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Los Angeles Country Club was supposed to present a challenge to the players who competed in the 2023 U.S. Open, but plenty of golf fans were underwhelmed by the level of difficulty at a tournament where two guys managed to set the record for the lowest single-round score in the history of the event.
While the technology modern players have at their disposal wasn’t the only reason Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele were able to break the mark Johnny Miller originally set in 1973 while using a set of wooden clubs, it’s become increasingly hard to ignore the impact those developments have had on the game.
That issue served as the onus for a fairly divisive proposal that could end up forcing “elite” players to adopt a ball with limited distance potential, and while plenty of pros have pushed back against the change, Rory McIlroy seems to be open to the idea.
The Northern Irishman doubled down on that stance in the wake of the Travelers Championship, as he suggested “technology has passed this course by” in the wake of a tournament where Keegan Bradley was just one of the many players who had no issue taming TPC River Highlands en route to winning it all with a record-low score of -23.
Well, it would appear the organizers of the event have wasted no time addressing those concerns, as ESPN reports the Travelers Championship could look a bit different next year thanks in no small part to Rory’s comments.
The outlet spoke with Andy Bessette (the executive vice president of the tournament), who said, “We take all the feedback we get very seriously. I can tell you that changes are already in the works.”
Bessette said he immediately reached out to a number of players on the PGA Tour in search of some more feedback before relaying “10 specific suggestions” to the folks at TPC River Highlands in the hopes of ensuring there’s plenty of time to do a redesign ahead of the tournament next summer.
It’s not entirely clear what those changes will look like, but ESPN suggested golfers who participate in the 2024 Travelers Championship can expect larger bunkers, smaller greens, and deeper rough.
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if it has its intended effect.