HARTFORD – More than three dozen golfers who have won a title in the past two years – including three who captured their first PGA tour titles this year – will be in the field of the inaugural Travelers Championship later this month at the TPC River Highlands in Cromwell.

The elite field ranges from three of the top four ranked players in the FedEx Cup points race (Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh and Zach Johnson) to a group of first time winners (Nick Watney, Boo Weekley and Charley Hoffman). In honor of this tremendous grouping, Hartford mayor Eddie Perez renamed two downtown streets and, so, through the end of June, Central Row will be known as Champions Row and Columbus Boulevard will be Champions Boulevard.

Watney turned professional in 2003 and, this year, has had three top-10 finishes – including his first tour victory at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Upon returning to the PGA tour for the second time after several years on the Nationwide Tour, Weekley picked up his first tour victory at the 2007 Verizon Heritage with a one stroke win over Ernie Els. Hoffman captured his first tour victory at the 2007 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic after defeating John Rollins in the first hole of a playoff.

In addition to this group, the following recent champions have committed to play in the Travelers Championship – Eric Axley (2006 Champion, Shell Houston Open), Jason Bohn (2005 Champion, B.C. Open), Olin Brown (2005 Champion, Deutsche Bank Championship), Joe Durant (2006 Champion, FUNAI Classic at Walt Disney World Resort) Robert Gamez (2005 Champion, Valero Texas Open), Lucas Glover (2005 Champion, FUNAI Classic at Walt Disney World Resort), Tim Herron (2006 Bank of America Colonial), J.B. Holmes (2006 Champion, FBR Open), Peter Lonard (2005 Champion, MCI Heritage), Troy Matteson (2006 Champion, Frys.com Open), Aaron Oberholser (2006 Champion, AT & T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am),  Tim Petrovic (2005 Champion, Zurich Classic of New Orleans),  John Rollins (2006 Champion, BC Open), John Senden (2006 Champion, John Deere Classic),  DJ Trahan (2006 Champion, Southern Farm Bureau Classic),  Brett Wetterich (2006 Champion EDS Byron Nelson Championship) and Dean Wilson (2006 Champion, The International).

And along with Mickelson, Singh and Johnson will be David Toms, Stewart Cink, Peter Jacobsen, Brad Faxon, Jason Bohn, Fred Funk, Mark Calcavecchia, Padraig Harrington, Trevor Immelman, Corey Pavin, Rod Pampling, Joey Sindelar, Jesper Parvnevik, Kirk Triplett, Billy Mayfair, defending champion JJ Henry, and New England favorites Billy Andrade and Brett Quigley.

Also, several of the top international players in the world will compete in the field and they include Stuart Appleby, Nick O’Hern, Steve Elkington, Justin Rose, Carl Pettersson and Angel Cabrera or Argentina.

The tournament will run from June 18 through June 24. Tickets are available on www.TravelersChampionship.com. Kids 15 and under will be admitted free when accompanied by a ticketed adult.

“The Travelers Championship is pleased to deliver such strong action for the course this summer,” said Nathan Grube, tournament director. “To have more than 30 players who have won a tournament in the past two years means that the competition at our event will be intense. With the talent in our player field, golf fans certainly have a great week of golf action to look forward to here in Connecticut.”

For the popular Pro-Am on Wednesday, June 20, University of Connecticut coaches Jim Calhoun (men’s basketball), Geno Auriemma (women’s basketball) and Randy Edsall (football) will be swinging the sticks.

Both Calhoun (2005) and Auriemma (2006) were recently inducted into the Naismith Memorial and Women’s Basketball Halls of Fame, respectively. Edsall led the Huskies to a victory at the Motor City Bowl in 2004, the first bowl appearance ever by a UConn football team.