Travelers Championship Power Rankings: Top 10 at TPC River Highlands

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CROMWELL, CT – JUNE 25: Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland plays his shot from the 18th tee during the final round of the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands on June 25, 2017 in Cromwell, Connecticut. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

Last week was further evidence that it’s tough to gauge what Rory we’ll see in a given week. Will we get the one who won at Bay Hill and picked up runner-ups at Dubai and the BMW PGA or the one who has missed four cuts since February?

He’s placed T8 or better in four of his last five starts, so I’m willing to give the benefit of the doubt and say Shinnecock’s tough conditions just didn’t mesh with Rory’s game.

TPC River Highlands looks a little more appetizing. In his debut, McIlroy tied for 17th despite changing putters twice during the week. He raved about the course and the tournament, and it sounds like this will be at least a semi-regular event on the Northern Irishman’s schedule henceforth.

"“This is one of the best courses on Tour. It’s a par 70. It’s fun. You can make a lot of birdies. But if you put yourself in the wrong spot you can make bogeys pretty quickly as well,” McIlroy said in 2017. “The crowd out there today, I teed off before 9:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning, and they were really good. It was a pleasure to be here this week. It was great to play in front of such great crowd. I’ll definitely be back.”"

McIlroy is a positive in all major strokes gained categories and is 20th tee to green. He’s 28th in birdie percentage, 39th in fairway proximity and is 23rd in putts per round.

Playing softer greens should allow Rory to rev his engine this week and get back to posting low scores.

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