CROMWELL, Connecticut: 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 US 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.
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.”
US 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 US 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.
