Scot Edges University of Hartford Alumnus to Win Travelers Championship

CROMWELL, CT — On a day when a longstanding PGA Tour record was erased and a former local collegiate star made a final-round charge, it was a slightly-built golfer from across the Atlantic Ocean who emerged victorious in the Travelers Championship.

Scotsman Russell Knox, who entered the day trailing by three strokes, watched his partner in the day's final pairing falter, then survived a late bogey himself with a brilliant par-saving putt on the 18th hole to earn the second win of his PGA career and the $1.188 million first-place check.

Knox finished at 14-under par 266, one stroke ahead of former University of Hartford golfer Jerry Kelly and two better than Justin Thomas and Patrick Rodgers.

He closed to within one of the lead on the par-5 sixth hole, making a 5-foot birdie putt while frontrunner Daniel Berger failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker and made bogey. Knox assumed the lead when Berger bogeyed 10 and 11, beginning a stretch of four straight bogeys that dropped the Florida State University product down to 10-under.

Knox rolled in six and a half foot birdie putts at 13 and 14 to get to 15-under and grabbed a two-stroke advantage, but hiccupped on the short par-3 16th, pulling his tee shot into the left rough and missing a 10-foot par putt to cut his lead over Kelly to one.

Kelly, playing six groups in front of the final pairing, had completed play nearly an hour earlier with a 6-under par 64. The 49-year-old, who will be eligible to join the PGA Champions Tour next season, started the day 7-under, but carded three birdies on the front nine and holed out from 113 yards for an eagle at the par-4 12th to move to 12-under.

He birdied 13 to briefly move into a tie atop the leaderboard, but hit his approach shot into a bunker at 14 and failed to save par to drop one back. He then drove the green on the 295-yard par-4 15th and two-putted for birdie to reclaim a share of the lead, but was unable to convert fairly sizable birdie attempts at 17 and 18.

Needing to par the final two holes to claim victory, Knox did just that, but provided some drama in doing so.

After two-putting for par on 17, he pushed his tee shot on 18 into the right rough, leaving himself 181 yards from the hole. His approach shot came up short, landing in a bunker to the right of the green.

He blasted out of the sand, but his ball stopped 12 feet from the cup. With thousands of spectators watching from the amphitheater-type setting around the green, he drained the par-saving putt to claim the title.

Besides Kelly, two other players blistered the TPC at River Highlands course Sunday. Thomas fired a final-round 62, but was overshadowed by former U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk, who broke the PGA Tour scoring record with a 58.

See the complete final results here.

Photo credit: pgatour.com