Rose and Harrington share early Travelers lead

Justin Rose continued his fine recent run of form and fired five birdies in his final six holes for a 6-under par 64 and enter into a four-way tie for the first round lead after day one of the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands, Connecticut.

Rose, who won the recent Memorial tournament but failed to qualify for the US Open at Pebble Beach missed a 12-foot putt on the last for the outright lead, but still finds himself tied with Ireland’s Padraig Harrington, Australian Mathew Goggin and Korea’s Charlie Wi.

Ireland’s Harrington and England’s Rose are trying to extend a run of consecutive European player wins on the PGA Tour to four – a run kick-started by Rose with that Memorial win and followed by Lee Westwood’s victory in the St. Jude Classic and last week’s US Open win by Graeme McDowell.

Harrington, Wi and Goggin all made some early hay in perfect morning conditions and were safely back in the clubhouse when play was delayed after high winds and heavy rain struck, forcing a delay of 90minutes.

Seven players shot rounds of 65 to lie one behind the leaders, including Vijay Singh of Fiji and United States’ Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin. Others to share the 5-under par mark are Ben Curtis and Bubba Watson of the United States and Australians Aron Price and Matt Jones.

Chad Campbell aced the 16th hole on his way to a 3-under par 67 and a share of 21st place while tipster trio Scott Verplank, Bo Van Pelt and Hunter Mahan had mixed results in their respective first rounds; Verplank coming out best with a 3-under 67, while Van Pelt finished 1-under and Mahan 1-over par.

Travelers Championship Betting Preview

After last week’s US Open drama, the PGA Tour heads to Connecticut for the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands. This course and the challenge faced at Pebble Beach are vastly different, so the form of the US Open can probably be taken with a pinch of salt as so many players struggled with conditions – with the notable exception of Graeme McDowell!

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No mistakes this time as Perry wins Travelers Championship

Although he threw away a glorious opportunity to don the US Masters’ green jacket, Kenny Perry made no mistake at River Highlands, Connecticut to lift the Travelers Championship, following a tournament record four-round total of 258.

Perry, who finished bogey-bogey at Augusta in April, before losing in a sudden-death playoff against Angel Cabrera tore the River Highlands golf course apart in the closing round, shooting a 63 to finish three strokes ahead of Paul Goydos and David Toms and make it a 1-2-3 for veterans; all three are in their 40s.

In fact, all through the week, Perry systematically dismantled River Highlands and tied the course record of 61 on the opening day. But even though, he held the half-way lead, Perry found himself trailing Goydos by a shot heading into the final round. As a result, Perry posted a front-nine score of 32 and stood on the par-4 15th hole with a five shot advantage over Goydos and apparently coasting to victory.

However, Goydos wasn’t done with and made a 20-foot put out of the fringe for an eagle, before also making birdie on 16. Perry meanwhile had birdied 15, but following Goydos’ birdie on 16 may have just began to feel that there was work still to be done. However, he closed Goydos out on the 17th where that rival missed out on a birdie putt, while Perry made his birdie after his approach landed him within 8 feet of the hole.

Perry recognized he was thinking about his Masters collapse as he played the back nine, and told himself to play aggressive.

“I knew that I had to keep making birdies,” he said. “I wasn’t going to let up. I wasn’t going to play defensive golf. I learned something from that mistake.”

Perry collected just over $1million for the victory, and takes his career tally for tournament wins to fourteen, just six short of the target of twenty he has set himself before he is eligible to join the seniors. The win also means Perry has won five times in the space of a year – the most of any player on tour – and has twelve top-ten finishes in the same period. He also moves to the head of the FedEx Cup standings.

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