Sports
Tuesday's Travelers Championship Notes, Celebrity Pro-Am Preview
A look back at Tuesday's events at the Travelers Championship, and a peek at Wednesday's Celebrity Pro-Am.
CROMWELL, CT — Tuesday at the Travelers Championship is the best day to bring your kids, based on my observations. Kids gathered where the tour players came down to the practice area, and golfers signed autographs on the way into the area and on the way out.
In the practice area, you can get up close and watch the pros hit pitches, chips and sand trap shots. A few yards away is the putting green, where they all gather for some more practice and a lot of storytelling. Listening closely enables one to pick up some good tidbits.
Fans can sit in the bleachers and watch the pros practice their iron play and blast away with their woods - if you can follow their shots! A short walk from the practice area is the ninth green, which displayed empty bleachers at 11:45 a.m. Only a father and his son were along the ropes watching, and every group leaving the green gave the little kid a ball.
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Crowds should be much more extensive at Wednesday's Celebrity Pro-Am, which contains some of the best golfers on the PGA TOUR and notables from the world of sports and entertainment. Pure golf fans should head to the TPC River Highlands early in the morning, as most of the top professionals tee off in the early flight. Among them are:
- Rory McIlroy, 6:50, 1st tee
- Justin Thomas, 6:50, 10th
- Bubba Watson, 7:00, 1st
- Jim Furyk, 7:10, 1st
- Brian Harman, 7:50, 1st
- Jason Day, 8:40, 10th
- Vijay Singh, 8:50, 1st
- Patrick Reed, 8:50, 10th
Standouts teeing off in the afternoon flight are:
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- Russell Knox, 12:00, 1st
- Brandt Snedeker, 12:00, 10th
- Jordan Spieth, 12:10, 1st
- Zach Johnson, 12:40, 10th
All celebrities are playing in the afternoon and starting on the first hole. Their pairings, with pro listed first, are:
- 12:20 - J.J. Henry, Chris Berman, Kevin Nealon, Tim Wakefield
- 12:30 - Webb Simpson, Dane DeHaan, Chris Jackson, Geno Auriemma
- 12:40 - Harold Varner III, Jim Calhoun, Scott Burrell, Mike Cavanaugh
- 12:50 - Retief Goosen, Rebecca Lobo, Chris Dailey, Ben Bishop
- 1:00 - Hunter Mahan, Dan Orlovsky, Ray Allen, Randy Edsall
Click here for the complete Celebrity Pro-Am pairings.
Story by Peter Jonaitis and Tim Jensen
Photo credits: Peter Jonaitis
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