CROMWELL, Conn. — For all the big names in this year’s Travelers Championship field, it was the golfers that leave fans Googling their names who left their marks on the first round. The players who aren’t on billboards up and down Connecticut’s highways or in press releases announcing their commitments.
These were the players who took the leaderboard by storm during Thursday’s opening at TPC River Highlands.
Satoshi Kodaira (249th in the world) and Kramer Hickok (331st) lead the field after each shot a 7-under-par 63. Talor Gooch (70th) is third at 6-under. Maverick McNealy (109th), Brice Garnett (262nd), Beau Hossler (394th), Henrik Norlander (136th) and Patrick Rodgers (209th) are tied for fourth at 5-under.
With an average world ranking of 220 and two combined PGA Tour wins (Kodaira and Garnett both won in 2018) among the top eight, Thursday’s opening round was a day for those quite hungry for a victory.
“Before the round I wasn’t thinking this way,” Kodaira said. “But I’ve been playing well these few tournaments, so the flow of that is continuing, so I felt really well going into this round.”
While hordes of fans stalked the likes of Dustin Johnson (even, tied for 79th), Brooks Koepka (1-under, tied for 46th) and Phil Mickelson (1-under) throughout the course, Kodaira fired his 63 under the watch of just a scattered group of spectators.
He led the field at 8-under at one point, but a bogey on the eighth hole — his lone mistake — dropped him down a shot. He left a 30-foot birdie putt short by about an inch on the ninth hole — his last of the day — and settled for par. As the 31-year-old native of Japan lined up his long putt, cheers could be heard from the 18th hole as Mickelson, Bubba Watson (4-under, tied for ninth) and Paul Casey (1-over, tied for 96th) approached the green.
Kodaira, who started on the 10th hole, recorded four birdies on the back nine. He then went birdie-eagle-birdie to start the front nine to take hold of the lead. He missed the cut at the Travelers in 2018 and 2019, his only two starts in Cromwell.
“Had a really good tee shot and second shot was good,” he said of the eagle. “I knew it was on target but didn’t see it go in. I heard the applause, so I knew it went in.”
Hickok opened his round with bogey on the 10th hole, but kept it clean from there. He birdied 14, 15 and 17 heading into the turn, and shot 5-under on the front nine to take the lead heading into the clubhouse.
“I was hitting a lot of good putts,” he said. “I really only hit one bad putt on the par-5 13th, and other than that, I just felt like the holes looked awfully big today. I got off to like the worst warmup session of the year and was just hitting it everywhere, and so I really changed my strategy. I was just trying to play a little bit more conservative, hit greens, and once the putts started to fall, I just knew it really freed me up.”
Gooch, still in search of his first win on the PGA Tour, played a bogey-free round with three birdies on the front nine and three on the back.
“Solid,” Gooch said of his round. “I mean, any time you shoot 6-under, doesn’t matter if it’s at your home club or on the PGA Tour or whatever, you’ve done something good. So it was all around solid. Hit a bunch of fairways and greens and was able to get a few close ones and made a couple good putts. All around good day.”
The 29-year-old Oklahoman has knocked on the door of a few tournaments this season with three top 10 finishes. He missed the cut in both of his previous starts at the Travelers Championship (2020, 2018).
Now for Gooch, it’s all about turning some of these strong starts and top-10 finishes into wins.
“I was watching the U.S. Open, unfortunately, from home this last week with my dad, and I was telling him my rookie year I played with Justin Rose on Saturday and we were around 10th or 12th going into the weekend,” Gooch said. “I was a little nervous, to say the least. So just being in those positions has got me more comfortable to be in these positions now.”
Norlander posted five birdies on the back nine, then shot even par on the front nine.
“It’s more intimidating, I would say, on the back nine,” Norlander said. “But if you’re hitting good shots, reachable par 5, reachable par 4. Only had pitching wedge into 18, so, feels like if you’re playing good it’s a little easier to get close, I feel, on the back.”
