Five things we learned from the Travelers Championship

Let’s be honest, we’re all incredibly busy. Nobody has time to sit down and watch four rounds of golf coverage — unless, of course, you watch TV for a living, and if that’s the case, please email us your number. So in an effort to condense the tournament coverage for you into a few quick hits, here are five things we learned from the Travelers Championship.

Marc Leishman finally gets his first win — Here’s a stat for you: Dating back to when the PGA Tour first started handing out a Rookie of the Year award, Marc Leishman was the only golfer on the list without at least one tour win. Thankfully, the 2009 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year no longer has to worry about being a trivia question. His 8-under 62 — the second-lowest round on the final day — propelled him to victory. If you’re looking for another reason why Leishman had so much success, he was ranked 150th in Strokes Gained-Putting this year coming into the week. After struggling with the putter, he finally put it together with putting rounds of 28-29-30-24 (11th best in the field).

[Brian Murphy: Marc Leishman the latest winner to watch from clubhouse]

Charley Hoffman suffers a cruel fate — Charley Hoffman had it all locked up. Holding a two-shot lead with two holes to play, all the two-time PGA Tour winner needed was a couple of pars to lock up another victory. But if we’ve learned anything from some of the epic collapses on tour this year, it’s that nothing is guaranteed. Hoffman went on to knock his tee shot in the water on the 17th and fan his drive on the 18th, settling for a double-bogey, bogey finish that dropped him from 16-under to 13-under, one shot back of Marc Leishman. It was a tough finish to watch, especially for a guy who’s been struggling to find some consistency this year. After his round, Hoffman described his final two holes as “pathetic.” You don’t want to pile on the negatives, but that’s the kind of finish that could stick with him for a couple of weeks.

Bubba Watson comes up short … then decides to take another break — Hoping to see “Bubba Golf” on the PGA Tour in the next three weeks? Don’t hold your breath. After coming up one shot short of a playoff — he failed to make a birdie over his final five holes — with Marc Leishman, Watson announced he was taking three weeks off before flying across the Atlantic for the British Open. His T-2 finish at the Travelers was a big positive considering it was his first made cut in almost two months, but instead of building on the momentum ahead of golf’s oldest major championship, Watson is taking another break. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to go home and spend time with your family, but based on how he’s been playing of late coming off an extended break, it takes him a couple starts to find his groove. That’s why it’s difficult to see him being much of a factor at Royal Lytham and St Annes.

Rory Sabbatini gets some bling for his first hole-in-one — Rory Sabbatini picked the perfect time to record his first ace on the PGA Tour. Standing on the tee at the 161-yard par-3 16th during the final round, Sabbatini hit a perfect 8-iron and watched as the ball hit the green and then disappeared into the hole. Even better? He yelled “go in the hole” while the ball was in mid-flight (you unfortunately can’t hear it over Mr. PGA Tour guy’s voiceover). Now that’s doing it in style. Sabbatini also received a nice parting gift for his ace: a $ 27,000 18k gold Rolex watch.

Hunter Mahan goes low on Sunday — Hunter Mahan never really had a shot to win his second Travelers Championship trophy on Sunday. 11 shots back of the lead, the best he could hope for was a silly-low round and some mistakes from the leaders. While Mahan didn’t get the latter, he helped himself out with a 9-under 61 that included a 29 on the back-nine. Hard as it is to believe, that was only the third time Mahan’s posted a score in the 60s in his last 13 rounds.

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