CROMWELL – (Staff Report from PGA Tour Brunch) – Austin Eckroat posted a (62) in his morning round and Scottie Scheffler posted a (62) in the more difficult afternoon round. Today, the tee times will be reversed and we’ll see who is atop the leaderboard come Saturday morning at the 2025 Travelers Championship, held at the TPC River Highlands – just outside of the Hartford, Connecticut city lines.
Eckroat recorded his bogey-free 8-under (62), a career-low round with the previous best round being (63s), most recently at 2024 World Wide Technology Championship/R4). He played alongside Byeong Hun An in a 9:20am tee-time as the 72 player field marched out in pairs.
Ekroat holds his second career 18-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR but finished T8th at the 2023 RSM Classic. This weekend, he’s making his fourth start at the Travelers Championship (T47/2021, T24/2023, T27/2024). TPC River Highlands is where he made his PGA TOUR debut at the 2021 Travelers Championship on a sponsor exemption.
Scheffler, the World No. 1, carded his second-lowest opening-round score of the season (61/THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson). This is his sixth career 18-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR but only his second this season (THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson/Won). He’s 2-for-5 to date in converted an 18-hole lead to victory.
Scheffler, of course, is the reigning FedEx Cup Champion and he leads the field in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green (4.194). He owns two Top-10 finishes in five career starts at the Travelers Championship (T4/2023, Won/2024).
On Friday, Scheffler tees-off at 10:35am with last week’s U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun while Eckroat and An go off at 12:30pm.
The last first-round leader to go on to win The Travelers was Jordan Spieth in 2017.
General Notes:
TPC River Highlands installed a new stone wall along a pond at No. 15-16-17 holes. The added yardage came from new tee box on No. 3 which added 15 yards to the Par-4.
Jordan Spieth was forced to WD after 12 holes of Thursday’s opening round. He was suffering from neck tightness that progressed through the day.
There are 71 players remaining in the field and there is no cut at this Signature Event.
The Travelers Championship is the last of eight Signature Events during the 2025 PGA TOUR Season. It has a $20m purse and the winner pockets $4m.
The Travelers | Leaderboard After 18 Holes
T1 Austin Eckroat 62 (-8)
T1 Scottie Scheffler 62 (-8)
T3 Wyndham Clark 64 (-6)
T3 Rory Mcllroy 64 (-6)
T3 Keegan Bradley 64 (-6)