How to watch the Travelers Championship, Round 4: Featured Groups, live scores, tee times, TV times

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One of the PGA TOUR’s most famed and historic tracks, The Riviera Country Club has been providing Hollywood-caliber drama for almost a century. With an iconic bunker in the middle of a green, a natural amphitheater and one of the world’s most recognizable short par-4s, Riviera demands a variety of shots to conquer its terrain. Coming off Max Homa’s playoff win over Tony Finau in 2021, this year’s edition will have its hands full to live up to the hype. But with one of the strongest fields on the PGA TOUR so far this season, a new star can join Riviera’s Walk of Fame (and win at a course that has befuddled the two greatest players in the game’s history). 1. WHAT A START The first hole at Riviera is an early feast opportunity for PGA TOUR players. The par 5 plays roughly 495 yards from a tee box that sits 75 foot above the fairway. While there’s out-of-bounds on the left and trees on the right, a straight drive should offer an eagle opportunity all four days. Only four par-5s played to a lower scoring average (4.28) last season, and it was the easiest opening hole on TOUR in 2021. It traditionally plays as the easiest hole at Riviera, as well. The difficulty dramatically shifts right after. The second hole, the No. 1 handicap hole, presents a 488-yard par 4 that heads back uphill, again with out-of-bounds on the left and trees on the right. A long, narrow green is just 25 feet wide and protected by bunkers on the left and front. Despite having different pars, the scoring averages for the two holes are usually separated by just a fraction of a stroke. They played to an average of 4.28 and 4.15, respectively, in 2021. While Riviera’s greens are the same Poa annua that players face throughout the West Coast, the Kikuyu fairways and rough offer a unique challenge. The sticky Kikuyu grass grabs balls like Velcro and makes it hard to execute bump-and-run shots around Riviera. 2. IN THE MIDDLE You do this if you are creating a golf course in a video game, but not usually if you are an architect building a PGA TOUR-caliber track. Long before video games existed, George C. Thomas Jr. and William P. Bell had a unique vision for Riviera’s par-3 sixth hole, putting what is now one of the world’s most famous bunkers smack in the middle of the green. If having a sand trap in the middle of the green is not enough, the putting surface is also two-tiered with a lower level mostly in front of the bunker and an upper level mostly behind the bunker. An errant tee shot, even just a few feet off-line, could find a player scrambling to putt around or pitch over the trap, even needing to pull out a wedge from the putting surface. There is no true safe shot on the green, as all four quadrants bring the center bunker into play. And that is before mentioning there are other bunkers in the back, left and front portions of the green. Birdie is manageable when on the correct tier of the green, but the landing spot can determine the difference between a two or a four quickly. 3. MUST-SEE TV Drivable par 4s are en vogue these days and perhaps No. 10 at Riviera sets the standards for those holes. Measuring anywhere from 282 to 315 yards, most players can hit the green if the conditions are right. However, such a tee shot challenges even the best shot-shapers in the world, with bunkers protecting the green on its right, left and back. The combination of deep bunkers and a skinny putting surface make getting up-and-down difficult, especially from the sand. Right-handed players will try to launch a power-fade, while left-handed players need to sweep a draw to the front-left portion of the green. The lay-up shot isn’t forgiving. A bunker running across the left portion of the fairway forces players to lay up to a full wedge shot if not going for the green. A handful of trees also run along the fairway left of the green. Homa famously found his ball lying next to one of those trees during the first playoff hole against Finau last year, but Homa was able to skip a shot out and match Finau with a par. Unlike No. 17 at TPC Scottsdale, where a water hazard provides penalty trouble for those taking a shot at the green (as Sahith Theegala found out last week), trees and bunkers are the issue on this drivable par 4. A miscue left or right off the tee and a player can go from envisioning eagle to scrambling for par, even without a penalty stroke. 4. HOLLYWOOD DRAMA Riviera is truly one of the OG staples of the Los Angeles social scene. The Hollywood sign – then Hollywoodland – was erected in 1923. Riviera opened its doors in 1926. At the time, with a cost of $243,827, Riviera was labeled as one of the most expensive golf courses in the world. The club has long-attracted famous members, with such Hollywood names as Humphrey Bogart, Walt Disney and Dean Martin making the course their home (“Bogey’s Tree,” a trimmed Eucalyptus on the 12th hole is allegedly where Bogart used to sit to heckle pros). In the 1950s, golf films “Pat and Mike” – starring Katharine Hepburn and Babe Zaharias – and “The Caddy” – starring Martin and Jerry Lewis – were both filmed at Riviera. “Follow the Sun,” a 1951 biographical film about Ben Hogan, was also taped at Riviera. And in more modern times, Seinfeld co-creater and Curb Your Enthusiasm star Larry David helped raise money for the club’s caddies during the pandemic. The Genesis Invitational has been held at Riviera dating all the way back to 1929, hosting the event all but two years since 1973. The exceptions were in 1983, when the club hosted the PGA Championship, and in 1998, when it hosted the U.S. Senior Open. Riviera also has been the venue for the 1948 U.S. Open, 1995 PGA Championship, and 2017 U.S. Amateur. It is scheduled to host the 2026 U.S. Women’s Open, as well. The club will add Olympic golf to its history at the 2028 Los Angeles Games, although this won’t be the Olympics’ first foray on the grounds. Dressage equestrian and modern pentathlon were held at Riviera in 1932. Living up to its Hollywood pedigree, the 18th hole green is surrounded by a natural amphitheater, creating golf’s version of the Hollywood Bowl. As players stare down the 18th green, with Riviera’s iconic clubhouse in the background, the gallery seated on the hillside is staring directly down at them. 5. HOGAN’S ALLEY, BUT NO TIGER OR JACK Ben Hogan was one of Riviera’s early heroes, winning the Genesis Invitational at Riviera in 1947 and 1948 and the U.S. Open there in 1948. His dominance during that two-year stretch gave the course the nickname, “Hogan’s Alley,” a moniker it shares with Colonial Country Club for a similar reason. Hogan also finished runner-up in 1950, losing a playoff to Sam Snead in his return to the TOUR after his near-fatal car accident. Snead, Tom Watson, Fred Couples, Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson all also notched multiple wins at Riviera over the next few decades. Nick Faldo, Ernie Els, Mike Weir, Adam Scott, and Dustin Johnson are among other modern winners. But the two jarring names you will not find on the champions’ plaque: Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. Nicklaus made his professional debut at Riviera in 1962, tying for 50th place as a 21-year-old, earning $33.33 in prize money. He notched his best finish in 1978, grabbing runner-up honors two strokes behind Gil Morgan. Woods made his PGA TOUR debut at Riviera in 1992, driving up from Orange County as a 16-year-old high school sophomore (and amateur). He missed the cut. Woods’ best finish at Riviera was second in 1999, behind Els by two strokes. Since 2016, Woods has been the host of the Genesis Invitational with his TGR Foundation being the benefiting charity. But despite his connection to the course, Riviera is a place Woods has still never been able to lift a PGA TOUR trophy.

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There's an old saying in sports that simply says, “Go hard or go home.” It is an apt line for the Wyndham Championship because if you find yourself in the field at Sedgefield Country Club and you're outside the top 125 in the FedExCup standings, it is the only option you have. Go hard or go home. With FedExCup Playoffs spots on the line a few players did just that. None more so than Jim Herman, who opened the week with a spot inside the top 200 at risk but ended it in dramatic fashion as the winner in Greensboro. Welcome to the Monday Finish where Herman and two others produced enough to extend their season and the final Playoffs field was set. THREE KEYS TO SUCCESS 1. When opportunity knocks, Herman knows you better be ready to take it. Herman has just 10 top-10s on the PGA TOUR from his 195 starts between 2010 and now. But the now 42-year-old can boast that three of those are wins. Herman might not be a regular contender on the PGA TOUR - in fact he came into Wyndham ranked a distant 192nd in the FedExCup standings, leaving him with a win or runner-up scenario to continue his season. But what he has been over the last five seasons is a pretty regular winner. He may have missed 27 cuts in his last 40 starts but there are plenty of players on TOUR who would switch places right now. 2. A record weekend. With four holes to go on Friday, Herman could have been forgiven for starting to crunch numbers in his head regarding staying inside the top 200 of the FedExCup and receiving a safety net for the 2020-21 season via a spot in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. He was outside the cut line at 192nd in the FedExCup and was already planning what to do with his family over the next three weeks. But three straight birdies allowed him the opportunity to play the weekend and Sedgefield, and perhaps gain some momentum before the time off. That momentum came quickly with a 9-under 61 on Saturday, with a 29 on the back side, that rocketed Herman to the periphery of contention. While starting Sunday four back might seem a little far, perhaps he could snag the runner-up finish he needed to continue his FedExCup claims. Forget that. A Sunday 63 meant a weekend total of 134 - which equaled the lowest weekend total for a winner in TOUR history (Stuart Appleby, 2010 Greenbrier). Herman played his last 32 holes with 15 birdies, an eagle and just one bogey. Incredible. 3. A hot putter. Herman turned up at Sedgefield struggling with his putting and decided to change to a cross-handed grip at Wyndham. It was a masterstroke. He ended the week making 444-feet of putts with a 59-foot eagle on the par-5 fifth on Sunday the shot that catapulted him into serious contention. All in all, Herman gained +6.234 shots on the greens, ranking him third in Strokes Gained: Putting. But his tee-to-green game was equally impressive. Herman was fifth in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and fourth in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green. "I got here, and these greens are so perfect, you’ve got to be able to start the ball where you’re looking with the correct speed, and cross-handed just gets the ball rolling a little bit better for me at the moment and just went with it," Herman said. Read more on his putting switch and everything to do with his win here. OBSERVATIONS Jobs may not have been on the line thanks to the COVID-19 reduced schedule but FedExCup Playoffs spots still were and that still brings pressure. While Herman was one man to blitz his way into the Playoffs, two others with impressive pedigree did the same. Major champions Zach Johnson and Shane Lowry were the other two players who did enough to move from the outside of the 125 into the field at THE NORTHERN TRUST this week. Johnson came in ranked 129th and finished No. 104 after a tie for seventh at Sedgefield. He had missed the Playoffs a year ago but would not be denied again. "I don’t like missing cuts, I don’t like missing the FedExCup, I don’t like not being a part of it," Johnson said. "When there’s events that you’re not qualified for, which has kind of been new to me in the last year or two, it’s frustrating. I say that, it’s also motivating." Lowry came in No. 131 and finished 122nd with his T23 at Wyndham. "You look at what I’ve achieved in the last year or two, stuff like that shouldn’t really be as stressful as it was, but it was," said the reigning Open champion. "It’s a big deal. We all know if we can make it to Boston that a good week there, you know, can do big things." Those to fall out of the top 125 were Charl Schwartzel, Fabian Gomez and Russell Knox. Check out a full rundown here. Webb Simpson and Sedgefield are a pretty decent match. No wonder Simpson named one of his children Wyndham given he now has eight top 10s at Sedgefield, including the win in 2011, from 12 starts. Simpson has now finished in the top 3, albeit without winning a second title on the course, in the last four seasons after a T3 this week. In his last 16 rounds at Sedgefield, Simpson has shot 68 or better, averaging out at 65.3125. He has won over $3.5 million at the venue. He also secured $1.2 million this week for finishing third in the Wyndham Rewards regular season race and as such is in great shape for a tilt at the FedExCup. Cinderella doesn't always get to the ball. Rob Oppenheim, a 40-year-old grinder who has spent his career bouncing between the Korn Ferry Tour and the PGA TOUR in the FedExCup era but who has yet to make the Playoffs, had a golden opportunity on Sunday. Playing in the final group, Oppenheim needed to stay high on the leaderboard to have a chance of breaking the drought but unfortunately slipped to a tie for 15th thanks to some critical late bogeys. In the end he was four shots adrift of his goal. QUOTEBOARD "I hit it the way I wanted, I felt like I started on my line and about halfway to the hole I thought I made it and it just snapped off. It was disappointing because I had two good looks the last couple holes and just wasn’t able to convert," – runner-up Billy Horschel on a chance to force a playoff on 18. "You get old pretty quick out here with the young guys. They make you feel inadequate off the tee and especially long irons. it’s mentally frustrating. To overcome it all and get here for a third time is pretty amazing." – Jim Herman "It’s an ‘almost’ week. Almost good, almost a low one every day. Today was an almost." Webb Simpson after a fourth top 3 in four years at the Wyndham without winning. "I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m in the same place next week and I wouldn’t be surprised having a chance to win," Jordan Spieth remains upbeat despite continued struggles. WYNDHAM REWARDS The Wyndham Rewards Top 10 is a season-long competition that offers a $10 million bonus for the 10 golfers who end the regular season at the Wyndham Championship inside the top 10 in FedExCup points. The player atop the standings will earn $2 million, with varying payoffs for the others through $500,000 for the 10th place finisher. Justin Thomas officially is the Wyndham Rewards champion after there was no movement in the final week of the regular season. Thomas takes top spot with three wins on the season thus far and Collin Morikawa was able to hold off Webb Simpson for second to get $1.5 million. Jon Rahm kept the 10th and last slot, 37 points ahead of Xander Schauffele. The top 10 combined for 15 wins in the 2019-20 Regular Season. SOCIAL SNAPSHOT

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