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Travelers Championship 2017: 5 groups to watch in Rounds 1 & 2

By Luke Norris

May 19, 2017; Irving, TX, USA; Patrick Reed and Jason Day make their way up the 10th fairway during the second round of the AT&T Byron Nelson golf tournament at TPC Four Seasons Resort - Las Colinas. Mandatory Credit: Ray Carlin-USA TODAY Sports
May 19, 2017; Irving, TX, USA; Patrick Reed and Jason Day make their way up the 10th fairway during the second round of the AT&T Byron Nelson golf tournament at TPC Four Seasons Resort - Las Colinas. Mandatory Credit: Ray Carlin-USA TODAY Sports /
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Travelers Championship
Jan 9, 2016; Maui, HI, USA; PGA golfers Jason Day and Justin Thomas walk to the 4th tee with a rainbow behind them during the third round of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions golf tournament at Kapalua Resort – The Plantation Course. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports /

2. Jason Day, Patrick Reed, Justin Thomas

Round 1: 10th tee, 8:00 a.m.

Round 2: 1st tee, 1:00 p.m.

There’s a strong chance that the winner of the Travelers Championship comes from this group right here as three of the top 17 players in the world will get going on the 10th tee early Thursday morning.

Jason Day will obviously have redemption on his mind following a disappointing week at the U.S. Open. Day couldn’t get anything going at Erin Hills, struggling to an opening-round 7-over 79 and following it up with a 75 to miss the cut by nine strokes and finishing ahead of just seven players in the 156-player field. It was a very surprising result, seeing as how he had two very nice outings coming in. He finished in solo second at the Byron Nelson and tied for 15th at the Memorial. It will be very interesting to see how he responds at the Travelers. He finished tied for 18th in his most recent appearance in 2014.

Justin Thomas is coming into the Travelers Championship on fire. Following a tie for fourth at the Memorial, the 24-year-old from Louisville went into Erin Hills and put himself right in contention to win the U.S. Open. After opening with a 73, Thomas shot 3-under 69 on Day 2 and then just lost his mind on Saturday, dropping 90-degree putts and hitting the most beautiful 3-woods en route to a record-breaking 9-under 63, the lowest score in relation to par in U.S. Open history. He couldn’t quite follow it up, shooting a 75 on Sunday, but still finished inside the top 10. With his two wins in Hawaii earlier this year, Thomas has become a real player to watch on the PGA TOUR and should make the field very nervous this week; he tied for third here last year.

Patrick Reed also had a very productive U.S. Open. He opened with a 4-under 68, fell back a bit with a 75 on Saturday but as he likes to do, made a dramatic run up the leaderboard on Saturday with a 7-under 65, which would have been the highlight of the day had Justin Thomas not done what he did. Reed actually had a chance at a 64 but just missed a putt on 18. A final-round 74 likely isn’t what he envisioned but a tie for 13th isn’t bad at all. After missing three consecutive cuts a couple of months ago, Reed has finished at least in a tie for 22nd in four of his last five events. He finished tied for 11th at the Travelers last season.

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