Rory McIlroy finished with a score of 18 under par at The Travelers Championship on Sunday, which was enough to earn him a share of seventh place. The four-time major champion thinks that is a problem.
Keegan Bradley finished 23 under on a week where TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Conn., did not present many challenges for the field. A total of 44 golfers finished with a score of -10 or better. After his final-round 64, McIlroy said the longtime host of The Travelers Championship has become “obsolete.”
“I don’t particularly like when a tournament is like this,” McIlroy said, according to Sky Sports. “Unfortunately, technology has passed this course by, right? It sort of has made it obsolete, especially as soft as it has been with a little bit of rain that we had.”
McIlroy mentioned how there have been conversations about “limiting the golf ball” as a way to make things more difficult, but he doesn’t see any real way to make TPC River Highlands a substantial challenge.
“You can grow the rough up and hope you get some firm conditions so it gets tricky,” McIlroy added. “I think the blueprint for a really good golf course isn’t growing the rough up and making the fairways tight. That bunches everyone together.
“The blueprint is something like Los Angeles Country Club, where you have wide targets, but if you miss it’s penal. This isn’t that sort of golf course. It’s not that sort of layout. It doesn’t have the land to do that.”
McIlroy has supported rules that limit the distance a golf ball can travel, but he obviously does not feel it would help much in this case.
The Travelers Championship has been held at TPC River Highlands since 1984. Some would argue that everyone is playing the same course, so it shouldn’t matter how easy or difficult it is. Still, McIlroy is not the only person who would like to see players have to work a bit harder to make birdies.
