OT: - The Insurance City Greater Hartford Sammy Davis Jr Canon Buick Open Traveler Championship | Page 3 | The Boneyard

OT: The Insurance City Greater Hartford Sammy Davis Jr Canon Buick Open Traveler Championship

Chin Diesel said:
Making bogey from the middle of the fairway on 18 in ideal weather conditions is as big of a choke as you can do. His crappy third shot on a simple uphill shot was equally as bad.
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And he left it giving Keegan a great read for his birdie putt. Regrettable 3rd shot. Wow.
 
Longtime tournament director Nathan Grube is a miracle worker. Folks may not remember but the PGA dumped the GHO from the main tour. But the new event never made it out of the blocks so they let the GHO back in, only if they would take the worst date on the schedule, the week after the US Open. Back then it was customary for Open winner to stiff any next week commitments. Even big star Rocco Mediate stiffed them after coming in 2nd. Maybe there were others but the only Open winner I remember coming was Ian Baker-Finch. ("Of course I was coming, it never occurred to do otherwise")

Now this tournament gets everyone. The Open winner was T14 but doesn't make the cut if they had one. And it doesn't have a cut because Grube put the tournament in position to be an elite "Signature Event". For two years running when it was to be rotated originally. And the Travelers delivered again on all fronts.
 
I used to take 1 week vacation to volunteer 7 days as a Jaycee. In at 5am, out at 8pm to hit the parties. Many memories. Scoring committee, Sky Boxes, then gallery control. Nothing like having a golf cart all day.

Have not been back in 20 years, sadly, as career changes happened.
 
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Dove said:
I used to take 1 week vacation to volunteer 7 days as a Jaycee. In at 5am, out at 8pm to hit the parties. Many memories. Scoring committee, then gallery control. Nothing like having a golf cart all day.

Have not been back in 20 years, sadly, as career changes happened.
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I lived in South Windsor and did the same...wasn't a Jaycee but worked with them and was also on the scoring committee. Was a great time, and yes, having a golf court to zip around all day was a blast, especially when you could work good hospitality suite tix...lots of good food and drink out there. One of my first scoring rounds was with Ernie Els. First hole, he drives it right, over the cart path in some scrub next to a little pine tree, second shot into the greenside bunker, chip to 6 feet. Par. I was amazed seeing that kind of golf in person. Nothing like inside the ropes.
 
I walked the course with Azinger my first time. Felt on top of the world.
 
Dove said:
I walked the course with Azinger my first time. Felt on top of the world.
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Nice. He seemed like a good dude. At one point, I was scoring for a group, and Azinger was in either the group in front or behind. It was hot as all get out and there was a little tent around the tee area. We were were all huddled under it and he carefully explained how and where he applied massive amounts of Gold Bond powder prior to leaving the clubhouse. Lol, you can't get that kind of inside info watching on TV, or even in the gallery....
 
"Hey Paul, I notice you don't sweat like the other guys."

"Oh, let me tell you..."
 
Waquoit said:
Longtime tournament director Nathan Grube is a miracle worker. Folks may not remember but the PGA dumped the GHO from the main tour. But the new event never made it out of the blocks so they let the GHO back in, only if they would take the worst date on the schedule, the week after the US Open. Back then it was customary for Open winner to stiff any next week commitments. Even big star Rocco Mediate stiffed them after coming in 2nd. Maybe there were others but the only Open winner I remember coming was Ian Baker-Finch. ("Of course I was coming, it never occurred to do otherwise")

Now this tournament gets everyone. The Open winner was T14 but doesn't make the cut if they had one. And it doesn't have a cut because Grube put the tournament in position to be an elite "Signature Event". For two years running when it was to be rotated originally. And the Travelers delivered again on all fronts.
Expand ...
Travelers gets credit too. That had really helped. Also, the players love the event and that has to do with how they and their family are treated.

Just a world class event.
 
Waquoit said:
Maybe there were others but the only Open winner I remember coming was Ian Baker-Finch.
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Corey Pavin in '95 brought the US Open trophy with him.

Baker-Finch won The Open in '91 but never won the US Open.
 
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I was at the Travelers Championship 4 of the 5 days and it was amazing as usual. I watched the recap on the Golf Channel in the evening and Brandel Chamblee said "this tournament is touched by the golf Gods" for all the amazing play and finishes every year. I work at Travelers and the lead up to the event is great. Me and a bunch of my friends at work volunteer - either as standard bearers or walking scorers - so we are right inside the ropes next to the players. I had JT and Eckroat yesterday and they were awesome with the fans. They were focused on the play but between holes lots of fist bumping the kids and nods to fans. They were talking yesterday on one of the tee boxes about how much they like coming to Hartford. The event next year is a little later - it runs June 24th to the 28th. It is wild how much stuff has been added over the years to this tournament and it's so awesome. We raised over $4 million for charity this year!! Can't wait for June 2026 already! Now I need a break for my feet and hips to recover from all the walking :D
 
NEforceUConn said:
And he left it giving Keegan a great read for his birdie putt. Regrettable 3rd shot. Wow.
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In terms of gamesmanship, the worst possible outcome for Fleetwood was to leave his 3rd shot chip shot short of the hole and outside of Keegan's putt.
Normally leaving the ball under the hole is more desirable so you can be more aggressive with an uphill putt. In this case, going a bit long was a better outcome.
All that being said, no matter what Fleetwood did, I had zero doubt Keegan was making his birdie putt.
 
Waquoit said:
Longtime tournament director Nathan Grube is a miracle worker. Folks may not remember but the PGA dumped the GHO from the main tour. But the new event never made it out of the blocks so they let the GHO back in, only if they would take the worst date on the schedule, the week after the US Open. Back then it was customary for Open winner to stiff any next week commitments. Even big star Rocco Mediate stiffed them after coming in 2nd. Maybe there were others but the only Open winner I remember coming was Ian Baker-Finch. ("Of course I was coming, it never occurred to do otherwise")

Now this tournament gets everyone. The Open winner was T14 but doesn't make the cut if they had one. And it doesn't have a cut because Grube put the tournament in position to be an elite "Signature Event". For two years running when it was to be rotated originally. And the Travelers delivered again on all fronts.
Expand ...
JohnFSilver said:
Travelers gets credit too. That had really helped. Also, the players love the event and that has to do with how they and their family are treated.

Just a world class event.
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Yes, great leadership on reshaping the event. Instead of sulking about being the week after the US Open figure out what players want for a tourney a week after the US Open. TPC Cromwell made huge improvements to the practice area so players can work on their game, and made it very family friendly. It's almost like a working vacation type environment. The Signature status is huge. No cut and last place was worth $40k.
Finally, Connecticut becomes a nice place to look for flights overseas to the British Isles to prep for the Open Championship.
 
Waquoit said:
So true, I'm not a golfer but the success of this gives me civic pride. I keep waiting for Grube to get poached by someone.
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He should run the PGA.

way back when the joke about the gho was who was going to pull out of it and what no name was going to win it. I actually give credit to Jim Nantz as well. He always talked up the Hartford spot.

The fact tiger never played he is embarrassing for the PGA Tour. And to think the tournament was gone until the tractor supply folded. Who would have thought week after us open becomes a big time event .
 
Halloween said:
Fleetwood changing clubs then leaving it short on 2nd shot from middle of fairway was a big mistake that opened the door.
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Agree, yes.....but the kid over in the rough also changed his club at the last minute and buried that chip out of the spinach!

Fleetwood looked like his shirt collar got tight the second he arrived at his approach shot.
 
Connecticut has a reputation of screwing big events up but this Golf tournament has been one huge shining star. It was huge when it was the SDJr Canon GHO and has exploded ever since - I remember the early days of the ICO played at the original Wethersfield CC (formerly known as the Middletown Country Club!).
Congrats Travelers and CT
Great job
 
The funny part of this event now is that the celebrity piece used to be huge because of Sammy Davis JR when he brought in people like Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope (for you young uns they were top tier A list celebrities). Now the field at the Travelers is better than its ever been which is what you want but I think with more focus, they will get better celebrities going forward. They didnt really advertise the celebrity Pro Am this year because they didnt have anyone noteworthy. That will round out what is just an amazing week every year.
 
Vuce said:
The funny part of this event now is that the celebrity piece used to be huge because of Sammy Davis JR when he brought in people like Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope (for you young uns they were top tier A list celebrities). Now the field at the Travelers is better than its ever been which is what you want but I think with more focus, they will get better celebrities going forward. They didnt really advertise the celebrity Pro Am this year because they didnt have anyone noteworthy. That will round out what is just an amazing week every year.
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I actually think the celebrity piece is going by the wayside. They've made it less of a focus each year. Used to be 18 hole pro am too, now the players just do 9.
 
Waquoit said:
Longtime tournament director Nathan Grube is a miracle worker. Folks may not remember but the PGA dumped the GHO from the main tour. But the new event never made it out of the blocks so they let the GHO back in, only if they would take the worst date on the schedule, the week after the US Open. Back then it was customary for Open winner to stiff any next week commitments. Even big star Rocco Mediate stiffed them after coming in 2nd. Maybe there were others but the only Open winner I remember coming was Ian Baker-Finch. ("Of course I was coming, it never occurred to do otherwise")

Now this tournament gets everyone. The Open winner was T14 but doesn't make the cut if they had one. And it doesn't have a cut because Grube put the tournament in position to be an elite "Signature Event". For two years running when it was to be rotated originally. And the Travelers delivered again on all fronts.
Expand ...

Pavin played in 1995.
 
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