Donny Marshall says UConn is more dominant than Celtics; notes from the Travelers Pro-Am

CROMWELL – Donny Marshall was all smiles after finishing his round in the Travelers Championship Celebrity Pro-Am on Wednesday afternoon. His group, which included pros Adam Scott and Michael Thorbjornsen, finished in the middle of the pack in best ball format, 7-under 63.

“It was awesome,” Marshall told The Courant. “For me it was fun because I played in it so many years ago, I haven’t played in probably 15 years and I miss it.”

During his round, 18 holes in 90-degree heat at Cromwell’s TPC River Highlands, the day before the course hosted the PGA Tour Signature Event, Marshall became fascinated with how golf swings have changed since he last played in the pro-am and was able to watch the pros like Scott up close. The 43-year-old Australian, with 14 PGA Tour wins, dug into Marshall’s bag to check his clubs as they played the front nine.

“We use the same putter,” Marshall said. “He took one of my irons, gave it to his representative, he was testing it.

“And Michael Thorbjornsen, to see a (22-year-old) kid from Wellesley, from Boston, to see him here and how he hits the ball and his athleticism and his youth and just his exuberance for the game … Understanding who he is and where he finds himself and what he can achieve, it’s pretty special, man.”

Thorbjornsen had an impressive fourth-place finish in the 2022 Travelers as an amateur and earned his PGA Tour card in May after finishing his college career at Stanford.

Marshall played four years (1991-95) under Jim Calhoun at UConn and has worked in broadcasting for the past 19 years, anchoring many UConn basketball games on the Fox Sports Networks during that time. He previously worked for Comcast Sportsnet in New England, covering more than 600 NBA games, including the Celtics’ 2008 championship season.

It was an appreciable moment to see them win it all again this week, knocking off the Dallas Mavericks in five games and hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy on Monday for the first time since that run.

“I don’t think people understand, outside of New England, how impactful and how special that organization has been since its inception and to see them continue to win and be at the top, not just in winning a championship this year, but when he had the most championships of any franchise, that’s pretty special,” Marshall said. “We’ve been talking about it, but to actually see them put a needle in it and finish it, it’s phenomenal.

“It doesn’t seem that long ago, but it was. To see now the difference between (championships) almost is pretty special.”

Dom Amore: Scottie Scheffler, the world’s best golfer, prepares to tackle The Travelers

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who grew up in Dallas, also took the course on Wednesday.

“I got a fan today who asked me to sign a Celtics hat and I said no,” Scheffler said.

The Celtics went 16-3 in the playoffs and finished their championship season with an overall record of 80-21. Similarly, the UConn men finished their season 37-3 and won every NCAA Tournament game by double digits, earning their No. 6 in April.

Which team was more dominant?

“UConn for sure. The Celtics lost a game in the Finals,” Marshall said with a laugh. “I don’t care who you asked me about, it’s always going to be UConn. No question.”

By the numbers: Which title team was more dominant, the UConn men or the Boston Celtics?

Monahan does not provide an update on the LIV negotiations

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan had little to say Wednesday about the complex and ongoing negotiations with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) over the unification of professional golf.

“I will not negotiate in public,” he said. “…But I’ll go back to the meeting we had just two Fridays ago in New York where our entire transaction committee, including Tiger Woods and Adam Scott, being in person and Rory (McIlroy) calling from the Tour Memorial, with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, PIF Governor and representatives of PIF… There were a lot of important issues that we discussed in that meeting, issues that will be important for a final agreement that we reached a consensus on and there are a number of areas where we admit we weren’t going to do them, but we’ve identified them and that’s what we’re focusing on and that’s what we’re working on.”

Monahan added: “All I can say is when you have people like John Henry and Arthur Blank, Sam Kennedy, Andy Cohen, Joe Gorder has massive experience in sports and in the corporate world. When they say this is one of the more complex scenarios they’ve ever seen, I think that says a lot.”

Chris Berman, Doug Flutie Honor Tim Wakefield, Willie Mays

Tim Wakefield, the legendary knuckleball pitcher who played 17 years for the Boston Red Sox and died of brain cancer in October, regularly attended the celebrity Travelers pro-am and was usually grouped with ESPN’s Chris Berman and former Boston College and New England Patriots quarterback Doug Flutie.

Berman and Flutie observed a moment of silence before playing the first hole to honor Wakefield and his wife Stacey, who died shortly after, as well as baseball great Willie Mays, who died Tuesday at age 93 year old. Flutie wore a Wakefield Red Sox jersey and a hat with the number 49 on it, and Berman wore a San Francisco Giants hat to represent Mays.

Dan Orlovsky correlates the Travelers Championship with UConn

Dan Orlovsky, the former UConn quarterback who played 12 years in the NFL and is now a mainstay in ESPN’s football coverage, said Connecticut’s pride in the Travelers Championship is similar to its love of UConn athletics.

“One of the things I realized is UConn is what this state has, so there’s a lot of lateral pride, both school-to-state, state-to-school,” he said before starts in the pro-am, an event he always wants to participate in. “I think Travelers has adopted the same kind of thing where it’s the marquee event, certainly from a sports standpoint in the state of Connecticut. They do so much for the community, and I think Connecticut, in many ways, embraces that as well.”

A Better Golfer: Patrick Renna or The Sandlot’s Ham Porter?

Patrick Renna, best known for his role as Hamilton “Ham” Porter in the iconic 1993 baseball movie The Sandlot, did his best to temper expectations as he approached his first jersey, signing autographs and taking photos along the way .

“I wish everybody would look away when I hit my driver, that would be great,” he said, interrupted by a fan shouting that he loves him. “Oh, thanks. Will you still love me if I remove it? Just making sure.”

As he lost his confidence, Renna said he would still be a better golfer than his home run-slugging persona – “Ham has the best swing in baseball, I try to straighten the arm. He doesn’t care, he’ll just grab it and tear it. He probably has a longer way to go than me, though.”

…The Travelers Championship donated $10,000 to the Cromwell Police Department to help cover the cost of a new police dog. Cromwell’s K9, Bane, retires after nine years of service.