Travelers Championship 2021 R1
June 24-27
TPC River Highlands, Cromwell, Connecticut
$7,400,000
Round 2, Round 3, Round 4

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Satoshi Kodaira and Kramer Hickok both shot 63s to tie for the opening lead in the Travelers Championship at TPC River Island on Thursday.

Travelers Championship 2021 R1

Kodaira made four birdies on the back nine to make the turn in 31, then two birdies and an eagle at the par-4 2nd unfortunately followed by a bogey at the par-3 8th to return in 32. He matched his best score on Tour dating back to the 2018 RBC Heritage, his only victory so far.

“I knew it was on target but didn't see it go in,” he said of his eagle. “I heard the applause, so I knew it went in.”

Travelers Championship 2021 R1

Hickok's day started with a terrible warmup session in the morning with balls going everywhere.

“So I really changed my strategy,” he said. “You just take a lot weight off your shoulders and you just go and simplify things. Just saying, ‘I don't have that shot today. I'm not going to try and hit it.' Just go with what you got.”

Travelers Championship 2021 R1

His round started with an ominous bogey at the 10th but he soon recovered and fired eight birdies from the 14th without dropping a stroke.

“I really only hit one bad putt - on the par-5 13th. Other than that, I just felt like the holes looked awfully big today. I made a lot of good putts today, and the greens are rolling so good that just the holes look big.”

Hickok's best result on Tour was a tie for eighth at the Bermuda Championship earlier this season.

Phil Mickelson made his second-longest putt since the Tour started tracking them in 2004. The two-time Travelers champion sank a 64-foot birdie putt on the par-4 9th followed by a 40-footer at the par-4 10th and closed with a 69.

Travelers Championship 2021 R1

“That long birdie putt, it's just a bonus. You're just trying to lag it up there close and it just fell in,” said Mickelson. “Same thing on 10, after making a mistake and having that long par putt. To make it was a nice little boost. Unfortunately, I didn't take advantage of that on the back nine.

“I let a good opportunity go after playing the front nine a couple under. I was very close to hitting a lot of really good shots but they were just fractionally off.”

Defending champion Dustin Johnson, who lost the world number 1 position after the U.S. Open, bogeyed the second, double bogeyed the third hole and made a single bogey at the 10th to make the turn at 2-over. He made three birdies and another bogey at the 13th to close his round at even par and is T76.

Travelers Championship 2021 R1