Is TPC River Highlands too easy to host a signature event?

USA Today

6 hours ago

Is TPC River Highlands too easy to host a signature event? At less than 6,900 yards, the venue for the Travelers Championship annually yields low scores. Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy are okay with that.
CROMWELL, Conn. — Every June, as the PGA Tour rolls into Connecticut for the Travelers Championship, a familiar question starts to bubble up among golf fans and media: Is TPC River Highlands too easy for the world's best players — and too soft a test to justify its place as a signature event?
It's not hard to see where the skepticism comes from. By Tour standards, River Highlands is short — just a touch over 6,800 yards — and offers up generous fairways, receptive greens, and plenty of birdie looks. It's the kind of course where red numbers flow freely and Sunday scoreboards routinely light up with 62s, 63s, and, famously, Jim Furyk's record-setting 58. Winning scores since 2016 have hovered between 17- and 23-under par. So yeah, it's gettable.
But is that really a problem?
TPC River Highlands is different kind of test
Scottie Scheffler, the defending champion at the Travelers Championship and the winner of two Masters and this year's PGA Championship, is the No. 1 player in the world, and on Wednesday, he was the biggest defender of TPC River Highlands, pushing back against that idea. He didn't use data or defensiveness, but instead a simple reminder: elite golf is not meant to be the same as recreational golf.
'You watch the NBA and you're not saying, 'Man, I wish they couldn't dunk,'' Scheffler said. 'You watch tennis, and no one's hoping the ball goes slower. It's not like that. As much as some people want us to feel like them, professional golf is different.'
For Scheffler, what matters isn't how low players go — it's whether a course fairly distinguishes good shots from bad ones. 'I think a proper test is good shots being rewarded and bad shots being punished. I think this is one of the best golf courses for that,' he said. 'Fifteen through 17 — those holes give you birdie chances, but only if you execute. Bail out or miss in the wrong spot, and you're scrambling. That's exactly what we want.'
He's not wrong. That closing stretch — the drivable par-4 15th, over-water par-3 16th, and water-lined 17th — is one of the more fan-friendly and dramatic finishing runs on the PGA Tour. Players have a chance to make up ground late, but poor shots get punished. And when 'well-hydrated' crowds are packed in around the 18th green, it gets loud.
Travelers provides a well-timed breather
Rory McIlroy took a slightly different tack when asked about River Highlands, focusing less on the course itself and more on where it falls in the PGA Tour calendar.
'This is a welcome setup,' McIlroy said. 'You feel like you can relax a little bit and not have to grind so much for your score.'
He's not exaggerating. For many players, this is the fourth tournament in a row — and it follows three of the more demanding tests of the year in The Memorial, the Canadian Open, and a U.S. Open. When the rough's been thick for weeks, the fairways tight, and every par feels like a minor victory, a course that lets players breathe can feel like a reward.
But that doesn't mean it's a pushover. McIlroy acknowledged that transitioning from the U.S. Open to a course like this takes some mental recalibration. 'At Oakmont, if you short-side yourself, it's basically an automatic bogey,' he said. 'Here, you can actually fire at pins. That takes a little bit of a mental adjustment.'
In bigger picture, Travelers can provide excitement
So, is TPC River Highlands too easy? That depends on what you're expecting. If a signature event must resemble a major — with thick rough, narrow landing areas, and a winning score closer to par — then no, this probably isn't your course. But if the goal is to showcase variety on the PGA Tour, to offer a different flavor of competition and a chance for players to shine after a brutal stretch, then TPC River Highlands makes a compelling case for itself.
'I think people get way too caught up in the winning score,' Scheffler said. 'Do we care that 22 under wins this week? No. We just want a fair test. And sometimes, having birdies at the end makes for a pretty exciting finish.'
In the end, professional golf doesn't need every course to feel like survival. It needs a mix. And TPC River Highlands, easy or not, plays its role as a breath of fresh air — and a reminder that excitement and entertainment don't always require players to shoot over par. Sometimes, the best show is when they go low.