Fans attending Sunday’s final round of the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut got their money’s worth and then some, witnessing history as Harris English outlasted runner-up Kramer Hickok in a thrilling eight-hole playoff at TPC River Highlands. Sunday’s win marked English’s fourth career win and his second of 2021, elevating the 31-year-old to second in the FedEx Cup standings behind points leader Patrick Cantlay, who finished in a six-way tie for 13th.
Last year’s Travelers champion, world No. 2 Dustin Johnson, went -6 for the tournament, well off the pace set by English and Hickok (-13 through 72 holes). Three-time winner Bubba Watson held the lead for much of Sunday’s fourth round but collapsed on the back nine, carding an ugly six-over for his final five holes including a double-bogey on the Par 4 17th.
Seeking his first tour victory, Hickok, a former college teammate of Jordan Spieth (well known for his dramatic chip-in to win the 2017 Travelers over Daniel Berger) at the University of Texas, fought English to the very end, sinking multiple do-or-die putts to extend what would end up being the second-longest sudden-death playoff in PGA history. Only the 1949 Motor City Open between Lloyd Mangrum and Cary Middlecoff went longer with the two playing to an 11-hole stalemate before calling it quits due to darkness.
Though Hickok ultimately came up short (English beat him with a birdie putt on 18), the 29-year-old Texan still made a seismic leap in the world rankings, moving up from 331st to 137th as a result of Sunday’s heroics. Meanwhile, English, who banked $1,332,000 with Sunday’s triumph, jumped from 19th to 12th, jumping Louis Oosthuizen (who finished second to World No. 1 Jon Rahm at last week’s U.S. Open) and recent Masters champ Hideki Matsuyama, among others.
Sunday’s marathon in the Insurance Capital captured the attention of social media with golfers and fans each marveling as the two combatants traded blows in an entertaining eight-hole slugfest that felt like the plot of Andy Samberg’s 7 Days in Hell, an HBO comedy documenting a fictional, seven-day war of attrition between rival tennis stars at Wimbledon.
Hickok is scheduled to appear in this week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit, joining a field headlined by Bryson DeChambeau, reigning PGA champion Phil Mickelson and Masters runner-up Will Zalatoris.
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