The call for delay is heard again. First sounded by this writer in early April, a louder voice asked the PGA Tour to step back from ambition this week. Our enthusiasm for professional golf must be balanced with logic and safety. It simply has not been, in the quest for whatever public and ulterior motives the organizing bodies in the USA have. My question is, are the PGA of America and USGA reconsidering their plans to hold major championships and events this year? If not, they should be.

On to the Travelers Championship, where golf did happen yesterday. Here are five things that we learned on Thursday in Connecticut.

1. Mackenzie Hughes has the lead

Partly because he solved the 17th hole, Canada’s pride has a three-shot advantage as Friday dawns. Hughes made birdie at the 17th, while 2 pursuers had bogey. Both Hovland and Schauffele made five at the watery, penultimate hole. Hughes also birdied 16, a hole that McIlroy (also at -7 with Hovland and Schauffele) bogeyed. Hughes had a five-birdie streak to end his round. He shouldn’t look to repeat that; a tidy 67 should keep him in the thick of things. We’ll find out this afternoon, as he plays in the day’s second wave.

2. Professional golfers do care

Koepka 1, Koepka 2, McDowell, and Simpson all withdrew from the event, citing potential exposure to COVID-19 virus. Champ withdrew because, like Watney the week before, he has been diagnosed with the virus. Simply put, the correct move. Makes me wonder, can’t the PGA Tour offer three chartered jets, instead of one? Have caddies pay $100 for their flights, have golfers pay the going rate, and you offset much of the cost of the flight.

3. Phil is philthy phifty

I can’t resist whatever that is. Literary scholars scorn my efforts, but I march ahead. Mickelson had three birdies on each side, never really smelled a bogey, and did what needed to be done with 64. Another one of those today, I predict, and he will have the halfway lead. Phil seems to have evicted the need to remain young from his system (no more TikTok dances, no more tweets about hitting bombs) and as we know, it is his play that will keep him relevant. Lephty tees off an hour before Hughes, at 12:50, so we should have a sense of his day’s value by two p.m.

4. How close is Hovland?

This is the guys whose game has appealed most to me, among the cohort of Morikawa, Wolff, and Hovland. They came out to tour together, in the summer of 2019, and they caught our attention with early wins. Hovland had seven birdies and one eagle on Thursday, which more than offset his two bogies. He lights up a course like halogen, and should do so again today, with an early tee time. That translates to smoother greens and more putts made. I like Hovland as leader in the clubhouse, when the second wave tees off. Let’s see.

5. Xander: let’s see the X factor

No offense, but he gave away the Colonial. Should have won. No excuses. At Harbor Town, he was up-down-up-down, in terms of score. Never in the mix. Not really his type of course, for some reason. This place, however, is different. He’s the calmest under pressure of the mid-twenties, and needs to add more wins in a hurry, to elevate himself to the top-ten-in-the-world echelon, where he may belong. His weakness is drive getting away at time; as a not-six-feet-tall dude, he needs to go after it like JT and JS. Xander made birdie at half of his holes yesterday. That’s kinda crazy. I don’t think that he shall do so again today, but it would be fun to watch.