As the summer heats up, there is only one major championship left in men’s professional golf: next month’s Open Championship at Royal Troon Golf Course in Scotland.
There’s also just one signature event left on the PGA Tour schedule: this week’s Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut.
And the LIV Golf League has entered its second half of the season, heading to its 12th different state for this week’s tournament outside Nashville, Tennessee.
Rory McIlroy will not play in the Travelers Championship as he takes a few weeks off from competition following his heartbreaking finish at the US Open. All the other stars of the PGA Tour are in the field, as well as rookie Michael Thorbjornsen, who is making his professional debut.
After missing the US Open with a left foot injury, two-time major champion Jon Rahm will return to action at the LIV Golf Tournament. That includes US Open winner Bryson DeChambeau, who is likely still catching his breath after his stunning finish.
Here’s what to see in men’s professional golf this week:
What’s next on the PGA Tour
Travelers Championship
When: Thursday-Sunday
Where: TPC River Highlands, Cromwell, Connecticut
Defending champion: Keegan Bradley
Bag: $20 million ($3.6 million for the winner)
Scheffler’s streak
In the span of four days at Pinehurst No. 2 last week, Scottie Scheffler has gone from the hottest golfer in the world, having won in five of his past eight starts, to someone who hasn’t broken par in the past five rounds. including all four at the US Open.
According to Scheffler, it’s just the nature of the game. Afterwards, the world’s No. 1 golfer said he was not at his best on an unforgiving course. Pinehurst No. 2’s native areas left him in too many tough spots off the tee.
“When I’m not playing my best, I feel like one of my skills is finding my way around the golf course, knowing where the misses are,” Scheffler said Tuesday. “If you’re pretty sure you’re going to swing or not, there’s not really a side of the fairway where you can miss it. There’s not really any areas you can play, you just have to play.” hit great golf shots.”
The US Open marked the first time in Scheffler’s professional career that he did not break par in a tournament. He carded 71-74-71-72 and finished in 41st place at 8-over-288.
Scheffler hasn’t done better than a fourth-place finish at the Travelers Championship, but his caddie, Ted Scott, carried Bubba Watson’s bag as he won three times at TPC River Highlands.
“He always reminds me of that,” Scheffler said.
Make the course more difficult
After Keegan Bradley nearly set the PGA Tour scoring record with a 72-hole total of 23-under 257 at the Travelers Championship last year, McIlroy called TPC River Highlands “outdated” and said the improved equipment had “gone by the wayside.”
As heavy rain softened the greens, Bradley set 54- and 72-hole scoring records for the tournament. There were 44 players with a score of 10 under or better, and only one golfer who made the cut finished above par.
TPC River Highlands ranked as the 40th most difficult course on tour last season with a scoring average of 68.401. There were only 10 courses with lower averages.
In response, the club made several changes, including reducing the width of the fairway at Nos. 1, 6, 12 and 13 and adding primary rough to a downhill run at No. 12. Mounding was added to the right rough on No. 6, right side of green No. 9 and the left side of green No. 13. Greens Nos. 9 and 11 were also reduced in size.
“Usually there’s a bunch of courses that people try to redo and they get worse,” said 2022 Travelers Championship winner Xander Schauffele. “So that’s just how it goes, unfortunately, just trying to accommodate modern golf and, you know, setting bunkers at 300 yards and rotating.
“Every time you turn a par-5 into a par-4, the hole gets worse because the hole is designed to be a par-5 and then you hit a 4-iron into it. So here it seems visually like it’s a little intimidating, some of the fairways are tighter on 1 and 6, but the course looks mostly the same. The green on 11 is a little smaller, which is fine because it’s a wedge or 9-iron or something like that nature, so overall I think the track is still excellent and the minor upgrades to it are a good thing.
Thorbjornsen’s professional debut
Michael Thorbjornsen, a former Stanford All-American, earned his PGA Tour card during the 2025 season by finishing first on the PGA Tour University track for college golfers. This week he makes his professional debut.
This is not the first time that Thorbjornsen, from Wellesley, Massachusetts, has participated in the event. In 2022, while playing on a sponsor exemption, Thorbjornsen finished fourth at 15 under, 4 strokes behind Schauffele. Because he played as an amateur, he was unable to collect the $406,700 he would have won.
“This is definitely my home, I would say, on the PGA Tour,” Thorbjornsen said. “Obviously, this is where I made my first PGA Tour start as an amateur two years ago. I love this place. It’s close to home. I love the golf course.”
Thorbjornsen, 22, won the 2018 US Junior Amateur, made the cut and finished 79th at the 2019 US Open. He finished as an amateur in three of eight starts in PGA Tour events, most recently finishing 17th at the John Deere Classic in July 2023.
“Every time I see hometown Massachusetts, I’m hyper-focused on what they’re doing,” says Bradley, who graduated from high school in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. “So I’m so proud of what he’s done. The buzz about what type of player he is is strong. That he’s, you know, very, very good. I think that’s great.”
“I recognize what he has been through to get to this point: winters and things like that. So I am always looking for players from the area.”
What’s next in the LIV Golf League
LIFE Golf Nashville
When: Friday Sunday
Where: The Grove, College Grove, Tennessee
Bag: $25 million ($20 million individual, $5 million team); $4 million for the winning individual, $3 million for the winning team
Rahm is ready
Legion
He had to withdraw from the LIV Golf League tournament in Houston after six holes of the second round on June 8 due to the same injury.
“I feel good,” Rahm said. “The main reason for withdrawing from the two events was the infection I had and as a precaution not to make it worse and to see what steps I can take to prevent this from happening in the future.”
Rahm said the wound is still on his left foot, but added, “I’m not really going to make it worse. There are many things that need to be followed up after what happened to ensure that it heals properly and that it doesn’t happen again. “
Rahm is still second in the individual points competition with 98.17 after finishing in the top 10 in each of his first seven starts. He is 36.23 points behind Torque GC captain Joaquín Niemann.
“I feel ready to walk and hit it,” Rahm said. “I haven’t been able to do much. It doesn’t take much to feel ready to compete. I’m looking forward to it. I’m just happy to be here.”
DeChambeau’s victory lap
It’s been quite a ride for Bryson DeChambeau since winning his second US Open title with a win over Rory McIlroy at No. 2 Pinehurst on Sunday.
DeChambeau appeared on the “Today Show,” “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” “The Pat McAfee Show” and MSNBC. He estimates that a few thousand people have touched the US Open trophy since Sunday.
.@usopengolf winner @ b_dechambeau crashes the monologue to let Jimmy, @the carrots and the crowd touches the US Open trophy 🏆 #FallonTonight pic.twitter.com/6PjTuPKAjn
— The Tonight Show (@FallonTonight) June 18, 2024
When DeChambeau arrived at The Grove on Tuesday, a crowd of LIV Golf League employees were ready to greet him.
During a press conference Tuesday, DeChambeau talked about learning things he shouldn’t have done and saying things he shouldn’t have said in the past.
“Screwing up and learning from those mistakes and learning patience, resilience and determination, continuing to grow in that capacity and then getting to a place where I can finally show my true self and show others what this great game means to me, it has given me so much,” DeChambeau said. ‘It’s time for me to give something back.
“That’s what I love the most. That’s why it was so important that everyone touched the trophy. I wanted everyone to experience it because it wasn’t just for me, it was for the turnaround, everyone looked at me and said: “Wow, that person is different than I thought.” It was for them, for those people who saw who I am now, who I am. That’s what I wanted people to feel: that commitment, that appreciation from me to say thank you. It meant a lot.’
Bryson’s Olympic snub
After tying for sixth at the Masters, taking solo second at the PGA Championship and winning the US Open, DeChambeau climbed to No. 10 in the latest official World Golf Ranking.
That still wasn’t enough to get him into the 60-man field for the Olympic men’s golf tournament outside Paris on Aug. 1-4.
Because rules prevent one country from sending more than four golfers to the Olympics, DeChambeau was the second man to drop out. Scheffler, Schauffele, Wyndham Clark and Collin Morikawa represent the US. Patrick Cantlay finished eighth in the OWGR.
It’s bittersweet because DeChambeau was supposed to compete in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics but had to withdraw after testing positive for COVID-19 in final testing before leaving the US. He was replaced on the team by Patrick Reed.
“It was definitely a shame that we couldn’t go in 2020,” DeChambeau said. “It was very disappointing. But I got sick, we took the precautions and made the right decisions, and I got healthy. I recovered. I got my smell back. It’s all good.”
DeChambeau said he realized he might not be able to compete in team events such as the Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup and the Olympics when he left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf in June 2022.
“This time it’s disappointing, but I understand the decisions I made and the way things went didn’t necessarily go perfectly to plan,” he said. “I have done my best so far to give myself a chance according to the OWGR, but I realize and respect where the current situation of the game is, even if it is frustrating and disappointing. Hopefully 2028 will be a slightly different situation, and it will make it so much sweeter.”
