Travelers Championship memorable moments: From a hurricane in 1952 to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the PGA stop has a rich, colorful history
The PGA Tour is making its stop in the
The tournament has gone to a playoff 23 times. There have been remarkable rounds, most notably Jim Furyk’s tour record 58 in 2016, and dramatic shots, like Paul Azinger’s winner in 1989. It’s a colorful, and rich history. It has had its share of wild weather concerns, the tail end of a hurricane threatening the first Insurance City Open and lots of thunder and lightning, but the tournament, especially since the Travelers took over in 2006, has become one of the most popular events with players and fans alike. The show went on despite the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, one of the first mileposts as the state began to emerge from quarantine and return to normal.
As the 2021 Travelers Championship approaches, here’s a look at 10 of its most memorable moments:
Kroll and a 25-year-old Palmer finished the 72 holes in a tie, both at 274. Palmer borrowed a putter from Kroll, who had missed a 10-footer on the second playoff hole. Palmer birdied the par-5 hole to take the
Sifford had been playing professionally since 1948, and in 1961, became the first
Sifford, who won the National Negro Open six times in the 1950s and faced down racial slurs in his early PGA appearances, had never earned more than
Trevino and
The tournament was then called the Sammy Davis Jr. Greater Hartford Open, an association that helped bring global celebrities to Connecticut. Casper, the winner in 1963, 65 and 68, won for the fourth time, shooting 20-under for the tournament. Weather was a factor, with a violent thunderstorm delaying the final round a day, but Casper, 42, birded two of the last three holes to finish a stroke better than
For one shot, one moment, it would be hard to beat Azinger’s winning shot, a 45-foot chip shot from the rough for birdie on the 18th hole. Azinger had lost a four-stroke lead on the final day but still shot a 65 to win the Canon Greater Hartford Open, as it was then called. “It wasn’t a difficult shot to get close, but it was a miracle it went in,” he said that day. Azinger, who had won the tournament in 1987, beat
Mickelson defended his 2002 title with a spectacular weekend of golf, shooting 66 on Saturday and 64 on Sunday, to come from five strokes back to top a star-studded field. More than 300,000 fans came out to watch the tournament, which has since become the norm in
The Travelers took over in 2006 and was making the tournament the most popular stop for players. The first prize was up over
There were many who doubted the Travelers could be pulled off in the COVID-19 pandemic. With a rash of early positive COVID tests, there were times it seemed unlikely it would finish. But finish it did, without fans, but with a TV audience happy to have something to watch. Johnson emerged from a field filled with the top players in the world to beat
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