Travelers Notebook: Whirlwind month for Connecticut golfer, but at least there's no homework; Tiger makes appearance

Dom Amore, Hartford Courant on Jun 23, 2026

Published in Golf

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CROMWELL, Conn. — Ben James walked through the back nine at the TPC River Highlands, his practice round squeezed in between rain showers.

This was his day at the office. It’s all about golf now for the rookie pro from Milford.

“I don’t call it a job, I’m very lucky I get to go play golf every day,” said James, who has played in the RBC Canadian Open and the U.S. Open in his first two weeks since earning his PGA Tour card. “I still think I have an assignment due, and I don’t. After 20 years of having homework to do, it’s nice not having to do that.”

He earned just over $23,000 at the Canadian Open, finishing in a tie for 54th, and more than $181,000 at the U.S. Open, where he tied for 23rd.

James, 23, is playing in The Travelers Championship, a Signature Event with a $20 million purse, for the third time. To the Travelers, James has been a known commodity for some time. After graduating from Hamden Hall, he had just missed qualifying for the U.S Open and immediately got a call from Travelers tournament director Nathan Grube.

“I called him to offer him an exemption because he was one of the top-ranked amateurs in the country,” Grube said. “And I said, ‘Hey, man what are you doing?’ And he said, ‘I’m standing on a putting green hitting a six-foot sideways putt that I just missed.’ And I thought, ‘Oh, you’re going to be on tour a long time with that attitude.’

“How he carries himself, his mentality is awesome. To be able to be a part of his story has been great. All he wants is a chance to compete and he’s going to win in buckets, in my opinion.”

James also got an exemption during his collegiate career at Virginia. He joins an impressive list of golfers who were given early chances to get tour experience from Grube and Andy Bessette at the Travelers, including Ricky Fowler, Patrick Cantlay, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas and U.S. Open champ Wyndham Clark.

“It’s really cool, and I can’t thank the Travelers organization enough,” James said.

In 2026 he qualified for the U.S. Open for the third time, got his Travelers exemption and got the biggest news of all in this watershed month of his golfing life. James earned his Tour card with his strong finish at the NCAA championships, maintaining his No.1 spot in the university rankings. In his first go-around, in Canada, he was 10-under and in the lead after two days, then fell back.

“I played soft, that’s my terminology of it,” James said. “I didn’t expect to be in the final group, it was cool, but I played soft. Trying to figure out for the weekend at Shinnecock how to stay more focused and worry about the shot in front of me. It was amazing to be in that position and I learned a lot.”

James made the cut at Shinnecock. Now at the Travelers, he joins a field with 49 of the top 50 ranked golfers on the PGA Tour and will put his experiences on the course to work.

“I was pretty stressed at Shinnecock, because you can make an 8 really fast if you hit one off line,” he said. “The rough here (at TPC) is good right now, I’m sure they won’t cut it. The greens are good. People go low, you’ve got to make birdies. Scores are going to be in the 20s-under, especially with all this rain.”

James, though he went to Virginia, remains a UConn basketball fan. He’ll have a large following from the Milford and Hamden areas coming out to watch him this weekend.

Tiger’s time at TPC

Tiger Woods has never played the Travelers, and time is running out on any hopes he will. But for the second year in a row, he made an appearance in his role with the PGA’s Enterprises Committee. This year he read a short statement in support of the various changes coming to The Tour, and the transition from Jay Monahan to Brian Rolapp as commissioner. Then he quickly departed. It was Woods’ first public appearance since his DUI arrest in March.

“The Board meeting was in West Hartford Monday,” Bessette said. “I know Brian and the team depend heavily on Tiger’s great guidance. He’s never played here because he never plays the week after a major, but he’s been a friend of the tournament and very supportive of what we do here. Great to see him here, he’s doing well. Think of what he’s done for golf over his career, he brought the game to a place I’m not sure it would have gotten to without Tiger Woods.”

Said Grube: “Because of what Tiger did for the game, our community’s a beneficiary of that. Even if he never teed it up here, his presence in the game has meant millions more for charity in our community.”

No fallout for McIlroy

The current PGA rules require golfers to play a certain number of tournaments and Rory McIlroy’s decision to skip the Travelers will leave him short of the number. However, as a lifetime PGA member, the result of winning more than 30 times, McIlroy is exempt from any fines or suspensions for skipping tournaments without an approved medical exemption or waiver. … Clark and Scottie Scheffler, No. 1 in the world, are expected to speak Wednesday after their pro-am rounds.