Sips of Maginnes: Bubba ball, Pavin and Verplank's putter

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Bubba Watson, despite his 350-yard drives, won on a sub-7,000-yard course for his first TOUR win.

If you wonder why so many players on the PGA TOUR say that TPC River Highlands is the best course in the TPC Network look no further than the playoff on Sunday.

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Corey Pavin and Scott Verplank represented the non-bombers set in contention. On the other end of the spectrum was Bubba Watson -- even with the "Screaming Mimi" he hit into the water out of the fairway bunker on No. 17.

On the next hole, Bubba blasted a drive 396 yards and made birdie to catch Corey and Scott and get into the playoff he won on the second extra hole. And by the way, that drive was 154 yards longer than the one that Corey hit on the same hole two groups ahead of Bubba.

• The last time we saw Robert Garrigus he had played the most memorable hole of the year on TOUR for all the wrong reasons. His triple bogey on the 72nd hole at the St. Jude Classic presented by Smith and Nephew could be the kind of thing that sticks with a player for a long time. And after an opening-round 73 at TPC River Highlands it looked as if it would be a short week for Garrigus who was making his first start since the infamous collapse that cost him his first TOUR win. But five birdies on Friday -- including one on his final hole -- were just enough to earn Garrigus a job on the weekend.

The 18-footer that finished off his second round could be the little boost of confidence that he needs to get past the nightmare in Memphis. Although he shot 2 over on the weekend the little victories like making an anonymous birdie on Friday afternoon to make a cut that are going to help Garrigus get back into contention again.

Daly

• Last week John Daly missed the cut on TOUR for the first time since the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am back in February. Ok, he does have a couple of WDs in there but the truth is that he is playing much better than at any time in the last few years. John put a message up on Facebook saying that the eighth hole, the par 3 where he made double bogey on Friday, was the one that cost him a chance to make the cut. John is off this week before heading across the pond for the Barclays Scottish Open and the British Open at St. Andrews where he won in 1995 and became the Champion Golfer of the Year.

• U.S. Ryder Cup Captain Corey Pavin could have played in the Dick's Sporting Goods Open in New York last week. He opted to play on the PGA TOUR in Hartford even though the En-Joie Golf Club, home of the Champions Tour event, would have seemed to fit his game to a tee. But Corey played the old B.C. Open at En-Joie three times in his lengthy TOUR career and never finished higher than 33rd. Hartford was a different story, though. With three top-10 finishes since 2004 at TPC River Highlands, and six since 1991, the decision to play the Travelers Championship seemed to make sense. It certainly did pay off for the "bulldog" when he poured in a long birdie putt on No. 17 to grab a share of the lead and head to a playoff where he was eliminated on the first hole.

• The Twitter birds were chiming in this weekend on Corey Pavin's site. There was a small movement suggesting that Corey could qualify for his own Ryder Cup Team this October. On Saturday afternoon he wrote, "I have already made the team." Later he tweeted, "And no, I am not trying to make the Ryder Cup Team! I am not that good. LOL. Good night from the old man ... " So that should put that conversation to rest. He might want to change his tune a little after his performance on Sunday, though.

Verplank

• Scott Verplank's bag looked a little different on Sunday. He switched putters on Saturday night from his trusty Ping to a TaylorMade Ghost -- "that white thing" as he called it. Player change putters all the time but not when they shoot 66 with 25 putts but In Scott's case it worked. He shot 64 in the final round with 24 putts and played his way into the playoff. Of course, teeing off 90 minutes before Justin Rose -- not to mention, eight strokes behind the Englishman -- it probably didn't seem to Scott that he was going to have as many important putts as he ended up having on Sunday.

• Euros, Euros everywhere. Starting with Justin Rose at the Memorial Tournament and ending with Graeme McDowell at Pebble Beach, for three consecutive weeks leading into the Travelers Championship European players had hoisted trophies on the PGA TOUR. So the European Ryder Cup Team is shaping up very well. Here on the left side of the pond, though, things are looking a lot less certain. But if the Americans likely to be on the team weren't going to do something about it their captain decided to lead by example. And in the end, one of the longest players on TOUR snapped the European streak on one of the shortest courses in 6,841-yard TPC River Highlands.

Former PGA TOUR player John Maginnes is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.