Travelers Championship Kicks Off Today in Cromwell

Congratulations to all that were involved in last week’s in downtown Middletown. We had a record number of participants in this year’s event and had to turn cars away as early as 6:30 p.m. because Main Street was absolutely flooded with classic and vintage cars by that time — more than 1,200 viewed by 5,000 spectators.

Also, the week was an exciting one because of the grand opening of the Middlesex Center for Advanced Orthopedic Surgery in Middletown, along with the 25th anniversary of May, Bonee & Walsh, one of our top insurance and financial services firms.

This week, too, will prove to be exciting for Middlesex County as we once again welcome a major PGA tournament event to our region at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell.

It will be an exciting time for professional golf at the TPC at River Highlands in Cromwell as the Travelers Championship kicks off today. This will be the fifth year with The Travelers Companies as the title sponsor of the tournament, and judging on the success of last year, this is sure to be an exciting week ahead.

The 2011 Travelers Championship promises to deliver another year of exciting golf action. Every year, the tournament attracts many of the world’s elite golfers and this year, the field of players includes some of the biggest names on the PGA Tour:  Stuart Appleby, John Daly, David Duval, Rickie Fowler, Anthony Kim, Hunter Mahan, Corey Pavin, Vijay Singh, David Toms and Bubba Watson, amongst many others.

The Chamber gives a big thanks to The Travelers Companies and its Chairman and CEO, Jay Fishman, for continuing this great tradition. Also, thanks to Andy Bessette, executive vice president and chief administrative officer of The Travelers Companies, for all of his hard work.

A terrific charity event, this golf tournament has been the sole fundraiser of the Greater Hartford Jaycees. For 58 years, the Jaycees have planned and operated this tournament through volunteers that raised tens of millions of dollars for charity. 

Proceeds from this event go to such projects as feeding the hungry, building affordable housing, helping children and much more. The Greater Hartford Jaycees is an organization of approximately 600 volunteers, ages 21-39, which promotes leadership training through community service.

This is an exciting and busy week for the Chamber as we help to kick off the tournament. We had our annual Travelers Championship Business After Work at the Courtyard by Marriott in Cromwell last week, which was again a huge success with over 225 members who came out to the event.

Our annual member breakfast is Tuesday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cromwell. We have PGA Tour Professional Corey Pavin as our guest speaker. Corey is a veteran of the PGA Tour and will be playing in his 19th career Travelers Championship this week; he has six top‐10 finishes at the event.  His best finish came last year when he fired a final round 66 to get into a playoff with Bubba Watson and Scott Verplank. 

In 2010, Pavin spent the majority of his year concentrating on his captain's duties for the United States 2010 Ryder Cup team, one of the most prestigious distinctions that a professional golfer can earn. 

Bringing in over 250,000 spectators in past years, the Travelers Championship is a boon for the business community in the state and in Middlesex County.  Events like this are a great asset to our region and its success can directly be linked to the enthusiasm of our community. With such consistent crowds and volunteer participation, this event has established itself as one of the best sporting events in the country.

I thank Tournament Chairman Tim Callahan of the Hartford Jaycees, his volunteers and the dedicated Travelers Championship staff led by Tournament Director Nathan Grube and the Tournament’s Director of Sales,  Jason Soucy.

For information, contact Matt Fraulino at (860) 347-6924 or matthew@middlesexchamber.com.