CROMWELL, Conn. – Tom Kim made enough birdies on a soft, exposed course to stay ahead in the rain-delayed Travelers Championship on Saturday, going up and down for par on the final hole in near darkness for a 5-under 65 and a lead of one shot at Scottie Scheffler and Akshay Bhatia.
The tone of this pitch-and-putt day in the TPC River Highlands was set long before thunderstorms halted play for nearly three hours. Cameron Young shot 59, the 13th sub-60 round on the PGA Tour and the first in almost four years.
And then the rain made it even softer, and the wind died down late in the evening as Kim, Scheffler and Xander Schauffele rushed to beat the darkness.
Scheffler, the world No. 1 player who put in a rare pedestrian performance at the US Open, was slowed by a pair of soft bogeys – his putter from the edge at No. 11, a poor drive into mangled weeds at No. 14 – and responded with four consecutive birdies.
“I was quite frustrated after that bogey on 14, I felt like I was putting myself out of the tournament,” Scheffler said. “So it was nice to bounce back and finish it the way I did.”
His wedge on the 18th rolled back within an inch of the cup, which he tapped in for 64. He was playing with Bhatia, who has two PGA Tour titles to his name in the past 12 months. He holed a 25-foot birdie putt, matching Scheffler at age 64.
Schauffele played bogey-free until the final hole, when his 3-foot par putt rounded the cup and left him with a 64. He was two shots back, along with Sungjae Im, who made a birdie putt from about 12 meters on the last hole. .
Kim, who turned 22 on Friday, still leads a large cast of All-Stars. He was at 18-under 192 going into the final round, where 10 players were within five shots of the lead.
“It’s a stacked ranking,” Kim said. ‘Here, a lead of five or six shots is not safe at all. So I have to go out tomorrow and make the same game plan and execute it.
The group within five shots also includes Young, who was tied for 43rd when he arrived on the course in the morning. He was 5 under through four holes — he holed out with a wedge from 142 yards on No. 3 — made another eagle on the 280-yard 15th hole with a 3-iron to 4 feet and reached 11 under with a 5-foot birdie on the 17th.
Cameron Young goes out early at Travelers, scoring 13th under 60 in PGA Tour history
Young became the twelfth player to record a score under 60 on the PGA Tour on Saturday at the Travelers Championship.
He was tied as he left the track and was still in the mix when the round finally ended. Young didn’t see this kind of round coming.
“I did exactly what I do every day when I come to the golf course: get coffee, eat, go to the physio and go outside to warm up,” he said. “I didn’t feel particularly great. I added a few fewer to the range than yesterday. Then, yeah, I came out and just felt really comfortable and things just started getting close to the hole.
Sunday’s start times have been pushed back due to more storms in the forecast, meaning the course is unlikely to become more difficult. Favored lies were in effect for the second consecutive round.
“It feels like you have to keep your head down more than ever,” Schauffele said. “It’s been my motto for quite some time now, ‘Stay on my path,’ and I think it will be quite true tomorrow. You can go for a run at any point on this golf course.
“(You) definitely have to earn your birdies,” he said. “But I think they’ll come in bunches tomorrow.”
Five players held at least a share of the lead at one point, some of which was made possible by Kim’s lone mistake. He three-putted from 10 feet on the fourth hole, with his 10-foot par putt not even touching the hole. But he came back with three birdies on the par 3s and a cool chip over the 15th green for an easy birdie.
He went from the fairway bunker to just short of the 18th green, and his pitch rolled out to a short distance so his final par stayed in front.
The final signature event of the PGA Tour season certainly looks like one with quality players chasing – from Scheffler and Schauffele to Collin Morikawa, Shane Lowry, Patrick Cantlay and Justin Thomas.
“You’re not going to separate yourself. Someone is going to play one stroke better than anyone else,” said Bhatia. ‘We’ll see what tomorrow brings. It will just be a nice challenge.”
