Heading into the final day, it’s hard to say who will do well enough to claim the $3.6 million check, with the field filled with powerhouses.
Will the trophy go to Scottie Scheffler, who has won five PGA Tour events in 2024 along with The Masters, or will it be reigning PGA Championship champion Xander Schauffele?
The two major superstars had to overcome competition from Collin Morikawa, Tony Finau, Sungjae Im and Akshay Bhatia in the race to win the Travelers Championship with Tom Kim,
who was aiming for the first wire-to-wire victory at the Travelers Championship since Jordan Spieth in 2016.
Scottie Scheffler was the only player to survive to tie Kim at -22 on the final hole and enter a playoff, which Scheffler won – but the final hole of the tournament saw a strange twist.
Scheffler closed the hole at -22 on the 17th, with Kim still leading by one stroke. The third player in the group, Akshay Bhatia, eliminated himself from the competition at four strokes.
As the three prepared to tee off on the 18th, protesters ran from the spectator area onto the course, throwing colored powder on the green and equipping themselves with devices that created smoke.
“The suddenness of it was an unprecedented experience. I saw a protester and then five police officers quickly subdued him. I think they took care of it very quickly, and we were very grateful for that,” Scheffler recalled.
Bhatia added: “I was really scared and didn’t know what was going on. Suddenly, four or five people ran onto the green. But luckily, the police officers were there and kept the players safe.”
After the police officers detained the protesters and took them away, Scheffler made a perfect 27-foot putt to keep par and return to 22-under. Bhatia also made par and finished T-5 on the leaderboard. Tom Kim still had a great chance to birdie and win, but his 10ft putt failed and forced him to play a play-in to decide the outcome of the playoff with Scheffler.
Replaying the 18th hole, Scheffler, the world’s number one golfer, continued his dominant form. He hit the ball into the fairway and then hit an approach shot that was 11ft from the flag to put pressure on Kim.
Kim also hit the fairway, but with a muddy golf ball, his next shot from 110 yards went into a bunker on the edge of the green, just to the right of the hole. He saved the sand successfully, but the ball went quite a distance over the hole and forced him to successfully putt for par from 36ft to have any hope of extending the playoff. Tom Kim missed that opportunity, while Scheffler made par and won.
Scottie Scheffler’s win at TPC River Highlands pushed Scheffler’s earnings for the 2024 season past $27 million, and he tied Tiger Woods’ seemingly unbreakable record of six wins in a single season.
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Source: Tampa Bay Times
