Former champion Brad Faxon was one of four golfers who received a sponsor's exemption into the Travelers Championship on Friday.
Also receiving sponsors exemptions were Chris Williams, the top-ranked amateur in the world, University of Alabama rising junior Justin Thomas and Spanish pro Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano.
Faxon's last tour win came at the 2005 Travelers Championship. He will be making his 29th appearance at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell.
It's the second straight year the top amateur turned pro at the Travelers. Patrick Cantlay did so last year after a productive two-year career at UCLA. Others who have turned pro at the Travelers include Stewart Cink, Charles Howell III, David Duval and Justin Leonard.
Williams has completed his career at the University of Washington and won the Ben Hogan Award, given annually to the top men's player in college. Thomas was the Southeastern College Player of the Year and is currently sixth in the World Amateur rankings. Fernandez-Castano has six international victories and two top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour this season. He is not a full-time tour member.
Travelers tournament director Nathan Grube expects to pick up at least two more sponsor's exemptions and said that approximately 50 golfers applied for them. But Guan Tianlang, the 14-year old from China who made the cut at the Masters, the youngest ever to do so in a major championship, did not apply for one, according to Grube. Tianlang asked for and was granted to three PGA events since the Masters and withdrew from sectional qualifying for next week's U.S. Open.

The U.S. Open begins Thursday at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa.

Check out the first-round starting times.

Dave Szewczul of Tunxis Plantation Country Club in Farmington beat Bill Torza (Timbrlin GC) 2 and 1 to defend his title in the seventh annual Senior Match Play Championship Thursday at Connecticut Golf Club in Easton.
Szewczul beat Lou Stone (New Haven CC) 6 and 4 in the semifinals Thursday while another New Haven CC member, David Zeid, lost in 19 holes to Torza.

Actors George Lopez and Don Cheadle, along with UConn basketball coaches Kevin Ollie and Geno Auriemma, are among the celebrities expected to play at the Travelers Championship Pro-Am on June 19 at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell.
Former NFL players Doug Flutie and Andre Tippett, WWE legend Sgt. Slaughter, Hartford women’s basketball coach Jen Rizzotti, Quinnipiac assistant men’s coach Scott Burrell and sportscasters Chris Berman and Ahmad Rashad are also expected to play.

New Haven Country Club members Lou Stone and David Zeid advanced to the CSGA Senior Match Play semifinals at the Connecticut Golf Club in Easton.
Stone beat Lou Mohn (Silver Springs CC) 1-up and will face defending champion Dave Szewczul (Tunxis Plantation CC) in today’s semifinals while Zeid, who beat Mark Vassalotti (Sterling Farms GC) 2 and 1 on Wednesday, will face Bill Torza (Timberlin GC) in the semifinals.