CROMWELL, Conn. — William McGirt has never finished in the top 20 in seven starts at the PGA Tour’s Travelers Championship, but he’s played consistently well at TPC River Highlands over the years. He returns there this week for the first time since 2018, making his 10th start of the 2020-21 PGA Tour season.
The Fairmont native will tee off Thursday at 1:20 p.m. on the 10th hole, paired with Adam Long and Richy Werenski. The trio will start on the first hole Friday at 8:05 a.m.
McGirt has made the cut in four of his last five appearances at the Hartford-area event, and four of his seven appearances overall; his best finish is 25th in 2015, with three finishes inside the top 31. He missed the cut in his most recent Travelers Championship appearance in 2018.
McGirt’s has a 69.1 career scoring average at the par-70 TPC River Highlands, with a 68.9 mark in his last five appearances.
This is McGirt’s first start since missing the cut at the Palmetto Championship at Congaree two weeks ago in Ridgeland, South Carolina, making just two birdies over his 36 holes. He has missed the cut in seven of his last eight Tour starts, with a scoring average of 72.0 in that span.
This week’s event is the 11th start in McGirt’s 29-event major medical extension; he has earned 11 of the 375 FedExCup points required by the end of the extension to maintain his PGA Tour playing status.
Tournament favorites include world No. 2 and defending champion Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Paul Casey and Patrick Cantlay. Patrick Reed and Phil Mickelson are also in the field.