2021 Travelers Championship: Top 10 power rankings at TPC River Highlands

Give the Travelers Championship credit. Its traditional spot on the PGA Tour schedule right after a major (the U.S. Open) can be tricky to attract top talent. Especially in a year like this where said major is on the West Coast.

But year after year, this event at TPC River Highlands in the Hartford, Connecticut, suburb of Cromwell seems to punch above its weight. Players and caddies tend to rave about the hospitality provided by tournament organizers, as well as the galleries. After the Waste Management Phoenix Open, the Travelers Championship is often one of, if not the, top attendance draws.

Last year’s event was still held in June, but it was not the week after the U.S. Open given the pandemic drastically altering the schedule. It was the third post-quarantine event, which meant everybody was itching to get more starts under their belts.

It also meant a lot more stars than normal were in attendance, including champion Dustin Johnson. He earned 68 Official World Golf Ranking points, the most ever allotted for the Travelers.

This year’s edition has five of the top 10 players in the OWGR, as well as 10 of the top 25.

The field of 156 will be taking on Pete Dye’s 6,844-yard par-70 layout that’s hosted the event since 1984. It was the third shortest course on the PGA Tour in 2019-20 and is open for all playing styles to succeed.

Ironically, bomber Bubba Watson has won three times here. More fittingly, one of the players he defeated in a playoff was short hitter, Corey Pavin. There’s treeline to frame the holes, though recovery shots are very much possible out of the low to average length rough.

Seven of the 12 par-4s are listed at 410-450 yards on the card. It leads to a lot of approaches of 100-160 yards, so good short iron players are ones to watch this week.

There can be some daunting visuals off the tee and approach like Dye likes to do with his courses, though this is one of his more docile designs as far as challenges go.

The greens are bentgrass/poa annua. They tend to run fairly fast and can be tough to hold under the right conditions.

The weather forecast calls for temperatures in the 60s-70s, wind speeds up to 10-15 miles per hour and not much rain expected.

Rain or shine, get ready to be inundated with red Travelers umbrellas. Here are 10 players to contend in Connecticut: