Notebook, Round 1: Travelers Championship

text size

Weather: Mostly cloudy with afternoon thunderstorms. High of 90 degrees. Winds WSW 10-20 mph.

• Play was suspended at 2 p.m. ET due to dangerous weather conditions. Play resumed at 3:30 p.m. ET.

• Playing in the morning wave Mathew Goggin, Padraig Harrington and Charlie Wi posted 6-under 64s to take the first round lead. Justin Rose, teeing off in the afternoon, joined the leaders with a 64. The four co-leaders have a one stroke lead over seven golfers including Bubba Watson, Corey Pavin, Ben Curtis, Kevin Sutherland, Vijay Singh, Matt Jones and Aron Price.

• All four co-leaders are international players. Seven of the last eight winners on the PGA TOUR have hailed from outside the U.S. However, no international player has won the Travelers Championship since Greg Norman in 1995.

• Harrington finished T54 in his only other start at the Travelers Championship in 2007 (71-68-74-69).

• Harrington's last 64 was at the 2009 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. His career best round on TOUR is a 63 (3 times).

• Harrington has held four first-round leads/co-leads before today. He has not converted any into victory, although he does have a pair of T2s at the 2009 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and at THE PLAYERS Championship in 2003.

• Australian Goggin matched his career-best first-round score on the PGA TOUR with a 64. Goggin's best round overall on TOUR is a 62 at the 2009 Bob Hope Classic.

• Goggin is playing in his 241st TOUR event. He has finished T2 twice in his career, but has not been able to breakthrough for a victory. Goggin has 17 top-10 finishes on TOUR.

• Goggin has held four first-round leads on TOUR prior to today. Three of those first-round leads came in 2008.

• South Korean Wi has held four first-round leads/co-leads on TOUR, the last coming in New Orleans where he finished T2 in 2009.

• Wi has 12 top-10 finishes and 33 top-25 finishes in 121 TOUR starts. Wi has recorded one runner-up finish in each of his last three seasons on TOUR.

• Wi is making his fifth start at the Travelers Championship. He missed the cut in his first two appearances in 2005 and 2007. He finished T51 last year for his best finish in Hartford.

• Rose has three top-25 finishes in six starts at the Travelers Championship. Rose's best finish is third in 2005.

• Rose followed up his only bogey (No. 12) with five straight birdies. Rose's personal best is six straight birdies at the 2006 Children's Miracle Network Classic at Disney on his way to an opening round 60.

• This is the 11th first-round lead/co-lead of Rose's career. Of the previous 10, the only one he converted into victory was three weeks ago at the Memorial.

• The Travelers Championship is the 16th event on TOUR this season to experience a suspension of play.

• Only six of 25 first-round leaders/co-leaders have gone on to win this season on TOUR. Two of those have come in the last three weeks on TOUR (Rose and Lee Westwood).

• Coming into this week, Pavin (65) has recorded six top 10s in 17 starts at the Travelers Championship.

• This is the seventh time that Pavin has shot a 65 or better at the Travelers. The last five times Pavin has shot 65 or better, he has finished in the top 10.

• Singh (65) has four top-25 finishes in six career starts at the Travelers Championship. A fourth place finish in 2007 is his best finish in Hartford.

• Hunter Mahan (71) has scored in the 60s in 15 of his last 18 rounds at TPC River Highlands. He has finished in the top 4 in his last four starts at the Travelers (T2-2006, 1-2007, T2-2008, T4-2009).

• There are 34 players in the field this week that competed in the U.S. Open last week.

• The last three winners on the PGA TOUR hail from Europe (Rose, Westwood and Graeme McDowell). That has not happened on the PGA TOUR (records check back to 1968 when the TOUR separated from the PGA of America).

• Defending champion Kenny Perry shot a 1-under 69 in the first round. Phil Mickelson (2001 and 2002) is the only back-to-back winner in tournament history.

• Geoff Ogilvy (SBS Championship) and Dustin Johnson (AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am) are the only players to successfully defend their titles this season.

• The Travelers Championship is the fifth event in the six-tournament series (PLAYERS, Memorial, St. Jude, U.S. Open, Travelers, AT&T National), where the top two money-winners, not previously exempt, earn British Open exemptions. Below are the current money standings through four events (PLAYERS, Memorial, St. Jude, U.S. Open) and their position after the first-round of play at the Travelers Championship:

• Brad Faxon (75), who won the Travelers Championship in 2005, is making his 26th appearance at this event, passing Mark Brooks and Mark Calcavecchia for the most in tournament history.

• Chad Campbell (67) recorded the seventh hole-in-one on No. 16 since the tournament moved to TPC River Highlands in 1984. It is the first ace at No. 16 since Bo Van Pelt recorded one in 2007. Campbell used a 6-iron from 167 yards to earn a $50,000 jewelry shopping spree at Lux Bond & Green in Hartford.

• Bogey-free rounds: Thursday: Goggin (64), Wi (64), Curtis (65), Sutherland (65), Joe Durant (66), David Toms (66), Michael Bradley (67), Kris Blanks (68), Chris Riley (68), James Driscoll (70)

• There were 55 players at par-or-better (23 players were over par) in the morning wave and 43 players in the afternoon wave at par-or-better:

• Kevin Na (illness) withdrew prior to the first-round and was replaced by Dean Wilson.