Kevin Streelman finds the zone

One over for the day, with the championship seemingly out of reach Kevin Streelman made birdie on 12 and never looked back.

The American then birdied the next six holes to win the Travellers Championship at TPC River Highlands, beating Sergio Garcia and KJ Choi by a shot. In his own words he found ‘the zone’.

“It doesn’t matter how you read the putts because you just know they’re going in before you hit them.” – Kevin Streelman

“When athletes talk about being in the zone, everything is really slow, it’s really clear and concise, and it’s very vivid, lines are easy to see,” said Streelman. “The hole seems to appear bigger. It’s almost to a point it doesn’t matter how you read the putts because you just know they’re going in before you hit them.

“It’s a combination of calmness, confidence, resting and trust. I think inner training can come out naturally.  Sometimes we try and force our training to come out, force a score or force a birdie and it doesn’t happen. When we just relax and just let it happen, I think that’s when kind of greatness can come out.”

Kevin Streelman record breaker

Kevin Streelman’s birdie streak is a PGA TOUR record, surpassing Mike Souchak’s previous achievement of six straight birdies in the 1956 St. Paul Open. His back-nine 28 also matched the TPC River Highlands record.

 “To birdie the last seven is crazy.” – Kevin Streelman

He had a target approaching the back nine, telling his caddy, “We need to go shoot a 29 on the back side.” But what materialised surprised even Streelman himself.

“I am a little shocked, but to do it in that fashion is something that I’ll never forget, it was pretty cool. To birdie the last seven is crazy.”

Kevin Streelman has 10 one-putts in a row

When the American’s putter caught fire he knew who to thank.

“I went and saw a new instructor and got some fresh ideas,” said Streelman.

“Darren May is an incredible person. Saw him a lot the last few years. I also went and saw a guy named Wayne DeFrancesco. He gave me a couple little things to think about, and obviously they clicked here the last few days.”