McIlroy, Poston Tied For Travelers Championship Lead After 1st Round

CROMWELL, CT — By the conclusion of the first round of the PGA Tour's Travelers Championship, it became apparent that the TPC River Highlands doesn't care if you are famous or virtually unknown, if you are American or from overseas, and whether you teed off in the morning or afternoon.

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, the No. 2 ranked player in the world with four major championships to his credit, teed off at 7:45 a.m. on the 10th hole. He birdied 13, 15 and 18 to make the turn at 32, then carded birdies at 1, 3, 6, 7 and 9 for a 30. His total of 8-under par 62 just missed the best opening round score in tournament history, a 61 carded by Kenny Perry in 2009 and matched by Charley Hoffman in 2013.

"Anytime you start with a 62, you're going to take it," McIlroy said following his round. "I feel like the start I got off to was sort of slow in a way. I birdied the two holes on the back nine that you should, 13 and 15, and then made a nice one on 18 to turn in 3-under par. Then once I got going on the front side there, that's when I started to really feel it and started to hole some putts and hit some quality shots."

Long after McIlroy completed his round, 29-year-old North Carolinian J.T. Poston, a 1-time winner on tour, started at the 10th. He tallied six birdies on the back 9, including five in a row from holes 13 through 17, to finish his first nine at 29. He added birdies at 7 and 9 to equal McIlroy.

"I figured the greens would be soft and receptive," Poston said. "With the wind kicking up, I knew it wasn't going to be too easy, but I felt like it didn't really pick up for us until our last nine holes.
I was able to kind of take advantage of playing the back nine first and getting some birdies out of the way, and then just played real solid on the inward nine."

A stroke behind at 63 were 5-time Tour winner and 2020 Olympic gold medalist Xander Schauffele and 4-time Tour champion Martin Laird. Patrick Cantlay, who shot a since-broken record 60 in the 2011 event, nearly joined that duo, but just missed a 12-foot birdie attempt on 18 that left him at 64, tied for fifth with 3-time Tour winner Charles Howell III and 2012 U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson.

Cantlay said, "I didn't lose any momentum all day. I made a lot of par putts from range, and having a day where you don't make any bogeys is always a good day. I took advantage of the holes on the back nine that you're supposed to."

Defending champion Harris English opened with a 66. Other past Travelers champions in the field are Chez Reavie (67), J.J. Henry (70), Stewart Cink (71), Russell Knox (71), Marc Leishman (71), Kevin Streelman (71) and Jordan Spieth (75).

The complete leaderboard may be found here. Friday's tee times are listed here.