CROMWELL, Conn. – Matt Fitzpatrick, the English golfer ranked fourth in the world and second in the FedExCup standings entering the Travelers Championship, came to Connecticut with a different club in his bag.

He struggled off the tee last week at the U.S. Open, and has been struggling since his driver cracked before the Truist Championship in May, a week after he won his third tournament of the season. Fitzpatrick, who won the U.S. Open in 2022, finished 22nd at Shinnecock Hills.

“You’ve got to give yourself a chance at making some scores. Not only a chance of making birdies, but just trying to make comfortable pars. I think for me, that was the big thing last weekend that I struggled with. I just didn’t hit my driver very well and I feel like that that was kind of what held me back most of all,” he said.

After Thursday’s round at the Travelers, Fitzpatrick may have found his answer.

He hit 13 of 14 fairways and landed on 16 of 18 greens in regulation as he finished his round in the six-player group tied for second at 6-under-par 64, trailing leader Eric Cole by one stroke.

“I guess I did, yeah,” Fitzpatrick said, almost surprised to hear how he performed off the tee. “I have a different driver this week. That’s obviously new. Just getting comfortable with that and I had, you know, felt like I practiced well these first three days and just managed to find something that I felt was working a bit better.”

The Englishman, who graduated from Northwestern, prefers to play more “difficult,” higher-scoring, courses than TPC River Highlands is known to be.

“This golf course is obviously renowned for lower scores, which is obviously nice to have that variation from week-to-week. … Last week I think Wyndham (Clark) wins at 4-under and this week, 4-under’s 30th already (actually tied for 14th), or whatever it is, I don’t know. I think, to me, the grind of staying close to par on those tough weeks is more rewarding, I feel like,” he said. “I think as golfers we’re just expected to go make birdies and our expectations are to just make birdies.

“So when you do win a tournament at 20-under par, then you’re like, ‘Well, I’m kind of supposed to do that.’ But in the tournaments where it’s closer to par and it’s a grind you’re like, ‘Well, I feel like I have achieved something there.'”

Milford’s James has a day

Milford native Ben James, who played in the Travelers Championship on a sponsor’s exemption but missed the cut after his senior year at Hamden Hall Country Day (2022) and again after his freshman year at the University of Virginia (2023), returned to TPC River Highlands this week to play the course for the first time since turning pro.

Followed throughout the day by family and a group of high school buddies, his round didn’t end the way he wanted, with bogeys on No. 17 and 18 after getting to 3-under on the front nine, but James went into the clubhouse with his best-ever River Highlands round at 2-under-par 68.

“I had an amazing crowd. It was great. I had an amazing day. Played some nice golf. Funny, the only people I could hear are my high school buddies, I knew their voices. But it was an awesome, amazing experience,” he said, recognizing that he was more comfortable this time around after finishing tied for 23rd at the U.S. Open last week.

“Hit it good, rolled it good. Had a ton of lip outs. I played nice. Had just made one mental mistake and just an unfortunate lie that I had on the last. But overall it was a good day,” James said. “I was pretty comfortable today. I surprised myself a little bit. I started off really nice. I played a nice front nine. Tony (Finau) was a great guy. Very much enjoyed playing with him. Looking forward to playing with him (Friday). It just was a good day.”

Norwegian soccer fans swing by

After the U.S. Open wrapped up from Shinnecock Hills on Long Island last weekend, Kristoffer Reitan and Viktor Hovland – who both missed the cut – visited Metlife Stadium (or “New York/New Jersey Stadium,” as FIFA recognizes it) to watch their home country, Norway, take on Senegal in the World Cup group stage on Monday.

“It was unbelievable. For me, I haven’t seen Norway in the World Cup for my whole life, so it was awesome. The crowds are amazing, the team was performing excellent. Yeah, it was an experience I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” Reitan said.

And on Thursday, with Norway set to play France at “Boston Stadium” (Gillette Stadium) on Friday, a contingent of soccer fans made it to Cromwell.

“The games and the golf events set up quite nicely, so they can make a pit stop here for the interested fans or the golf-interested fans. So it sets up quite nicely for that,” Reitan said, after finishing 6-under-par 64 in his first-ever round at the Travelers. “And it’s cool for them to make a pit stop here and for me to experience a miniature version of what the football players get to experience.”

Hovland, playing at the Travelers for the sixth time, went into the clubhouse at 5-under 65.

Brian Harman’s wild round

Brian Harman, 39, is playing in the Travelers Championship for the 16th time so he’s accustomed to seeing some up-and-down results at the TPC River Highlands course. But Thursday’s round was about as wild as it gets.

Harman started out with a birdie on No. 1 and shot up the leaderboard with four in a row from No. 5 through No. 8, which got him to 5-under through eight holes. But then he overshot an eight-foot par putt and made bogey on No. 9. He struggled to find the fairway on No. 10 and missed a 5-foot putt on No. 11, finally erasing all of his positive movement with an out-of-bounds penalty off the tee, a bunker shot and a double bogey that got him back to even through 12 holes.

But Harman’s fortune turned quickly again as he birdied Nos. 13 and 14, bringing him back to 2-under when he set up for a 160-yard second shot over the pond on No. 17. The ball took a few small bounces and trickled into the hole for eagle. Harmon closed his round with par on No. 18 and went into the clubhouse at 4-under 66.

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