Scottie Scheffler made an 8-foot par putt to force a Monday Playoff against Viktor Hovland at the Travelers Championship
Scottie Scheffler and Viktor Hovland are tied at 21-under through 72 holes at the Travelers Championship and will play a sudden-death playoff Monday morning at 9 AM at TPC River Highlands.
Mother Nature decided that the most anticipated finish of the golf weekend needed to be stretched into an extra day after storms moved through Connecticut on Sunday afternoon and officials determined there wasn’t enough daylight remaining to play even a single playoff hole after both players finished the final round.
Scottie Scheffler and Viktor Hovland – Monday Morning Playoff
Scottie Scheffler rammed a 30-foot birdie putt on 18 eight feet past the hole and then drained the par putt coming back to match Hovland at 21-under 259 with the kind of fist pump that told you exactly how much that putt meant to the world’s number one player.
Full Sequence: Scottie Scheffler’s Par Saving Putt
Scottie Scheffler CLUTCH UP
The alternative was losing the tournament on a three-putt on the 72nd hole against a guy who had just made three straight birdies to climb back into a tie.
Hovland’s 25-foot birdie attempt on 18 missed by inches before he tapped in for a 69, and the two best players on the leaderboard all day will come back Monday morning to settle it in sudden death because the rain that stopped play for 90 minutes in the middle of the round also stole enough daylight to prevent a proper finish.
The Back Nine Was an Absolute War Between the Top Two Players in the Field
Hovland went into Sunday with a one-shot lead over Scheffler and found himself two back when the rain delay hit with both players in the fairway on 14, which should have been a comfortable cushion for the world’s number one to close out the tournament from.
Instead Hovland poured in a 15-foot birdie putt from just off the green on 14 to get within one shot and then Scheffler had to drain a 6-foot par putt just to maintain his lead because nothing about Sunday’s final round was comfortable for either player at any point over the last five holes.
The par-5 15th was where things got really interesting because Scheffler’s tee shot nearly found the water and was saved by wet grass in the collar of rough that stopped the ball from rolling into the hazard. His pitch from the collar raced toward the pin on the top shelf and kept going over the back of the green and down a slope, forcing him to chip back onto the putting surface and make another big par putt while Hovland was in tight for his third straight birdie.
That sequence flipped the tournament from Scheffler leading by one to a dead tie with three holes to play, and the rest of the round was a white-knuckle battle where neither player could separate from the other despite both having legitimate chances.
Scottie Scheffler missed a 10-foot birdie putt on 17 that spun off the left edge of the cup in the kind of lip-out that makes you want to snap the putter over your knee, and then he hit his approach on 18 from wet rough right of the fairway to just inside 30 feet for a birdie attempt that he hammered eight feet past the hole.
Making the comebacker for par to force the playoff was the kind of clutch putting that separates Scheffler from everyone else on the PGA Tour because most players in that situation with an eight-footer for par to stay alive are thinking about the consequences of missing while Scheffler just steps up and rolls it center cut with the confidence of a guy who has been the best player in the world for three years running.
Morikawa’s 61 fell short because Scott Scheffler and Hovland Were on Another Level
Collin Morikawa started the day nine shots back and shot a 61 that included nine birdies and a shot from the wet sand on 18 to inside 10 feet that briefly put him in a tie for the lead before Scheffler and Hovland both made enough birdies down the stretch to stay one shot ahead of him.
A 61 on Sunday at TPC River Highlands to finish at 20-under 260 is one of the best closing rounds anyone has shot all season on the PGA Tour and Morikawa had to wait three hours including the rain delay to find out it wasn’t going to be enough because the two guys in front of him refused to let anyone else into the conversation.
Morikawa finishing alone in third after shooting 61 tells you everything about the level of golf that Scheffler and Hovland were playing on Sunday because posting a 61 on a major venue in the final round and losing by a shot is the kind of result that would win most tournaments comfortably and wasn’t even close to being enough on a day where the top two players in the field combined for 21-under through four rounds of golf that turned into a two-man show by the back nine.
The Rain Delay Actually Helped Hovland
Hovland admitted afterward that the 90-minute delay was exactly what he needed because his round had been a rollercoaster of good shots and bad shots without any consistent rhythm, and stepping completely off the course to reset his mental state allowed him to come back and play the final stretch with the kind of clarity that produced three straight birdies and a tie for the lead that he wouldn’t have reached without the break.
Wyndham Clark Played Incredible Golf After the U.S. Open Drain
The most impressive performance that won’t get any attention from this weekend is Clark shooting a 65 on Sunday after coming off a physically and emotionally draining week at the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills where he was defending his title.
The man played a major championship all week, traveled to Connecticut, and put together a final round that had him in contention until a shot into the water on 17 resulted in a bogey that dropped him three shots back.
Clark finished at 18-under in fifth place, which is remarkable considering how much the U.S. Open takes out of a player both physically and mentally, and his ability to compete at the Travelers immediately after Shinnecock tells you he’s one of the most durable players on the Tour right now.
Monday Morning Playoff at 9 AM
Scottie Scheffler vs. Viktor Hovland in sudden death starting at 9 AM Monday at TPC River Highlands is the kind of golf that makes you call in late to work because the world’s number one player going head-to-head against a guy who made three straight birdies to force the playoff on a course that both players know intimately well is going to produce incredible television regardless of how many holes it takes to determine a winner.
Scheffler is chasing his first win at the Travelers and would add another signature event title to a resume that already includes multiple majors and the number one world ranking. Hovland is trying to end a drought of his own after a stretch where he’s been close multiple times without closing the deal.
Both players proved on Sunday that they have the game and the nerve to handle the pressure of a playoff, and Monday morning is going to come down to who makes the first birdie or who avoids the first mistake on a course where the margin between winning and losing is measured in inches and lip-outs.
Set your alarm. This one is worth watching.
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