If you tune into CBS this weekend, be ready to feast your eyes on a lot of red umbrellas - it's time for the Travelers Championship once again.

One day is already complete and the TPC River Highlands course is making a promise to golf fans: golfers will shoot under par on this course. The Travelers Championship produces more circled numbers than a Bingo competition. 

Just look at the past champions' scores: 2009 - Kenny Perry (-22); 2008 - Stewart Cink (-18); 2007 - Hunter Mahan (-15); 2006 - JJ Henry (-14).

Birdies were non-existent at the U.S. Open, leading to many complaints from the fans and media that the viewing experience was less than spectacular. Golf is a sport that needs incredible shots from god-like golfers to translate on a television screen and that wasn't the case at Pebble Beach. Fortunately for the U.S. Open, the scenery and golfer drama/anxiety kept it interesting. 

The Travelers will have no such issues. What it will lack in superstar appeal (no Woods, Mickelson, or Els) it will make up for in quality, birdy-laden golf. Fans like seeing a tournament in which any player has a chance to get hot and shoot up the leader board. 

While looking through the final scores from previous years, the easiest thing to notice is how many scores are under par. Which led me to researching the following: the winner's score; how many golfers shot under par on the round; how many golfers were within 3 strokes of the leader; differential in score between first and last; and best name on the leaderboard. Here are the results:

2009
Winner: Kenny Perry, -22
# of Players under par: 69
# of players w/in 3 shots: 2
First/last stroke differential: 26
Best name: Boo Weekley

2008
Winner: Stewart Cink, -18
# of Players under par: 65
# of players w/in 3 shots: 3
First/last stroke differential: 23
Best name: Tag Ridings

2007
Winner: Hunter Mahan, -15
# of Players under par: 42
# of players w/in 3 shots: 1
First/last stroke differential: 23
Best name: Tripp Isenhour

2006
Winner: JJ Henry, -14
# of Players under par: 47
# of players w/in 3 shots: 2
First/last stroke differential: 24
Best name: Tjaart Van der Walt

2005
Winner: Brad Faxon, -14
# of Players under par: 53
# of players w/in 3 shots: 6
First/last stroke differential: 27 
Best name: Hidemichi Tanaka

Averages (past 5 years)
Winning score: -16
# of Players under par: 55.2
# of players w/in 3 shots: 2.8
First/last stroke differential: 24.6

What does all of this tell us? Two things: 

1. This course pretty much plays exactly the same every year and materializes the same results. Golfers must shoot in the double-digits under par to win the tournament and there are always a few golfers closely behind. As of Friday morning at 11:00 am ET, only Justin Rose was in the double-digits at -13, leading by 6 strokes. With a lot of golf to play, though, that will certainly change.

2. Some golfers have really sweet and original names.


--Tony Bosma