![\"Keegan](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Golf-2-1.jpg\")
Keegan Bradley, left, celebrates with his family after winning the Travelers Championship tournament at TPC River Highlands on Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Cromwell, Conn. (AP Photo\/Jessica Hill)<\/p>\nIt was a sunny Tuesday at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, N.C., and while PGA champ and New England homeboy Keegan Bradley was honed in on the Truist Championship that week, there\u2019s one place he\u2019ll always take time to turn his focus to: TPC River Highlands, where in a few weeks he\u2019ll return as reigning champ of the Travelers Championship.<\/p>\n
Bradley took time to speak to the Boston Herald last week, and as the sun shone over TPC River Highlands, I asked him what he was most excited about.<\/p>\n
The $20 million winning pot, including a $3.6 million payout to the champ? The many Fed Ex points (700) up for grabs that weekend? The chance to play for a rare third win in the famed tourney?<\/p>\n
Bradley didn\u2019t even need to ponder his response.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whiffleball,\u201d he said with a smile. \u201cWhen our kids talk about this event, the golf comes second. The whiffle ball comes first.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bradley is speaking of one of the many \u201cplayer with family\u201d friendly touches the Travelers puts in place each year.<\/p>\n
The family whiffle ball game set with the backdrop of a mini Fenway Park. There\u2019s more, too.\u00a0 Every time a player welcomes a new child home, Travelers executive vice president and chief administrative officer Andy Bessette sends a Travelers onesie. The winner\u2019s kids take home their own mini-trophies, and the families are woven into all kinds of other special moments.<\/p>\n
That, Bradley said, makes it special: \u201cYou know, in a golf family, there is a lot of \u2018golf takes dad away,\u2019 but with the Travelers, they get to be part of it all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bradley has long held The Travelers Championship with high regard. It was there, as an 13-year-old boy in the crowd, he watched David Duval prepping on the range in Cromwell, Conn., and thought, I\u2019m going to do that some day.<\/p>\n
He not only went on to play it but to win it \u2013 now twice, first in 2023 with a record-breaking 23-under and again last June when he pulled off a dramatic come-from-behind win. For the Vermont-raised Bradley, the Travelers Championship has always felt like a home tournament.<\/p>\n
Not to say that made it easy for him to win there, because of the natural pressure a hometown athlete can put on himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI struggled to win there because I wanted it so bad,\u201d he said. \u201cIt took me a bit to learn how to manage that.\u201d<\/p>\n
And while the course is familiar to him, that doesn\u2019t always mean it\u2019s easier. More to the point, he has enough history to worry a bit.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thirteenth tee, a par 5? That\u2019s the one I\u2019m usually laying in bed worrying about the weekend before,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The hole\u2019s narrow fairway flirts with disaster on both sides \u2013 water and super high rough.<\/p>\n
Plus, he said, that \u201chome course feel\u201d almost spreads to all players. Thanks to the family vibe of the entire event and the timing of when it falls, Bradley believes most players feel comfortable at The Travelers.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re coming off the U.S. Open so you\u2019re feeling drained anyway. And then you get here and everyone in the family is happy,\u201d he said. \u201cIt sets up for a great week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bessette says that while the \u201cfeel at home\u201d vibe comes from design, it\u2019s from a place of simple, solid belief.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe treat people the way we would want to be treated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
That includes the players and their families, as well as the caddies, employees, volunteers and yes, the spectators.<\/p>\n
Keegan Bradley, left, celebrates with his family after winning the Travelers Championship tournament at TPC River Highlands on Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Cromwell, Conn. (AP Photo\/Jessica Hill)<\/p>\n
At The Travelers, while there are VIP and private spots, the majority of the viewing is for all, and that includes five separate venues where those holding simple ground passes can sit in chairs and suites like VIPs do.<\/p>\n
There are interactive games and contests, all kinds of food, a great autograph zone that\u2019s easy to access and staff and volunteers who care deeply. On the Friday of last year\u2019s event \u2013 a busy day for sure \u2013 one volunteer approached me with a small sunscreen tube in her hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou look redder than you did when you arrived,\u201d she said, handing the sunscreen to me. That\u2019s some white glove service.<\/p>\n
Tickets are on sale now for the June 22-28 event. When you purchase the tickets, any food on site and any swag you may choose to take home, you won\u2019t be lining corporate pockets. In the spirit of the tourney, 100 percent of net proceeds go to charity. Last year the tourney raised over $4 million, which was distributed to well over 200 local charities.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll find easy parking, lots of great spots for viewing and \u2013 just like that young Keegan Bradley decades ago, players happy to share their love of the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cParticularly as a New England-raised player, there are not a lot of us out there,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to show them that it can be done. I do think about this: I need to be a good role model for the kids from Vermont and the Northeast as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n
Third win? Bradley is going for it. But for now, just let him focus on the whiffle ball.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the family is happy, so is the player,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was a sunny Tuesday at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, N.C., and while PGA champ and New England…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1325,1834,898,899,144,56,1835,1426,1425],"class_list":["post-2510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-travelers-championship","tag-keegan-bradley","tag-keywee","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-pga-tour","tag-sports","tag-tee-thursday","tag-tpc-river-highlands","tag-travelers-championship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}