This one I didn’t see coming.
In my defense, no one said sports prognostication is an exact science. The way things look on paper isn’t always the way they play out in the arena. After watching the UCONN women’s basketball team reach the NCAA Final Four with a gut-grabbing win over Baylor, then watching Arizona defeat Indiana, I had a national championship berth in the cards for UCONN. On paper.
Off the paper and on the court an unexpected scenario played out. The Huskies suddenly seemed incapable of making plays and shots that carried them to a one loss season and the number one ranking heading into the tournament. Don’t underestimate the role scouting and execution on the part of Arizona played in a stunning ten-point win.
And give Arizona credit for pumping up the excitement in the championship game. Though it wasn’t quite at the level of UCONN-Baylor six days earlier, the Wildcats took Stanford to the final shot, capping a big weekend for the NCAA.
In the men’s semifinals in Indianapolis on Saturday Gonzaga kept an unbeaten season, and their shot at a first national title, alive with a half-court shot at the buzzer. The next afternoon in San Antonio, the women’s championship game came down to nearly the exact same shot for Arizona. That one missed, and Stanford celebrated its first NCAA title since 1992 – three years before UCONN won the first of its 11 in 1995 after Stanford’s coach Tara Vandervere denigrated the Huskies as the one team that didn’t belong in Minneapolis that March championship weekend.
This one didn’t take me by surprise. It never crossed my mind that Travelers wouldn’t extend its commitment to the local PGA Tour event. Travelers heart has always been in its home community, and from the moment they rode to the last-minute rescue of the sponsorless Greater Hartford Open 14 years ago, the roots of that commitment have only stretched deeper into the greater Hartford soil.
Travelers has created one of the top non-majors on the golf calendar. The tournament annually attracts one of the seasons most impressive fields while generating millions for local charities. Travelers has become the official insurance partner of the PGA Tour, and the Cromwell TPC River Highlands event regularly earns accolades from the Tour and the PGA Players Association. So it was no surprise last week when Travelers announced it’s extending its commitment to the tournament through the 2030 edition.
June 21-27 is Travelers Championship week this year. Jordan Spieth, whose leaping chest bump with caddy Michael Greller celebrating the hole-out from the 18th hole bunker that sealed his 2017 win became the iconic image of the Travelers Championship – the most aired non-Tiger PGA highlight of recent years – on Sunday got his first PGA win since that 2017 Open Championship, winning the Valero Texas Open. It would be great to think he was buoyed to victory and celebrating the Traveler’s announced sponsorship extension. After four top four finishes in his previous six events, Jordan proved once and for all that he’s back. Fittingly, in time for The Travelers.
