By Bob Phillips
CROMWELL— Fans attending the final round of the
2001 Travelers Championship played Sunday at TPC River Highlands were in for a treat. History was made Sunday. For starters, the round turned into a hole-by-hole sudden-death matchup for the first time ever between two golfers, both with two last names. (Not sure about that, but what’s the probability of it ever happening before, right?). And fans were treated to the longest playoff (eight holes) in Travelers Championship history (including the tournament’s former incarnations, including the GHO and the Connecticut Open). Twice before (1961 and ’62 a seven-hole playoff was needed to determine the winner.)
And so it was on Sunday when Harris English and Kramer Hickok (See?) played eight incredibly exciting extra holes, paring the first seven (and in Hickok’s case, all eight) before English dropped a 16-foot birdie putt on the eighth playoff hole to win the
2021 Travelers Championship.
Earlier in the day, crowd favorite Bubba Watson was gunning for some history of his own. Watson, who entered the day on top of the leaderboard, was aiming to become just the second player with four Connecticut titles. Billy Casper is the only player to earn four trophies in Connecticut, having won the tournament in 1963, ’65, ’68 and ’73. But alas it was not to be for Bubba who withered in the heat and humidity that had engulfed most of the nation and ended with a 73 in the final round. He finished the tourney at seven under and in a six-way tie for 19th place.
When asked about the volatility of PGA River Highlands, Watson was all in. “Yeah, for sure. With this wind, we saw it,” said the affable Texan, currently the only player with three titles to his name in the Nutmeg State. “The scores didn't go too low. The first couple days we saw low scores because there was less wind and the direction of wind and all those things.
“When the wind picks up like this weekend, makes it a lot more challenging,” he said.
The wind didn’t seem to faze either English or Hickok, who was hoping to pick
up his first career win on the
PGA TOUR. Both birdied the final hole of regulation to finish at 13-under-par 267 and force the playoff. English shot a 5-under-par 65, while Hickok had a 67.
Through the first six playoff holes – playing No. 18 four times and No. 17 twice – the players matched pars. But on the eighth extra hole, English finally pulled through, knocking in the birdie to win the Travelers Championship for the first time.
“It was a good fight, and came down to somebody making birdie finally,” said a jubilant Harris after the match. “We were both joking, like somebody has got to make a birdie at some point, and I had had that putt a few times, the last probably hour and a half, and finally got it right and hit a good putt.”
For a while on Sunday, it looked like the history would be written by Bubba Watson, who was trying to become the second player to win the Travelers Championship four times. But Watson, who had a one-stroke lead on the back nine, played his final five holes in 6-over-par to fall out of the lead. Watson shot a 73 and finished in a tie for 19th.
Marc Leishman, who won the Travelers in 2012, was attempting to win for the second time at TPC River Highlands in comeback fashion. Back then he erased a six-stroke deficit in the final round. This time, he began the day four shots back, but shot a bogey-free 64 to finish at 12-under, one shot behind.
Abraham Ancer shot a 65 and finished in fourth place at 11-under. Kevin Kisner had the low round of the day, shooting 63 to lead the pack at 10-under to tie for fifth.
“I’m tired,” said Hickok. “It was a hard-fought battle That was our eighth playoff hole. I never thought I'd be playing 27 holes today. But the way these pins are situated and the wind, it just made it tough to make birdies on these last few holes—17 and 18—the playoff holes. Harris battled so well and so hard.
“I was just trying to put as much pressure on him as possible,” continued the 29-year-old Austin, TX native. “He was trying to do the same. I put him in uncomfortable spots, he put me in some too, and he came out on top today, and that’s a true champion.
English, too, admitted to being tired—how could anyone not be—and that his back was “a little sore” during the playoff—which, for all practical purposes, ended up being an additional mini-round. “But I knew anything could happen. You've just got to grind out there.”
And grind it out he did—all the way to his fourth PGA TOUR victory, and his second this season. He also copped Sentry TOURnament of Champions in January.
This year marks the first time English has had multiple wins in a single season. It also moved the 31-year-old native of Valdosta, GA to the No. 2 position on the
FedExCup. It has been, to say the least, a satisfying season for the University of Georgia grad.
“Yeah, number one, my goal is to make it every year to the TOUR Championship at East Lake,” he said. ‘I think I've finally locked that in right now, and I'm excited about that.”
Next stop on the TOUR is Detroit where Bryson DeChambeau will attempt to defend his 2020 Rocket Mortgage Classic title at the Detroit Golf Club. The event will be televised on the Golf Channel.
The 2022 Travelers Championship will be June 20-26.
—with staff reports
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