Eric Cole’s pitch-in eagle at the 13th hole helped him post a 7-under-par 63 and take the first-round lead at the Travelers Championship on Thursday in Cromwell, Conn.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, the 2024 winner of this event, posted a bogey-free 64 later on Thursday to join a tie for second with Ben Griffin, Bud Cauley, Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick, Colombia’s Nico Echavarria and Norwegian Kristoffer Reitan.
The event at TPC River Highlands is the PGA Tour’s final $20 million signature event of the regular season. All 72 players in the field will see the weekend as there is no 36-hole cut.
After making the turn in 2 under, Cole holed a 12-foot birdie putt at the par-3 11th and parred No. 12 before missing the green to the right at the par-5 13th. He pitched his ball over a mound on that side of the green and it rolled downhill on a perfect line to the cup.
“13’s a relatively simple hole,” said Cole, who went on to birdie twice more in the final stretch. “14, if you hit a good tee shot it’s a wedge. 15’s drivable. 16’s not overly long. And then the last two with the wind direction are shorter irons or wedges. So I would say from 13 in is really where you can kind of score.”
Cole, 38, is in prime position for his first win on the PGA Tour after collecting 12 victories during his journeyman career on the Minor League Golf Tour.
Cole, who has four top-10s this year, played his way into the signature event by finishing atop the Aon Swing 5 points race for a period spanning the Myrtle Beach Classic through the Canadian Open.
Cole was asked if he felt any urgency to collect his first win.
“No, not really urgency,” he said. “I mean, obviously it’s everybody’s goal, I think. I’ve now played a decent amount on tour and winning is something I want to do. But, yeah, I just am trying to get myself in that spot where have I more opportunities and then hopefully just the more I do that, the more likely it is that I’ll win.”
Of the group tied for second, Echavarria, Griffin and Cauley went bogey-free in addition to Scheffler, who is still after his first win since January at the American Express.
Scheffler was paired with his friend Sam Burns, and they shared a rental house this week. When Scheffler realized he forgot to pack a belt to come to the course, Burns ran back to the house to grab it for him.
“I’ve definitely forgotten stuff, but this was probably an all-time week to forget my belt, just in how convenient it is to get from the house to the course,” Scheffler said.
Fitzpatrick is back in the mix after winning three tournaments earlier this year, the only player on tour who’s done so thus far.
“Obviously a great start today and just feel like that, you know, there’s still a lot of big tournaments coming up, which is really nice,” Fitzpatrick said. “If I can hopefully find some form coming into these, the final stretch, particularly in Europe with the Open Championship and then obviously the playoffs, it would be nice to end the season on a real high.”
The group at 5-under 65 includes PGA Championship winner Aaron Rai and fellow Englishman Justin Rose, Viktor Hovland of Norway, Corey Conners of Canada, Patrick Cantlay and Brandt Snedeker.
Burns posted a 4-under 66 along with Russell Henley, Brian Harman, Akshay Bhatia, J.J. Spaun and Harris English. Xander Schauffele is another stroke back at 3-under 67 along with Keegan Bradley, who won this event in 2023 and 2025, and Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, who led on the back nine last year before Bradley caught up and overtook him.
–Field Level Media
