Week 25 Approach Shots: Travelers Championship

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Stewart Cink earned his second Travelers Championship title when he won the 2008 tournament by a stroke over Tommy Armour III and Hunter Mahan. The one-stroke victory kept Mahan from winning his second consecutive Travelers Championship.

Both Mahan and Cink are back at TPC River Highlands in the Hartford, Conn., suburb of Cromwell this week after both competed over the weekend at the U.S. Open in Farmingdale, N.Y.

Quick Facts

WHAT: 27th of 37 regular-season PGA TOUR events WHEN: June 25-28 WHERE: Cromwell, Conn. COURSE: TPC River Highlands TV: 3 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Thurs.-Fri., GOLF 3-6 p.m. Sat.-Sun., CBS RADIO: 12 -8 p.m. ET Thurs.-Sun., PGA TOUR Network (XM 146/SIRIUS 209) FEDEXCUP POINTS: 500 for winner KEY LINKS: Tee times | Leaderboard | Tournament page VIDEO: Opening Shot

Cink tied for 27th at the U.S. Open, while Mahan tied for sixth. Cink's 2008 Travelers Championship victory was his fifth since he joined the PGA TOUR in 1997. It was Cink's first title since his two-victory season of 2004, when he won the Verizon Heritage and the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational.

A year ago at TPC River Highlands, Cink was five strokes better than he was in his first victory 11 years earlier. When Cink defeated Tom Byrum, Brandel Chamblee and Jeff Maggert by a stroke, he finished at 13 under. He was 18 under in 2008.

PLAYER NOTES: Cink will attempt to become the first player since Phil Mickelson in 2002 to successfully defend his Travelers Championship title. Last year, he became just the fourth player to record multiple wins at the event. The others are Billy Casper (1963, 1965, 1968 and 1973), Arnold Palmer (1956 and 1960) and Mickelson (2001-02). ...

Zach Johnson, ranked second in the FedExCup standings, is playing in the Travelers Championship for the fifth time when he tees it up this week. His best finish was a tie for third in 2004. Sergio Garcia, ranked fourth in the Official World Golf Ranking, is making his second career start at the 2009 Travelers Championship. In his only previous Hartford-area appearance, he tied for 20th in 2002. ...

Kenny Perry, who won three times last year and played his way onto the U.S. Ryder Cup team, is in the midst of another solid year in 2009. His six top-10 finishes this year include a playoff victory over Charley Hoffman at the FBR Open and a playoff loss to Angel Cabrera at the Masters. Perry has competed in 20 prior Travelers Championships, with seven top-10 finishes. ...

Vijay Singh is making his sixth start at the Travelers Championship. In his last two starts at TPC River Highlands, he finished fifth and fourth in 2008 and 2007 respectively. ...

Hunter Mahan has been a force at TPC River Highlands. A playoff victory over Jay Williamson in 2007 was sandwiched between runner-up finishes in 2006 and 2008. He has posted scores in the 60s in 12 of his last 13 rounds at TPC River Highlands. ...

There are nine exempt players with local ties competing this week: J.J. Henry (Fairfield, Conn.), Brad Faxon (Barrington, R.I.), Billy Andrade (Bristol, R.I.), Jerry Kelly (University of Hartford), Tim Petrovic (University of Hartford), Jay Williamson (Trinity College), James Driscoll (Brookline, Mass.), Brett Quigley (Fort Devins, Mass.) and Brad Adamonis (Cumberland, R.I.).

ON-COURSE OBSERVATIONS: PGA TOUR Network correspondent Mark Carnevale is on the scene in Cromwell, Conn., for this week's satellite radio coverage (XM 146/SIRIUS 209). Reports Carnevale:

This week at the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands, it'll be interesting as far as the weather. The course is wet now, but overall, the weather should be good this week in Cromwell. We had a long week last week at the U.S. Open. There are some forecasts of some showers here, but, overall, conditions should be good for this year's playing of the Travelers Championship.

We've got four of the top 10 in FedExCup points this week: Brian Gay, last week's winner Lucas Glover, Zach Johnson and Kenny Perry. Johnson, who is second in the standings, could overtake Phil Mickelson, who is just a few points ahead of Johnson going ino this week.

Just a look at some of the tee times: At 7:42 a.m. off the 10th tee, you've got two-time '09 winner Gay and two young guns Anthony Kim and Sergio Garcia. Then, and right behind them, is defending champion Stewart Cink playing with '09 winner Dustin Johnson and Ben Curtis. One other threesome that goes off Thursday afternoon at 1:03 p.m. to note is Glover paired with Vijay Singh and Chad Campbell. If you're paying attention to this week's championship, keep an eye on those three groups.

One thing also to keep an eye on after the U.S. Open, which is a very draining event, is the players that were near the top, or at least played through the whole tournament, to see how they hold up this week. It is very difficult to perform well coming off the week of a major.

Weather forecast for the Travelers Championship

THURSDAY, Rd. 1 FRIDAY, Rd. 2 SATURDAY, Rd. 3 SUNDAY, Rd. 4 Partly cloudy Temp: 83 high/66 low Scattered t-storms Temp: 85 high/66 low Isolated t-storms Temp: 81 high/64 low Partly cloudy Temp: 78 high/66 low

DTN/Meteorlogix is the official weather provider of the PGA TOUR. For more information, click here

Travelers Championship snippets

TEAM TRYOUTS: The race for one of the 10 automatic positions on the U.S. Presidents Cup team is being hotly contested. Stewart Cink currently holds down the 10th spot, but he's just ahead of Anthony Kim and Lucas Glover. Glover made a huge jump following his U.S. Open win going from 34th to 12th in the standings. MOST IMPROVED PLAYER: David Toms finished 136th in the FedExCup last year and is currently 14th. He had 22 rounds in the 60s in all of '08 and has 30 already in '09. He was 111th in Ball Striking and is now eighth. He was 135th in Total Driving and is now ninth, and he was 90th in Greens in Regulation and is now 17th. TALENTED 20s: With the U.S. Open victory by Lucas Glover, who is back in the field this week, 13 players in their 20s now have multiple wins on TOUR with two them Glover and Trevor Immelman) holding major titles. GIVING BACK: The Hole In The Wall Gang Camp of Ashford, Conn., and the Greater Hartford Jaycees are the co-charities of the Travelers Championship. The camp enables children with cancer and other serious illnessess to enjoy a camping experience of the highest quality, and the Jaycees focus on leadership development through community service.

In the spotlight

This week: Stewart Cink

Each week during the 2009 season, PGATOUR.COM will spotlight one key player in the field. For this week's Travelers Championship, it's defending champion Stewart Cink. Learn more about Stewart

A victory this week earns you ...

• Fully Exempt for the remainder of 2009 and all of 2010-11 • 500 FedExCup points: Almost anyone in the field would reach the top 50 and create additional opportunities to play in the 2009 PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup and for the World Golf Championship-CA Championship in 2010 • A spot in the following events in order of play: 2009 AT&T National, 2009 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, 2009 PGA Championship, 2010 SBS Championship, 2010 PLAYERS Championship, 2010 Masters • If a U.S. player, 2,160,000 points towards making the 2009 Presidents Cup team; the following players could move into the top 10 with a victory: Lucas Glover, Dustin Johnson, Chad Campbell, Hunter Mahan, Steve Marino, Jerry Kelly, Kevin Na, David Toms and Pat Perez

This week's Kodak Challenge hole

HOLE: The par-4, 296-yard 15th at TPC River Highlands LAST YEAR: The 15th played to a stroke average of 3.663, with players recording nine eagles, 191 birdies, 204 pars, 44 bogeys and two double bogeys. DESCRIPTION: Unless you're playing for the Travelers Championship title, or you're having the round of your life, take out the driver and have some fun. You will have few opportunities in your life to say you drove a par 4 at a TPC. In windy conditions, the pros often hit an iron off the tee, leaving a full wedge to the green. (Click here for tour)