The Golf Boys might as well film scenes from their next music video at this week’s Travelers Championship.
Three of the four golf boy-band members are grouped together this week at TPC River Highlands, with Bubba Watson, Ben Crane and Hunter Mahan scheduled to tee off at 7:50 a.m. ET Thursday (12:50 p.m. Friday). The fourth man of the group, Rickie Fowler, is taking the week off after a T-2 finish at the U.S. Open.
Watson is one of the most popular picks to win this week, as he has finished inside the top 4 in three of the last four years here, including a victory in 2010. Crane is coming off a slump-busting win in Memphis, while Mahan is searching for the form that saw him record his first career victory here, in ’07.
Other notable groups this week in Cromwell, Conn.:
• 8 a.m. Thursday off 10 tee/1 p.m. Friday off 1 tee: Jason Day, Keegan Bradley and Erik Compton. All three players finished T-4 or better at Pinehurst, with Compton, the two-time heart-transplant recipient, leading the way with a share of runner-up honors.
• 12:50 p.m. Thursday off 1 tee/7:50 a.m. Friday off 10 tee: Matt Kuchar, Dustin Johnson and Ken Duke. Duke is the defending champion here, while Kuchar tied for eighth at this event last year in his first start since ’08. DJ hasn’t played here since he withdrew in 2009, but he is coming off a T-4 at the Open.
• 1 p.m. Thursday off 1 tee/8 a.m. Friday off 10 tee: Patrick Reed, Zach Johnson and Sergio Garcia. Though Reed ended a slide of three consecutive missed cuts with a T-35 at the Open, he is still looking for his first top-30 finish since his victory at Doral. Johnson has just one top 10 here in eight career starts, while Garcia is making his first appearance since 2009.