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Rory McIlroy expressed his disappointment with the TPC Highlands golf course after finishing T7 at the Travelers Championship on Sunday.
The Travelers Championship 2023 was a birdie fest, with players making one low score after another over the week. Keegan Bradley, who won the event with an aggregate of 23-under, made 27 birdies. McIlroy finished T7, closing the tournament at 18-under at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut.
While speaking to the media after his fourth round on Sunday, the 34-year-old Northern Irishman said he wasn't a fan of golf courses like TPC River Highlands. TPC River Highlands is one of the shortest golf courses on Tour, with a total playing field of 6,852 yards.
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He said:
"I don't particularly like when a tournament is like this. Unfortunately technology has passed this course by, right? It sort of has made it obsolete, especially as soft as it has been with a little bit of rain that we had.
"So, again, like the conversations going back to, you know, limiting the golf ball and stuff like that, when we come to courses like this they just don't present the challenge that they used to."
Denny McCarthy and Rickie Fowler went on to shoot as low as 60, the lowest at TPC River Highlands this week. Patrick Cantlay carded 61 on Saturday, and five players posted 62 at the Travelers Championship.
Although there is not much scope to increase the course length, the former World No. 1 golfer said there were other ways as well that could help increase the difficulty level of the Travelers Championship.
McIlroy said:
"Yeah, you can grow the rough up and hope you get some firm conditions so it gets tricky. I think the blueprint for a really good golf course isn't growing the rough up and making the fairways tight. That bunches everyone together.?
"The blueprint is something like LACC where you have wide targets, but if you miss it's penal. This isn't that sort of golf course. It's not that sort of layout. It doesn't have the land to do that."
McIlroy added that with the best players competing in the easier conditions of TPC River Highlands, the results would be similar to this week.
Despite all these criticisms, the Travelers Championship was still not the lowest winning score this season. Jon Rahm had won the American Express at 27-under, and Jason Day triumphed at the AT&T Byron Nelson at 23-under.
Will Roy McIlroy play in the Rocket Mortgage Classic 2023?
After finishing tied for 7th at the 2023 Travelers Championship, Rory McIlory will be skipping this week's Rocket Mortgage Classic, which will take place from June 29 to July 2 at Detroit Golf Club in Detroit.
Since the Rocket Mortgage Classic is not a designated PGA Tour event, players are free to opt out of it. Only eight of the top 30 players are present on the playing field of the tournament. Max Homa is the highest-ranked player this week.
