The Travelers Championship

He made the cut, and then it went wrong for Kenny Perry, just about historically wrong. On the bright side, he’s in some good company. The lowest finishes (by the final standings) by defending champions who made the cut:

Eight defending champions missed the cut by one to five strokes.

Justin Rose — surely smarting from this morning’s World Cup game — is still an hour away from his tee time, but Perry is 19 strokes behind his lead.

Charley Hoffman and John Merrick have both turned in rounds of 64 in the early going of the final round here in Cromwell.

It looks as if the course might again yield a few low scores.

- Neill

Just checked the PGA Tour website to see the scoreboard in the Champions Tour Dick’s Sporting Goods Open to check on Danbury’s Ken Green.
The news wasn’t good.
Green — who was scheduled to tee off at 11:35 a.m. — has withdrawn from the third round after shooting rounds of 78 and 74.
It isn’t known whether Green, who has commited to play in next week’s Champions Tour event — the Montreal Championship — in Canada, will withdraw from that tournament.
Green is also scheduled to play in the Connecticut Open July 26-28 at the Country Club if Fairfield.

It’s never a pro golfer’s plan to be the first one out and the first one back in on Sunday, but Rod Pampling made the most of his round early at the TPC River Highlands.

Playing by himself (choosing not to use a marker or non-competitive playing partner) Pampling teed off at 8:15 a.m. and shot a bogey-free 65 in just under three hours.

“I just played by myself, cruised around,” Pampling said.

Pampling’s five birdies included a 57-foot bomb of a putt on the par-3 8th hole.

Pampling says the course remains in good shape for today’s final round, but notes that the greens aren’t quite as receptive as they were early in the week.

“The greens are starting to firm up a little bit more,” Pampling said. “But the course is still good; it’s been good all week. There’s certainly no blaming the golf course. It’s there to be taken, that’s for sure.”

- Neill

While the leaders are still a few hours away from starting their final rounds, play has been underway for about two and a half hours in the final round of the Travelers.
Rod Pampling is off and running, standing 5-under on the day through 16 holes and both Charley Hoffman and James Nitties are 4-under in their rounds, while John Marrick, Billy Mayfair and Webb Simpson are 3-under.

You have to give him props just for showing up after a physically and mentally exhausting week at Pebble Beach and the U.S. Open before getting on a jet and flying across the country to play here at the 2010 Travelers Championship. Kenny Perry is trying but his golf game missed the flight and is somewhere still in Cali.
Perry, the 2009 Travelers Championship winner, is fighting not to finish last in the field as the final round gets underway at the TPC River Highlands. Perry is 1-over for the day (through 6) and 1-over for the tournament, tied for 74th — one stroke ahead of Skip Kendall (2-over) who’s at the bottom of the field. For now.

Never count a fighter out. After a disappointing 78 in Friday’s first round of the Champions Tour Dick’s Sporting Goods Open, Danbury’s Ken Green rebounded with a solid 2-over 74 that included a 1-under 36 on the first nine (Green’s second nine of the day).
Starting on the back nine, Green opened with four pars before bogeys at 14, 17 and 18 saw him make the turn at 3-over 38. But he rallied with eight pars and a lone bird at 5 that put him at 8-over for the tournament heading into Sunday’s final round.

J.J. Henry said to expect some more low scores. He had that right, though it took a while for anyone to get past him.

But now they’re coming faster. Retief Goosen posted a 64 of his own to move to 9-under-par. Ricky Barnes followed and is 10-under-par. Charlie Wi, meanwhile, began his round with three birdies in a row. That puts him two shots behind Justin Rose (minus-14), whose round began with two pars.