CROMWELL, Conn. – Approaching the 18th green in the Travelers Championship final round, Scottie Scheffler made sure to take in the scene.
Hundreds of spectators lined the final green stadium-style, ready and waiting for their next roar with his ball 26 feet, nine inches from the cup. They had their opportunity to cheer with Tom Kim, one shot back, bouncing his approach shot right next to the hole, then spinning 10 feet backward.
But the scene quickly turned into a messy one.
A group of five climate protesters ran down from the hill, across the greenside bunkers and sprayed a smoke-like substance into the air. A couple more smoke canisters were tossed onto the green, leaving red and white residue near the hole. They were carried off by police and Scheffler, putting for birdie with red residue in his sight line, missed three inches shy of the hole.
He settled for par as Kim sunk a birdie putt to force a playoff, another go at the 18th hole, where the mess was cleaned quickly.
Kim’s approach shot landed in the bunker. He got out onto the green 36 feet away from the cup with his third shot and wasn’t able to force another playoff hole after his fourth came up short. Meanwhile Scheffler, who missed his first chance to win from 11 feet away, knocked in the next putt from 12 inches to secure the Travelers Championship trophy – and a $3.6 million share of the purse and 700 FedEx Cup points – with par.
It was the second time in the last four years that the Travelers was decided in a playoff. Harris English defeated Kramer Hickock to win the 2021 title after eight playoff holes.
The Travelers crown marks Scheffler’s sixth win of the year, joining titles at The Memorial, RBC Heritage, The Masters, Players Championship and the Arnold Palmer invitational. He is only the fifth different player on the PGA Tour to win six tournaments in a single season.
Scheffler has gradually gotten closer to a Travelers title in each of the last five years. He missed the cut in his first appearance in 2020, finished T41 in 2021, then T13 in 2022. Last year, posting 19-under 261, Scheffler finished fourth, four shots back of Keegan Bradley’s winning score.
He started this year’s tournament with a 65 in the first round, followed by back-to-back 64s despite weather delays affecting his rounds on Friday and Saturday. He entered Sunday’s final round just one shot behind Kim’s lead and the two, who each finished 72 holes at 22-under 258, were neck-and-neck all day.