rewrite this title Defending champ Scottie Scheffler makes feelings clear on Travellers Championship being ‘too easy’: “What we want is a fair test”

Scottie Scheffler is set to return to TPC River Highlands for the 2025 Travelers Championship, scheduled from June 19 to 22. Ahead of his title defense, Scheffler addressed questions about the course being “too easy” for top-level players and made it clear that fairness matters more than final scores.

Scottie Scheffler, who won last year’s event with a total of 22-under, said low scores don’t necessarily mean a course is poorly set up.

“I think a proper test is good shots being rewarded and bad shots being punished,” he said in a media interaction in the lead-up to the Travelers Championship.

Scottie Scheffler praised TPC River Highlands for offering both scoring chances and challenges. He explained how the layout tests players, especially over the final stretch.

“I think this is one of the best golf courses for that. There’s opportunity out there, and there’s also punishment,” he added.

“You look at the closing stretch: 15, if you hit a good shot, you’ve got a birdie opportunity. If you try to bail out right, you’re going to be in a bunker short right of the green and have a 40-yard bunker shot. On 16, if you hit a good shot, you’re going to have a good look at birdie. If you bail out and go long, it’s a tough chip down the hill. On 17, you hit the fairway, you have a chance to hit in there close to the pin. If you hit it in the left rough, you probably can’t get to the green.”

Scottie Scheffler also pointed out that making a course harder just for the sake of it doesn’t help the competition.

“The most frustrating thing for me when I play a golf tournament is when you see good shots not getting rewarded and bad shots not being punished properly. That’s all we look for. Do I care that 22-under wins this week? No. I played good last year, and if they somehow change it to 12-under by making the pins in silly spots and doing stuff to trick up the golf course, what we want is a fair test.”

Last year, TPC River Highlands recorded the most bogeys (46) on the fourth hole, a 481-yard par 4. The 12th hole, measuring 441 yards, produced the most double bogeys with nine in total.

Meanwhile, the 13th hole, a 523-yard par 5, was the easiest for players. It gave up the most eagles (18) and also the most birdies (130), making it the players’ favorite hole on the course.

When will Scottie Scheffler tee off at the Travelers Championship in the first round?

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is set to begin his title defense at the 2025 Travelers Championship on Thursday, June 19. He will tee off at 1:45 p.m. ET from the first tee, playing alongside the 2025 US Open champion J.J. Spaun.

Here are the complete Thursday tee times (First Tee, ET):

8 a.m. — Brian Campbell, Bud Cauley8:10 a.m. — Nick Taylor, Kevin Yu8:20 a.m. — Joe Highsmith, Tom Kim8:30 a.m. — Min Woo Lee, Harry Hall8:40 a.m. — Mackenzie Hughes, Matti Schmid8:50 a.m. — Tony Finau, Christiaan Bezuidenhout9 a.m. — Wyndham Clark, Matthieu Pavon9:10 a.m. — Jason Day, Max Homa9:20 a.m. — Austin Eckroat, Byeong Hun An9:35 a.m. — Davis Thompson, Stephan Jaeger9:45 a.m. — Adam Hadwin, Max Greyserman9:55 a.m. — Tom Hoge, Tommy Fleetwood10:05 a.m. — Adam Scott, Cameron Young10:15 a.m. — Viktor Hovland, Robert MacIntyre10:25 a.m. — Ludvig Åberg, Sam Burns10:35 a.m. — Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley10:45 a.m. — Ryan Fox, Ben Griffin10:55 a.m. — Harris English, Lucas Glover11:10 a.m. — Daniel Berger, Sam Stevens11:20 a.m. — Jhonattan Vegas, Gary Woodland11:30 a.m. — Rickie Fowler, Michael Kim11:40 a.m. — Maverick McNealy, Ryan Gerard11:50 a.m. — Russell Henley, Nick Dunlap12:00 p.m. — Patrick Cantlay, Sungjae Im12:10 p.m. — Cam Davis, Alex Noren12:20 p.m. — Taylor Pendrith, Eric Cole12:30 p.m. — Thomas Detry, Si Woo Kim12:45 p.m. — Brian Harman, Akshay Bhatia12:55 p.m. — Sepp Straka, Aaron Rai1:05 p.m. — Shane Lowry, Denny McCarthy1:15 p.m. — J.T. Poston, Matt Fitzpatrick1:25 p.m. — Justin Thomas, Hideki Matsuyama1:35 p.m. — Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa1:45 p.m. — J.J. Spaun, Scottie Scheffler1:55 p.m. — Jordan Spieth, Luke Clanton2:05 p.m. — Andrew Novak, Jacob Bridgeman

Edited by Rupesh