson was winning and within 3 holes he was back to only 1 under par and 4 shots back. The next big failure came from Rory, he was two shots back and by the 15th hole he was 5 shots back. Lastly, Brooks Koepka was only 2 back until some timely misses and a bogey on 18 that sealed his fate. At the start of the back 9 it was looking like we were in for a 4-5 player playoff scenario, but by the 15th hole were down to only two players with a chance. The final stretch in the U.S. Open will separate the boys from the men. On top of the field falling apart, Torrey Pines is the worst place for the U.S. Open. 

I hope we never see the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines ever again. It’s a totally boring course with no characteristics. The views are half as good as Pebble Beach, the layout is average at best, and the course just looked ugly on TV. The USGA needs to stick to the old courses such as Merion, Winged Foot, Oakmont, Pebble Beach, etc. Those places provide incredible course layouts and even better finishes. I don’t think we will be seeing Torrey Pines for a major for quite some time. 

As always the tour moves on, this week the PGA Tour heads to TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut for the Travelers Championship. I especially like this event because TPC River Highlands is a gem of a golf course and the field is always strong. Some of the big names this week include Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Paul Casey, Tony Finau, Max Homa, Phil Mickelson, and Patrick Cantlay. It should be interesting to see how the world's top players bounce back after many of them blew up on the back 9 on Sunday in the U.S. Open. Another developing story is coming from Rickie Fowler. As many of you know Rickie has been struggling, but earlier this week after finding out he is going to have a daughter he has found a new level of confidence. He understands he’s fighting an uphill battle but according to Rickie “I’m tired of sitting on the couch and watching these guys play in majors.” Hopefully Rickie figures it all out he’s a great guy for the game of golf and fans would love to see him back in the winner’s circle. (Mike)

While it was great to see Jon Rahm win his first major and make some clutch putts down the stretch, I think there was something far better to see. Watching Bryson collapse the way he did after he got a sniff of the lead on Sunday was some of the best tv golf has provided in recent memory. Watching him get humbled a bit was just fantastic. It is a bummer his ball did not come to rest next to a Michelob Ultra box instead of a Stella box, but maybe next time. After Bryson talked about how it was such a compliment to be called Brooksy or him trying to get seen by the camera of Brooks’ interview earlier in the week, it seemed like the golf gods were working overtime as Rahm won and Bryson collapsed. 

Torrey Pines should never host a major again. Mike and I texted each other all week talking about how boring the course looked. While it is a beautiful course in person, it does not have any standout holes like many other major venues do. It has been and will continue to be a course carried by Tiger Woods win in 2008. I think it is fine as a tour stop every year in January as it is now, but it should not host another US Open. There are many courses out there that are worth going back to and there are plenty of courses that are more deserving of a shot at hosting the US Open. I personally hope to see a return to Chambers Bay now that all of the greens have been replaced. 

Another point from last week that I wanted to touch on was on how bad the broadcast was last weekend. I felt like there were constantly more commercials than there were live coverage of the golf. They constantly talked about Tiger’s win in 2008, provided silly cutaways during key moments, refused to show players who were rising up the leaderboard and so on. I was not sure US Open coverage could get worse than Fox, but we all saw it on full display last weekend. (Tyler)

Pick’s of the Week:

Mike: As always we have made it to our picks of the week. Now after last week I personally don’t see a top 5 or even top 10 ranked player winning this week. So here goes nothing, this week’s winning pick goes to Scottie Scheffler. Now Scottie is coming fresh off a top 10 in the U.S. Open and that type of finish goes a long way. He’s cracked the top 20 in the world and top 20 in the FedEx Cup race as well. The one piece that is so impressive to me is his ability to stay with his rounds. His tenacity throughout his week is impressive. He always makes bounce back birdies after bogeys and is so confident with his 3-6 foot par putts that are must make. Look for Scottie to make some moves down the stretch this week. 

My notable to miss the cut this week is Brooks Koepka. Plain and simple it’s not a major so Brooks doesn’t care about this event. The only reason he’s probably playing is because of his brother Chase who is also in the field this week. 

Lastly and certainly not least is my underdog pick. My underdog pick of the week goes to Harry Higgs. I absolutely love this guy, there's really not much else to say. He’s such a solid player that’s due for a good week. I’d really like to see Harry Higgs on top of the leaderboard come Sunday. (Mike)

Tyler: I do not have a favorite I like or a dark horse, but I do have two guys I expect to play well. I really think both Bubba Watson and Cam Smith at 45-1 will be in contention on the weekend. Both guys seem to have their game trending in the right direction so it will be interesting to see if they can turn it into a win in the near future. I would not be surprised to see one of them get it done this weekend at The Travelers. 

I think Brooks misses the cut, just like MIke predicted. Brooks always seems to get up for the Majors, but does not have the same kind of track record in the non-majors. I think many golfers would be more than okay with having Brooks' career, but in a non-major this week I think his focus is lacking and he misses the cut. (Tyler)