Scottie Scheffler sinks clutch putt to clinch Monday playoff with Viktor Hovland at stormy Travelers
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CROMWELL, Conn. — Scottie Scheffler made an 8-foot par putt on the 18th hole Sunday and pumped his fist with more emotion than he showed all day, just for the right to return Monday at the rain-delayed Travelers Championship to face a sudden-death playoff against Viktor Hovland.
The final round was stopped for 90 minutes as storms moved over the TPC River Highlands, and officials deemed there was not enough daylight for them to start the playoff.
The playoff was to start at 9 a.m. Monday, the first time a PGA Tour went an extra day since The Players Championship last year.
“It’s more fun when you’re making the ones to win,” Scheffler said. “But to keep yourself in it is also nice. Like I said, I live another day until tomorrow, and will be coming out in the morning and see what I can do.”
Scheffler and Hovland each had birdie chances at the end. Scheffler rammed his 30-foot putt 8 feet by the hole. Hovland’s 25-foot attempt missed by inches and he tapped in for a 69. Scheffler made his third big par putt for a 68 to match Hovland at 21-under 259.
That was one shot ahead of Collin Morikawa, who closed with a 61 and was briefly tied for the lead, though it never looked as though it would be enough.
Hovland, who went into the final round with a one-shot lead over Scheffler, found himself two back when play was halted by a pounding rain and lightning in the area, both of them in the fairway on the 14th hole.
Hovland poured in a 15-foot birdie putt from just off the green, to get within one shot and Scheffler had to make a 6-foot par putt to stay in the lead.
On the reachable par-4 15th, Scheffler’s pitch from the collar of rough — wet grass might have saved his tee shot from going in the water — raced toward the pin on the top shelf and kept right on going, over the back and down a slope. He chipped that just onto the green and made another big par putt with Hovland in tight for a third straight birdie.
That left them tied. Scheffler missed a big opportunity on a 10-foot birdie chance on the 17th that spun off of the left edge of the cup, and the world’s No. 1 player did well to hammer a shot from the wet rough right of the 18th fairway to just inside 30 feet.
PGA Tour official decided before they finished the 18th there would not be enough light to play even one extra hole.
They arrived at the playoff in different manners — Scheffler with three birdies against one bogey, Hovland going through a 10-hole stretch in the middle of his round with just two pars.
Hovland fell behind by two early, only for a two-shot swing on No. 7. There was a two-shot swing in Scheffler’s favorite to start the back nine, and then Hovland made up ground with three straight birdies, the final two after rain changed the condition of the course.
The break was good for Hovland just to settle him down.
“I hit some good shots and then some bad shots and I just couldn’t quite get a flow in,” Hovland said. “So it was nice to just get completely off the golf course and reset and I felt a lot better coming back. So sometimes that’s all you need.”
Morikawa finished in style, a shot out of the wet sand in the bunker on the 18th to just inside 10 feet for ninth birdie of the round to post at 20-under 260. Morikawa, who started the day nine shots out of the lead, had to wait some three hours — including the delay — before leaving.
“The thought of actually having a chance, waiting it out, didn’t really cross my mind,” Morikawa said. “But I told my wife earlier this morning, ‘Let’s shoot 61 and end the three-week stretch on a good note.’ And sometimes the way you manifest things works out.”
Matt Fitzpatrick shot 64 to finish alone in fourth followed by U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, who played remarkably well after such a draining week at Shinnecock Hills. He was in it until a shot into the water for bogey on the 17th. Clark had a 65 and was three shots back.