2022 Travelers Championship: Top 10 Power Rankings at TPC River Highlands
Who could forget Jordan Spieth’s epic win at the 2017 Travelers Championship? He captivated everybody at TPC River Highlands when he holed out a bunker shot for birdie on 18 in a playoff to beat Daniel Berger.
It was his first tournament appearance and, boy, was it a good one. He fired an opening-round 63 to take the 18-hole lead and held on to get into extra holes with scores of 69-66-70. Spieth led the field with 22 birdies and in strokes gained tee to green (9.978).
The Texan’s game hit a swoon in the following few years and his results at the Travelers were a microcosm. Spieth took T-42nd (63-73-71-69) in 2018, missed the cut (73-69) in 2019, and was T-54th (67-69-69-69) in 2020.
He’s yet to regain his former world No. 1 form of old, but Spieth is back to being an elite player.
After nearly falling outside the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking last year, Spieth reentered the top 10 after his win this spring at the RBC Heritage (which also included a near-hole-out bunker shot in a playoff).
Spieth probably feels he should have more than one win this season.
He took runner-up honors his next start at the AT&T Byron Nelson and was second at one of his favorite haunts, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
The 28-year-old is coming off a T-37th last week at the U.S. Open. It wasn’t the week he was looking for, but it was still a sixth straight made cut in a row.
Spieth ranks 25th on the PGA Tour in total strokes gained (1.14) and is gaining strokes in every category except for putting. Conventional wisdom thinks that part of his game ought to come around as that’s what has carried him for much of his career.
If that happens, it’s go time. He’s been hitting it beautifully, sitting 10th in SG tee to green (1.34). Spieth will look to gear up for a great setup for him next month at St. Andrew’s for the Open Championship.
TPC River Highlands is another good spot for his game and no one would be surprised to see him replicate the 2017 magic.