Travelers Championship Round 1: Scheffler and Eckroat Split the Lead at 62

The wind was howling across Cromwell on Thursday, gusting near 30 mph, and two players treated TPC River Highlands like it owed them money anyway.

Scottie Scheffler and Austin Eckroat each shot 8-under 62 to share the first-round lead at the Travelers Championship, the $20 million PGA TOUR Signature Event that follows the U.S. Open. Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley and Wyndham Clark sit two back at 6-under 64. Cameron Young is alone at 65, and a pack at 66 includes Jason Day, Viktor Hovland, Brian Harman, Nick Taylor, Adam Hadwin, Davis Riley and Max Greyserman.

The 59 Watch

For about an hour on Thursday afternoon, the number on everyone's mind was 59. Scheffler turned in 30 after a front nine that included four birdies in a six-hole burst, then went birdie, eagle, par, birdie from No. 12 through No. 15. That put the defending champion at 9 under through 15 holes, needing two birdies over the last three to break 60.

It did not happen. Scheffler parred 16, then missed the fairway at the par-4 17th, watched his approach skip off the back of the green and missed a 15-footer for his only bogey of the day. A par at 18 closed out a 62, the lowest of his 19 rounds at River Highlands.

The shot of the round came at the par-5 13th. Scheffler pulled 3-iron from 236 yards, into the wind and over the pond, to a pin tucked right, and stuffed it close enough to set up eagle. He said the swing came off pretty much exactly as planned and ranked it with two other shots he could recall from recent years: a 6-iron at No. 5 in the final round of the 2022 Masters and a 9-iron at the third hole in the final round of the 2023 PLAYERS.

"That 3-iron I hit in there was really nice," Scheffler said, per the AP.

Context matters here. Scheffler played in the afternoon wave, when the field averaged roughly even par. He was eight shots better than that. The man has not finished outside the top 10 since THE PLAYERS in March, a run of eight straight events, and Thursday looked like more of the same.

Eckroat Comes Out of Nowhere

Scheffler leading a golf tournament is not news. Eckroat matching him is.

The 26-year-old won twice on TOUR in 2024, but 2025 has been rough: two top-20 finishes, eight missed cuts and a spot outside the top 100 in the FedExCup. On Thursday morning, none of that showed. Eckroat went bogey-free, played his last six holes in 5 under and caught fire with an eagle-birdie-birdie run on Nos. 13 to 15. The eagle came on a 35-foot putt at 13, the same hole Scheffler would conquer hours later.

It was the lowest round of Eckroat's PGA TOUR career. The fix, as Eckroat explained it, was getting rid of the miss that had been haunting the swing all season.

"I wasn't fearing the left ball today, which is huge," Eckroat said.

Rory and the Captain

The loudest group on the property belonged to McIlroy and Bradley, who combined for 13 birdies in the morning wave. McIlroy went bogey-free with three birdies on each side. The best of them came at the par-3 8th, where he hit a 205-yard approach to 4 feet, and at the 17th, where he rolled in a 29-footer.

It was a welcome scorecard. Since completing the career Grand Slam at Augusta, McIlroy has not seriously contended, with a T47 at the PGA Championship, a missed cut at the RBC Canadian Open and a T19 at Oakmont last week. McIlroy said River Highlands felt more forgiving than Oakmont, where every miss was punished.

Bradley's 64 came with a soundtrack. The U.S. Ryder Cup captain, who won this event in 2023, heard "USA" chants all morning, with Bethpage Black only about 75 miles away and the matches looming. Clark matched that 64 to round out the trio two back.

Strange Days for Young and Spaun

Cameron Young's 65 came with a plot twist before he even teed off. His regular caddie came down with a stomach virus, so his father, Dave Young, a recently retired longtime club pro, picked up the bag. Then Young three-putted from 25 feet for double bogey on his very first hole. He answered with eight birdies.

"I managed to get around Oakmont for four days with no doubles and I made it zero holes here," Young said.

J.J. Spaun, four days removed from winning the U.S. Open, had a rougher Thursday playing alongside Scheffler. A double bogey at No. 12, built on two chips and two putts, and a bogey-bogey finish left the new major champion at 3-over 73.

Spieth Walks Off

The day's most surprising news had nothing to do with low scores. Jordan Spieth withdrew after 13 holes at 5 over with tightness in his upper back that spread into his neck, an injury that started on the practice range. It was the first withdrawal of Spieth's PGA TOUR career, across 297 starts, according to CBS Sports.

Thursday's Takeaway

There is no cut this week, so nobody is going anywhere, and the scoreboard math is simple. The last two Travelers champions finished at 22 and 23 under, which means 8 under after one round is a fast start, not a finish line. Scheffler has the lead, the form and the title defense on the line. Eckroat has a career round to build on. McIlroy, Bradley and Clark are close enough to make Friday interesting.

Full scoring is on the official PGA TOUR leaderboard (opens in a new tab), and the TOUR's Round 1 recap (opens in a new tab) has more.

Sources: PGA TOUR (Round 1 recap, McIlroy feature and leaderboard), AP, Field Level Media, CBS Sports, GOLF.com. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.