CROMWELL, Conn. -- It was an unfortunate week for Scottie Scheffler to travel to the PGA Tour's lone stop in the New England.
"Do I have to answer this question?" Scheffler joked when the Celtics were mentioned less than 48 hours after Boston defeated the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals.
Scheffler is among the golfers rooted from the Dallas area. He's joined by Jordan Spieth and Will Zalatoris, among others. All three will tee it up in the 2024 Travelers Championship this weekend.
Scheffler, the World No. 1, said he had a run-in with a young Celtics fan at TPC River Highlands on Wednesday morning.
Story continues below advertisement
"I did get one fan today who asked me to sign a Celtics hat and I told him, 'No,'" Scheffler said with a smirk. "But other than that not much interaction."
Scheffler said he doesn't expect to hear much from the other golfers -- there aren't a ton with Boston roots, after all. But if he does hear any Finals-related smack talk, Scheffler seems to knows who it would be from.
"Maybe Keegan, but probably not," Scheffler said in reference to Keegan Bradley, a New England native and well-known Boston sports fan.
Bradley expressed his excitement about the long-awaited Banner 18. Bradley said he didn't blame Scheffler for bypassing the opportunity to sign a Celtics hat.
"It's so fun for me to watch Boston sports, but then to watch it with my family and my kids -- now my oldest son, Logan, was into it, and it was really fun to watch him watch the Celtics win," Bradley said. "Then hear stuff that Jaylen Brown said and Jayson Tatum, and we all in sports can make things into such a big deal, and to hear them say they took a step back this year and sort of let the game come to them, it was fun to hear what they had to say."
Scheffler, Bradley and the rest of the Travelers Championship field, which features seven of the top 10 players in the world, will tee off starting Thursday. You can check out the tee times and pairings here.
Featured image via Katie Goodale/USA TODAY Sports Images
