Patrick Cantlay battled 40 mph gusts Friday at TPC River Highlands to stay in contention at the 2025 Travelers Championship.
CROMWELL, Conn. – Weekend golfers hate playing in the rain. Wet shoes, slippery grips and sloshing around the course are not their idea of a good time, but pros don’t mind the rain because they have caddies to help them stay dry, and shots stop faster on damp fairways and greens.
That’s why damp courses often yield low scores, like the 62s Scottie Scheffler and Austin Eckroat shot at TPC River Highlands on Thursday to take the lead at the 2025 Travelers Championship.
Elite golfers will tell you that windy days are tougher than rainy days because gusting wind makes it harder to predict how the ball will fly. If that’s true, TPC River Highlands was primed to transform from a guppy into a shark for the second round of the PGA Tour’s final signature event of 2025.
As players teed off early in the day, a northwest wind blew steadily at 20 mph, with gusts reaching nearly 40 mph.
Patrick Cantlay started at 8:50 a.m. and knew that the course — and the challenge it presented — would be very different from the layout he played Thursday when he shot 67.
“It’s just really tough controlling your distance. It’s kind of swirly. It’s up and down. It’s not necessarily blowing a consistent direction,” Cantlay said. “Just picking the right shot and committing to it was really my game plan. I thought I did it, all in all, pretty well today.”
Even after his approach shot to the par-5 13th hole spun back into the water and led to a double-bogey seven, Cantlay’s 68 left him in good position heading into the weekend.
“It was a grind out there with the wind the way it was. The golf course plays really hard when it’s blowing 20. I thought I played well. All in all, a good round,” he said.
As much as any player in the field, Cantlay has seen the Travelers Championship change and grow over the years. As an amateur in 2011, he was given a sponsor’s exemption into the field and shot 60 in the second round to put himself in contention before fading over the weekend. This year’s tournament marks his 10th appearance at TPC River Highlands.
“It’s so great to see this tournament evolve over the years,” he said Friday. “It’s become one of the best tournaments on tour. I know, speaking for a lot of the guys, we really look forward to coming this week. It doesn’t feel like 14 years ago that I played my first one, but it’s been really cool to see how much better the golf tournament has got each and every year.”
More lucrative, too. In 2011, Freddie Jacobson shot 65-66-63-66 to win and earn a $1 million first-prize check. This week, the winner will take home $3.6 million, and the total purse is $20 million.
That kind of money gets everyone’s attention and can get even a seasoned veteran’s heart racing like a rookie’s on the first tee, but Cantlay says he still feels some butterflies before he plays, even though this season is his 14th as a professional.
“Anytime you tee it up, you’ve got some nerves or adrenaline,” he said, “But that’s the best part about what we do.”
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