Manchester native Kyle Bilodeau to compete in Travelers Championship

SIMSBURY – Hop Meadow Country Club’s assistant golf pro, Kyle Bilodeau, has earned the Connecticut Section PGA automatic spot in the Travelers Championship. “It’s great to have Kyle represent our club in a national event,” Hop Meadow Head Golf Pro Jason Waters said. A West Hartford resident and Manchester native, Bilodeau, 27, earned the spot by winning the Spring PGA Stroke Play title May 13 at Hickory Ridge Golf Club in Amherst, Massachusetts. He shot a 3-under par total of 141 with rounds of 70 and 71. “If a golfer can shoot under par they’re doing pretty well,” Bilodeau said. “About 99.9 percent of players will never break par.” He will be the only Connecticut Section PGA player in the Travelers. “There’s only one spot for the section, which includes all of Connecticut except Fairfield County and western Massachusetts,” Bilodeau said. Two years ago, he missed qualifying for the Travelers by only one shot. Now he’s ready to compete in his first PGA Tour event. “This is the first step, it’s my chance, and I hope to make the best of it,” Bilodeau said. “Playing the PGA Tour would be a dream come true.” At the TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, host of the Travelers, he’ll be one of 156 players on a roster including past Travelers’ champions Marc Leishman (2012), Fredrik Jacobson (2011), Bubba Watson (2010), and Hunter Mahan (2007). The Travelers Championship opens on Monday, June 17 and following three days of practice rounds and pro-am tourneys, including the Celebrity Pro-Am on Wednesday, the first round of the Travelers Championship takes place on Thursday. The second round is on Friday and then cuts are made to determine who goes on to the Saturday round. Sunday, June 23 is the last day of the tournament. “My goal is to make the cut,” Bilodeau said. “Those who finish in 70th, plus ties, will go on to the weekend.” He’s played the TPC course a few times and said, “I can make birdies and shoot low numbers there.” Competition is getting fiercer in the pro tour because more players are trying out and many are staying with it, Bilodeau said. He doesn’t know yet who his competitors will be because the schedule won’t be set until June 18. But despite the competition he will face at the Travelers, that is not his focus. “I’ll be there to play against the course and my own game,” Bilodeau said. “I’ll play as well as I can play and if I make the cut, I do. If I don’t, I don’t.” Asked if there are any pro players he is looking forward to running into at the TPC, he mentioned Keegan Bradley, with whom he played junior golf. Bradley is making his third appearance at the Travelers. Bilodeau said he’s fortunate to have a month to prepare for the course, compared to those who live farther away who have only three days. “Yes, that could be an advantage, but I still have to play well,” he said. Toward that end, Bilodeau said he spends all his professional and personal time golfing. “To keep my game at the level I want, I have to practice,” he said. That includes competing in tournaments, and he’s grateful that Hop Meadow and its members support him in doing so. “The members here are supportive in my achieving this dream,” Bilodeau said. One recent tournament he helped a Hop Meadow foursome win, the TaylorMade-adidas Pro-Am, was played at his previous home course, Ellington Ridge Country Club. His parents, Russ and Michelle Bilodeau of Manchester, had a family membership there. “I started golfing at age 2,” he said. Although he was a young golf protégé, Bilodeau didn’t choose that sport when he was at East Catholic High School. He went out for football and baseball and it wasn’t until he sustained an injury halting both of those possible careers that he joined the school’s golf team. He played golf the last three years at East Catholic and then the first three years at Florida Gulf Coast University, where he majored in business management. Since graduating from college, his experience includes stints at the Ellington Ridge Country Club, Race Brook Country Club in Orange, and three years at the Hartford Country Club. “I came to Hop Meadow because I know Jason is a good pro who I could learn both golf and the business from,” Bilodeau said. “This is a great opportunity for my career.” At Hop Meadow, he puts together tournaments, teaches at clinics and provides other golf-related services to members. “Kyle has fit in well and is a nice part of the team here,” Waters said. Bilodeau credits Waters for the mentoring he gave him prior to the Spring PGA Stroke Play. Hop Meadow members will be amongst the crowd of supporters cheering Bilodeau on at the Travelers, in addition to friends, family and his girlfriend. “I’ve played in front of 50 or 100 people before, but never a crowd of 2000,” he said. “It will be a fun week.” The winner’s share of the Travelers Championship purse is $1.098 million. For tickets, visit http://travelerschampionship.com/tickets-packages/