CROMWELL, Conn. — Denny McCarthy came inches from shooting a 59, forced to settle for a 10-under-par 60 that is the lowest round of his PGA Tour career.
Keegan Bradley and Adam Scott also made runs Thursday at golf’s magic number — on a course where Jim Furyk set the PGA Tour record with a 58 in 2016 — but faltered late as each shot 62. Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the Official World Golf Ranking and No. 2 in the FedEx Cup standings, was one stroke behind them.
Four-time major champion Rory McIlroy made his first ace on tour.
One week after the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club began with a bang as two players shot 62s, it was a day of low numbers at the Travelers Championship, known more for this kind of scoring than the United States Golf Association tournament annually billed as golf’s toughest test.
Nobody had more fun than McCarthy, who started on the back nine, made five birdies on his first six holes and collected five more coming in.
The 30-year-old Maryland native’s last birdie came on the 403-yard ninth hole after his 169-yard approach shot skirted just left of the cup, eliciting a gasp from the crowd. He holed a five-footer that was good enough for the lead, just not a place in the exclusive sub-60 club.
He was glad to take advantage of most of his chances, though.
“I felt positive from the second I woke up this morning,” said McCarthy, who is winless on the PGA Tour despite several close calls, including at the Memorial Tournament early this month. “So everything just kind of clicked today. It was obviously just a great day.”
Scott was at 9 under when his second shot at No. 17 found the lake. He made a double bogey, then finished with a 20-footer for a birdie on No. 18.
“It’s a shame, but it’s hard to be disappointed with a 62,” the 42-year-old Australian said.
Eric Cole, Ireland’s Shane Lowry and 2019 Travelers Championship winner Chez Reavie all had bogey-free 64s and were tied for fifth. Eight players were 65, and 91 players broke par on a day where the expected rain and wind held off and the sun broke through in the afternoon.
Chattanooga’s Stephan Jaeger, who holds the scoring record on what is now the Korn Ferry Tour with a 58 in the first round of the 2016 Ellie Mae Classic, and fellow Baylor School graduate Luke List were among those tied for 16th at 66. Another former Red Raiders standout, Harris English, was tied for 68th after a 69. English, who is coming off a top-10 finish at the U.S. Open, won the 2021 Travelers Championship on the eighth hole of a playoff.
Bradley got things started Thursday morning with birdies on his first five holes. Those included a 75-foot downhill putt from just off the green on the 17th hole, which kept gaining speed but hit the flagstick and dropped.
TPC River Highlands has yielded this kind of golf more than once. In addition to Furyk’s 58, Patrick Cantlay shot a 60 as an amateur in 2011 and Mackenzie Hughes matched it in 2000. Hughes withdrew with an illness Thursday after shooting a 76.
Bradley, a 37-year-old Vermont native, said he could not help but think about matching Furyk’s record.
“When I made that really long putt on 17, and it could have gone in the water, I don’t know, it crossed my mind,” he said. “I wasn’t thinking about it a lot, but I certainly was going to try and do it.”
The highlight of the day came from McIlroy, whose tee shot on the 214-yard eighth landed just below the hole and rolled into the cup. The runner-up to Wyndham Clark last weekend at the U.S. Open, McIlroy had a 68 on Thursday and was tied for 46th.
It was McIlroy’s second ace in competition. He made one in Abu Dhabi in 2015 during an event on the European circuit now known as the DP World Tour.
“That was the best shot of the day that I hit,” he said. “It’s obviously a bonus for it to go in the hole, but it was really cool.”
Clark, fresh off his first major championship also shot a 68.
The 29-year-old Denver native, who earned his first PGA Tour win just last month — the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina — said he got emotional Thursday after being introduced on the first tee as the U.S. Open champion.
“It kind of caught me off guard a little bit,” Clark said. “I actually got a little nervous. But then I hit a great shot and I hit it farther than I think I would have, just because of the nerves.”
He also hit a spectator in the head after slicing his tee shot on the par-3 fifth hole, then holed a 16-foot putt to save par.
The Travelers Championship became one of the PGA Tour’s designated events this year, with the purse raised from $8.3 million to $20 million. The tour’s top players are essentially required to play in 16 of the 17 designated events on the schedule, which meant a flight across the country after the U.S. Open.
“We traveled all day Monday, and then I played nine holes Tuesday and that’s pretty much it,” Scheffler said. “Didn’t practice at all.”