TPC River Highlands is known for yielding birdies in bunches. It was the site of Jim Furyk’s 58 back in 2016, and there have been plenty 59 watches over the years, including Mackenzie Hughes on Thursday as he signed for a 10-under 60. Saturday was more of the same at the Travelers Championship, as three players shot 61, including 54-hole leader Brendon Todd.
Golf fans should be familiar with
Todd after his white-hot run back in the fall, winning twice and narrowly
missing on a third victory, but for a man on the doorstep of a three-win
season, he’s a relative unknown. With the stripe show he’s putting on in
Connecticut this week, people should start getting familiar with him.
To put it lightly, Todd is putting on a ball-striking clinic at TPC River Highlands. Through three rounds, he’s missed just one fairway — that’s right ONE missed fairway. His laser-like accuracy off the tee has him +3.638 in stroke gained: off the tee, good for third in the field, and he leads the field tee to green, gaining 11.528 strokes in that metric.
The only thing holding Todd back this week is his length with the driver. He’s averaged just 284 yards off the tee, well behind the bombers who’ve come to define this era. But this plodding strategy has served Todd well this season. Though he averages just 279 yards off the tee (222nd on Tour), he hits over 72 percent of his fairways, ranking him as one of the five most accurate players on Tour. This has resulted in two wins, three top 10s and a spot near the top of the FedEx Cup leaderboard this season. While Bryson DeChambeau has dominated headlines with his impossibly long tee balls, Todd has been the polar opposite.
Even with this length deficiency, Todd has separated himself from the pack heading into Sunday, holding a two-stroke lead over Dustin Johnson. If you looked at just their driving length, Johnson would surely be the favorite tomorrow. But as Todd has proven this season, there are many formulas to winning on the PGA Tour.
