Scottie Scheffler WINS the Travelers Championship in sudden death playoff against Tom Kim – as dramatic finale is marred by climate change protesters

Scottie Scheffler and Tom Kim toasted their shared birthday with a pizza party ahead of the Travelers Championship earlier this week. But on Sunday it was the world number 1 who spoiled the party for his fellow birthday boy.

The final round of The Travelers Championship proved more of a test of will than skill. Luckily for Scheffler, he possesses both.

The world number 1 was used to sleeping in at the weekend, but last week he got a rude awakening at the US Open. But he returned to his normal schedule on Sunday. 11.15 am: Exit in the leading group. 4:50 p.m.: Weekly trophy lift.

It’s a routine he’s now gone through six times this season, twice in three weeks and four times in a signature PGA Tour event. The only new addition to the program? A wild play-off shootout against his good friend.

Scheffler has a knack for emerging from a cluster of contenders. It’s a story we’ve already seen play out this year at The Players Championship, The Masters and The Memorial. And standing on the 18th tee with a one-stroke lead, The Travelers Championship would follow the same storyline – until Kim tore up the script.

Kim, who turned 22 on Friday, had led the first three laps from wire to wire but seemed to struggle to keep up with Scheffler down the straight. That is, until the 18th.

The rising star turned an arrow to ten feet from the hole. It was a lifeline, a last chance to tie Scheffler at 22 under and force a play-off. Even the climate demonstrators who stormed the greenery with paint bombs could only postpone this and not prevent it.

Unnerved by the disruption, Kim rolled the birdie putt for a four-under 66 and sent the world No. 1 into uncharted territory – back to the 18th tee.

A play-off, the ultimate test of will. Scheffler succeeded, Kim failed. The 22-year-old couldn’t replicate his do-or-die miracle as he found the greenside bunker, while Scheffler found the green. From there, the sense of inevitability descended on the TPC River Highlands, washing away the excitement of a region.

With his ball stuck in the sand, Kim could only shoot it to within 35 feet of the pin and couldn’t roll back the tricky par putt. Meanwhile, Scheffler hit his 12-foot putt close and a par was enough to see him cross the finish line of the golf marathon.

“It was a great finish,” Scheffler admitted. “This golf course produces a lot of those, you know, exciting things that come along. So it was fun to compete there.”

“It’s hard because part of me wants to [Kim] to miss the putt and part of me wants him to make the putt, and then when I see him make bogey in the playoff hole, it hurts because that’s my friend and that’s not a great feeling,” he added while standing opposite his neighbor. friend.

“But he has to remember the putt he made on 18 because it was pretty special and he’s a great player and a great champion. He has a habit of making those putts when it really matters.

‘I think of a boy so young who has already won three times here and is just like he was in the Presidents Cup. He’s got the right attitude to have been here for a long time and he’s only 22, which is just crazy.”

The final signature event of the season for the PGA Tour was a box office thriller on Sunday afternoon, but by the time the curtain fell on TPC River Highlands, the final that unfolded was ultimately all too familiar.

The baying crowd in Connecticut that filled the galleries demanded fireworks. Scheffler and Kim were only happy to help. The duo engaged in a wild shootout, fending off birdie shot by birdie shot before finishing at 22 under.

Yet it was the world No. 1’s patience, grind and obvious talent that won the day as Scheffler claimed his sixth victory of the PGA Tour season after sudden death.

It’s a win that puts him in good company. The list of players with six wins in a season is short. Since 1983 it has been done nine times by just four people; Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Nick Price and now Scheffler.

It is also one that has tested him. He and Akshay Bhatia teed off alongside the night’s leader, Kim, and were one shot back. From then on the chess game began, TPC River Highlands on the board as they matched move by move and strategically played their way through.

Who would lead the way first? Who would crack first? It took 19 holes, but the New Englanders finally got their answer when 54-hole leader Kim finally blinked first when it really mattered amid the grueling mental challenge.

After leading the first three rounds from wire to wire, a check for $3.6 million would have been the perfect gift to cap off Kim’s birthday weekend, but his good friend turned out to be the party pooper.

“It’s my eighth week in a row and it’s nice to know that the hard work is really coming to life,” Kim said after his round. “Yes, it would have been super sweet if I had won, but it still doesn’t change who I am.

‘If I win, I will still go next week and prepare as best as I can. If I don’t win, I’ll wake up tomorrow and try to prepare as best I can for the next event. It doesn’t change me and I feel like I’ve learned a lot this year.

“I am who I am, 10 wins on the PGA Tour, zero wins on the PGA Tour, it’s not going to change me.

“I was very close to the wire-to-wire finish, which would have been great, but it just wasn’t to be and I’ll get my chances.”

Meanwhile, Cameron Young, after shooting a 59 in Saturday’s third round, admitted he had to ‘shoot another low’ if he wanted to hang on to Kim and co’s coattails. During Sunday’s front nine, he seemed on course to do just that.

The 27-year-old scored four consecutive birdies through the first four holes, before reaching the turn in five under for the round with another at the ninth.

Young was driving. The only problem? Between ninth and tenth he put the gear lever into reverse. Any hope of repeating his performance was extinguished with a bogey on the tenth. They died a death on the 12th with a double blow. And they were long in their graves on the 16th with another blunder.

All good things must come to an end. For Young, that end came a little too soon – and at too high a price. He finished in a tie for ninth place, alongside Shane Lowry, Brian Harman and Wyndham Clark.

As he fell out of contention, the three-way horse race at the top grew. The standings only became more clustered when Patrick Cantlay, Tony Finau and Tom Hoge joined the fray.

Worrying about 22-year-olds running out of power may seem like a fool’s errand, but the Travelers marked Bhatia’s seventh-place finish and as the finish line came into view, it started to show.

While Scheffler and Kim moved forward, Bhatia went backwards. When the final group rounded the TPC River Highlands lake, he had fallen to a tie for fifth place at 18 under, finishing alongside Cantlay, Finau and Justin Thomas.