The 2024 Travelers Championship had no shortage of drama, from navigating a heat wave and various thunderstorms to an eventful finish on Sunday evening.
“Usually it is a roller coaster, but let’s just say this roller coaster took a few more dips and turns than usual,” said Travelers Championship Tournament Director Nathan Grube.
This year at the Travelers, one of those dips came on the final hole of regulation, when protesters stormed the 18th green just moments before World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler took home the title.
“Local police did just a super super job just quickly taking these guys down,” said Cromwell’s Allan Vartelas.
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From a heat wave to severe thunderstorms, a couple turns of the weather made for an eventful week for everyone involved.
“Three hour delay, so while it was disappointing I thought it was handled very, very well,” Vartelas said.
By Round 3 on Saturday, the heat wave turned to thunderstorms, causing delays that had thousands funneling to the parking lots.
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“Steering people to certain ways allowed a bunch of other traffic whether it was medical or whether it was anybody else, they have open areas where they can move on back sides of the course,” Grube said. “That’s actually a product of us learning from the past of like hey, what didn’t work in say, 2014 when we just let everybody go everywhere.”
Three people were injured after lightning struck a tree near the 5th green. Two were taken to the hospital and are expected to be okay. The third refused medical treatment, according to Cromwell fire officials.
Grube said use the near dozen video boards scattered throughout the course to display weather warnings when needed, especially on Saturday beginning at 11:30 a.m.
“We posted another one at about 2 p.m. saying 'hey, there’s really more chance.' You have your volunteers that are talking to different committees, you have your fan ambassador groups that are letting people know,” he said.
Grube said every year, his team learns new ways to address any new dips and turns, from widening pathways to increasing the amount of gravel in the parking lots.
“There’s so many good things that come out of it that it’s a fun ride,” Grube said.
He said one of those good things is the nearly $3.2 million dollars raised for the roughly 180 local charities, as well as an exciting ending on the course.
