Tiger Woods hopes for better memories at Winged Foot

After the stress, decompress. It’s valuable advice for anyone pursuing balance but it’s also the objective for the 56 golfers who made the cross-country trip from the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines to this week’s Travelers Championship. What they’ll find at TPC River Highlands is the easiest par 70 of the 2019-20 season. So, the breeze you feel isn’t courtesy of Mother Nature, it’s the collective exhale as the PGA TOUR descends in central Connecticut. However, come the weekend, tension again will rise, as will the intensity of the wind. Scroll past the projected contenders for more. RELATED: The First Look | Inside the Field POWER RANKINGS: TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP Brooks Koepka, Marc Leishman, Cameron Smith, Tony Finau and Joaquin Niemann will be among the notables reviewed in Tuesday’s Fantasy Insider. The Travelers Championship is in the parade of checkpoints that have served as default anniversaries throughout the 2020-21 season. And it’s not insignificant for it was the 2020 edition that marked the first tournament that wasn’t canceled or rescheduled after the three-month shutdown due to the pandemic. So, if you were searching for an example of what life was like when is began to return to what we considered as normal, this is it. Those in the field of 156 at TPC River Highlands also will reconnect with what they consider to be familiar. There haven’t been any changes to the stock par 70 that tips at just 6,841 yards. The four-inch primary rough is the same and the 5,000-square foot greens blanketed with Poa annua will be prepped to run to a TOUR-popular distance of 12 feet on the Stimpmeter. Last year’s scoring average of 68.626 represented a nine-year low and was aided by the deepest field in tournament history, but it already was headed in that direction. After not breaking the strength-of-field rating threshold (as determined by the Official World Golf Ranking) of 350 through 2017, it climbed to 446 and 436 in 2018 and 2019, respectively, but last year’s value was 623. Of course, with all touring professionals sidelined for an extended period of time, playing opportunities were coveted throughout the summer. However, the consistent, fair test of TPC River Highlands continues to attract top talent. Favorable weather conditions are in store throughout the tournament. Rain early in the week could impact the Hartford Yard Goats’ series opener on Tuesday night when the Double-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies is planning to celebrate the Travelers Championship. By Thursday, clear and dry opening rounds of the tournament will be followed by the next threat of inclement weather on the weekend, but it’s forecast to be spotty as the winds kick up considerably. Daytime highs will be seasonable in the low 80s. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM’s Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers; Fantasy Insider SUNDAY: Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Rookie Watch * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland – After sending Shane Lowry off the 18th green with a standing ovation, the fans jammed against a white fence to watch him fulfill the customary duties of a 54-hole leader. His countrymen stood 20 deep, craning for a view of their hero. Others climbed atop a small hill to catch a glimpse as he did his post-round interviews. An Irish flag was hung from the temporary barrier that stood between them and the man who’d just set the course record at the renovated Royal Portrush that is hosting this week’s Open Championship. The crowd cheered and chanted, heartily singing, “Ole! Ole! Ole!â€� and “If you love Shane Lowry, clap your hands.â€� They were celebrating as if Lowry already had the Claret Jug in his hands. He thrilled them with a back-nine 30, including birdies on Nos. 15-17, but The Open is still far from being decided. Related: Leaderboard | Ominous weather moves up final-round tee times | Koepka looms, but has to make putts Lowry will start Sunday with a four-shot lead over England’s Tommy Fleetwood and six-shot advantage over the next player on the leaderboard, J.B. Holmes. Lowry’s 19-under 197 is the lowest 54-hole score in The Open’s history. He leads the field in greens hit, missing just nine in three rounds. His play has been impressive, but he knows first-hand what can happen in the final round. Lowry has led a major on one other occasion, losing a four-shot lead in the final round of the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont. He is playing on home soil this time. The reception Lowry received around the grounds of Royal Portrush showed the unifying power of sport. There has been a lot of talk this week about Ireland’s sectarian divide and this Open’s greater significance, but none of that mattered Saturday. Lowry and his Northern Irish caddie represent the last local hope for the fans, and they did their best to carry him across the line. A day earlier, those same fans tried to cheer Rory McIlroy to the correct side of the cut line. They had to watch as Darren Clarke tripled the last hole to miss the cut. Portrush member Graeme McDowell is still around but out of contention. The crowd’s full force will be behind Lowry. “It’s going to be nuts,â€� his caddie, Bo Martin, said. Such energy and enthusiasm can either be a help or a hindrance. “Walking from the green to the next tee, the people are literally a yard away from you roaring in your face as loud as they can,â€� Lowry said. “If you have to get up and hit a drive down a tight fairway, it’s fairly difficult. I thought I dealt with it very well today and hopefully I do the same tomorrow.â€� He’ll have enough on his hands. Sunday’s forecast calls for high winds and rain. The forecast is ominous enough for tee times to be moved earlier. From underneath his umbrella, Lowry will have a view of this era’s dominant force in the majors. Brooks Koepka will play alongside Holmes in the second-to-last group. Koepka and Rose, the reigning FedExCup champion, are tied for fourth, seven shots off the lead. “There’s a good leaderboard behind me,â€� Lowry said. “We’ll see what happens.â€� Lowry shot 76 in that final round at Oakmont, finishing three shots behind Dustin Johnson. Lowry says he gave up too quickly when things went south. He bogeyed four of the first 10 holes, but a birdie at 12 put him at 4-under-par, the eventual winning score. Three consecutive bogeys after that resigned him to second place. Lowry knew before he left the 18th green Saturday that he’d face questions about the biggest disappointment of his career. He’s a different man than he was 3 years ago, though. Golf is less important because he knows his wife, Wendy, and 2-year-old daughter, Iris, will be waiting for him behind the 18th green, regardless of the result. “I learned a lot about myself at Oakmont,â€� Lowry said. “I’m going to learn a lot about myself tomorrow. Tomorrow is a huge day in my career. But it probably doesn’t mean as much to me as it did then, which is going to make it a little bit easier. “I think I learned a few things that day about playing in the final round of a major with a lead, that you need to just hang in until the very last minute. You never know what can happen. And I’m going to do the same tomorrow.â€� A win earlier this year in Abu Dhabi – his first since he won his lone PGA TOUR title, at the 2015 World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational – also will help him Sunday. He started the day with a three-shot advantage, but trailed by as many as four shots during the final round. His one-shot victory showed him a mettle that he didn’t know he possessed. “The one thing I got from Oakmont is I laid down and I didn’t show any fight or bottle there. I did that today,â€� he said after the victory. Lowry, the son of a famous Gaelic footballer, has won in front of the home fans before. He was still an amateur when he won the 2009 Irish Open. Now he’ll try to take the same carefree attitude he had back then into the final round of the game’s oldest championship. “Obviously there’s big consequences tomorrow, but you need to play like there’s no consequence,â€� he said. “Like, what’s the worst thing that can happen?â€�

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CROMWELL, Conn. – If a sense of calm seemed to envelope Patrick Cantlay moments after he made a double-bogey at his 17th hole, the par-3 eighth, in Thursday’s first round of the Travelers Championship, there were good reasons. One, by nature, Cantlay possesses a remarkable even-keel disposition. Two, he still signed for a 4-under 66 to continue a stretch of golf that is as good as anything being played on the PGA TOUR. And, third, he’s in a comfortable environment. “I turned pro here in ’12 and I played well here as an am in ’11,� said Cantlay, though he greatly understated the second half of that statement. That’s because in 2011, the then-19-year-old at UCLA scorched TPC River Highlands to the tune of 10-under 60, a bogey-free effort that featured an eagle and eight birdies. It remains the only 60 posted by an amateur in PGA TOUR history. “I like coming back to places that I like playing golf at,� said Cantlay, who led through 36 holes that year, but faded to T-24. He’s played here three other times since turning professional, but despite the sloppy bogey at the 204-yard eighth (“Just hit it a little fat and it went in the water,� he said), Thursday was his best score since that 60 eight years ago. “I hit the ball really well today. One missed shot cost me two.� You’d have to go back a long way to find a round of golf that didn’t have Cantlay speaking positively. Since missing the cut at THE PLAYERS Championship in March, his five stroke-play tournaments have produced stellar performances. A win (the Memorial Tournament), three other top 10s and a share of 21st at the U.S. Open last week have featured 20 rounds of golf, 12 of them in the 60s, a scoring average of 69.05 and a combined score of 43-under-par. Everything about Thursday’s start says Cantlay appears ready to continue that sizzling trend. “My mindset for a while has been, ‘Come out, win the golf tournament every week,’ and I’ve been close. I’ve played really well.�

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