Scottie Scheffler won the Travelers Championship in a playoff on Sunday, awaiting a disruption from climate protesters on the 18th green and Tom Kim’s game-tying birdie on the final hole in regulation for his sixth victory of the year.
It’s the most wins in a PGA Tour season since Tiger Woods won six in 2009.
And Scheffler, the world’s best player, still has two months to play.
It was Scheffler’s fourth win of the year in the tour’s flagship $20 million, limited-field events, earning him a $3.6 million payday. He also won the Masters and the Players Championship.
After a five-minute delay when six people stormed the 18th green and sprayed it with red and white powder, Scheffler holed a 26-foot putt from the edge of the cup and tapped in for par. . That gave him a 5-under 65 and a four-day total of 22-under 258 at TPC River Highlands.
Kim then holed a 10-foot birdie putt for a 66 to match Scheffler.
The location of the 18th hole was moved for the playoffs to avoid portions of the green affected by protesters, at least one of whom wore a white T-shirt with the words “NO GOLF ON A DEAD PLANET” in black letters.
Scheffler nailed his playoff approach to 11 feet while Kim found a clogged lie in a greenside bunker. Kim’s blast from the fried egg lie raced 36 feet beyond the hole, leaving Scheffler with an easy two-putt par for the win.
Coming out of a tie for 41st at the US Open – by far his worst finish of the year – Scheffler trailed Kim by three strokes after the first round, by two after the second round and by one before teeing off on Sunday.
Scheffler took a one-shot lead over Kim with three straight birdies on Nos. 13-15 – he made putts for eagle on two of them. With Tom Hoge shooting a 62 to finish at 20 under and Sungjae Im joining him there, Scheffler and Kim matched pars over the next two holes to set up a surprising finish.
Scheffler and Kim share a June 21 birthday — Scheffler is six years older — and they celebrated with New Haven pizza before the tournament about 30 miles to the north. Birthday pals and Dallas-area residents played together in the final group Sunday, chatting and joking together.
But only one of them could ultimately take home the trophy.
And as has often happened lately, it was Scheffler.
