Scottie Scheffler holds up his trophy after winning the Travelers Championship on Sunday in Cromwell, Conn. Seth Wenig/Associated Press
CROMWELL, Conn. — Scottie Scheffler had to wait out a climate protest on the 18th green and Tom Kim’s tying birdie on the last hole of regulation.
Those events only delayed what seems to be inevitable on the PGA Tour this season: the best golfer in the world walking off with the trophy.
Shrugging off a protest that interrupted the tournament on the 72nd hole while the leaders were lining up their putts, Scheffler won the Travelers Championship on the first hole of sudden death on Sunday for his sixth win of the year – the most in one season on the PGA Tour since Tiger Woods had six in 2009.
“When something like that happens, you don’t really know what’s happening, So it can kind of rattle you a little bit,” Scheffler said.
“That can be a stressful situation, and you would hate for the tournament to end on something weird happening because of a situation like that,” he said. “Tom and I both tried to calm each other down so we could give it our best shot there on 18.”
Scheffler closed with a 5-under 65 and a 22-under 258 total at the TPC River Highlands, and Kim matched him with a final-round 66.
Tom Hoge and Sungjae Im tied for third, two shots back. Patrick Cantlay, Tony Finau, Justin Thomas and Akshay Bhatia tied for fifth at 18 under.
It was Scheffler’s fourth victory of the year in the PGA Tour’s $20 million limited-field, no-cut signature events, earning him a payday of $3.6 million. In addition to wins at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the RBC Heritage and the Memorial, he also won the Masters and The Players Championship.
Scheffler had a one-stroke lead heading to the 18th green on Sunday when six people stormed the course, waving smoke bombs that left a red and white powdery residue on the putting surface.
They were tackled by police and taken off.
After a delay of about five minutes, Scheffler left a 26-foot putt from the fringe on the edge of the cup and tapped in for par. Kim then made a 10-foot birdie putt.
The hole location on the 18th was moved for the playoff to avoid the parts of the green affected by the intruders. Scheffler hit his approach to 11 feet, while Kim found a plugged lie in a greenside bunker. Scheffler two-putted for par and the victory.
“It’s fun competing against your friends,” Scheffler said. “But at the same time, it’s difficult. Because part of me wants him to miss the putt and part of me wants him to make the putt. … But he should remember that putt he made on 18, because it was pretty special. And he’s a great player and a great champion.”
LPGA: Amy Yang built a huge lead and survived a couple of late mistakes to earn her long-awaited first major title – a three-shot victory in the KMPG Women’s PGA Championship at Sammamish, Washington.
Yang closed with an even-par 72 to finish at 7-under 281. She was nearly flawless for the first 15 holes and reached 10 under for a seven-shot lead before running into a little bit of trouble. But none of her pursuers were close enough to mount a significant charge.
At age 34, Yang is the oldest major winner on the LPGA Tour since Angela Stanford won the 2018 Evian Championship at age 40.
Jin Young Ko (71), Lilia Vu (71) and Miyu Yamashita (73) tied for second.
CHAMPIONS TOUR: Padraig Harrington won the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open for the third consecutive year in Endicott, New York, making a key par save on the par-3 17th to hold on for a 4-under 68 and a one-shot victory over Mike Weir.
Harrington captured his eighth PGA Tour Champions title and his second of the year. He finished at 15-under 201.
Weir closed with a 67.
Ken Duke (68), Mark Hensby (66) and Ken Tanigawa (70) tied for third, two shots behind.
EUROPEAN TOUR: Guido Migliozzi of Italy holed a 7-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th and then birdied it twice more in extra holes to win the KLM Open in a three-man playoff in Amsterdam.
Migliozzi shot a 1-under 70, joining Marcus Kinhult of Sweden and Joe Dean of England at 11 under overall. Kinhult and Dean each shot 68.
All three players birdied the 18th on the first playoff hole, but Migliozzi was the only player who managed birdie on the second extra hole, two-putting from about 60 feet for his fourth career win.
LIV: Tyrrell Hatton won the inaugural LIV Golf Nashville event, easily holding off Jon Rahm and two-time U.S. Open champ Bryson DeChambeau.
Hatton shot a 6-under 65 to polish off a six-stroke win.
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