CROMWELL, Conn. – Dustin Johnson and Brendon Todd each shot a career-low 61 at the Travelers Championship on Saturday, leaving Todd with a two-stroke lead over the 2016 U.S. Open champion entering the final round of the PGA Tour’s visit to TPC River Highlands.
Playing a couple holes behind Johnson, the 34-year-old Todd – a former University of Georgia golfer who still lives in the Athens area, just south of the home of the Bulldogs in Watkinsville – had a chance at the tournament’s second 10-under-par 60 of the week but missed a 10-foot putt to the left on the 18th hole.
Todd was at 18-under 192 after 54 holes – having opened with a 66 before shaving a stroke off that result Friday – as he seeks his fourth PGA Tour win overall and third in less than eight months. After winning twice on the developmental circuit now known as the Korn Ferry Tour, including a 2013 tournament at UGA’s course, he broke through on the PGA Tour at the 2014 Byron Nelson Championship. He added two more wins this past November in back-to-back fashion at the Bermuda Championship and the Mayakoba Golf Classic.
He has played every event since the PGA Tour returned after a three-month shutdown amid the coronavirus pandemic, but he wasn’t around for the weekend at the first two, the Charles Schwab Challenge and the RBC Heritage.
“Whenever I get a two- or three-week stretch in a row, I tend to be playing better by the end of it,” Todd said. “That’s just something I’m using to my advantage now after missing two cuts. I’m peaking in the third week, and hopefully I can get it done tomorrow.”