Well, this is something you don’t see very often. No. 1 in the world misses a two-footer to win the tournament. But Scottie Scheffler sank a short putt with just a few left, and Viktor Hovland won the Travelers Championship in one hole in Monday morning’s playoff.
Playoff Format: 442 yard par 4 18 holes sudden death. Hovland teed off first and drove a 293-yard drive right down the middle of the 18th fairway. Scheffler, who was wayward on drives all week, was almost tied with Hovland on a yardage-by-yard basis. Both players landed their iron shots within just a few feet of the cup. Hovland was 6 feet and Scheffler was 2 feet. Hovland’s putt barely made it into the cup before Scheffler shockingly missed it.
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The win is Hovland’s eighth on the PGA Tour and his first since 2025.
Sunday’s final round was delayed nearly 90 minutes due to rain, with the leader on the 14th hole. Hovland and Scheffler traded the lead throughout the round, with Scheffler holding a two-stroke advantage during the delay.
On Sunday, both players made birdie putts on the 18th with a chance to win outright, but Hovland missed his target and Scheffler ran so long that he needed to hole a clutch par saver to make the playoff. This puts both players at -21 for the week, with a sudden-death showdown on Monday morning.
Scheffler, who joined the Travelers, had “just” one win all season, and had three runner-up finishes and 13 top-25 finishes in all 13 tournaments he competed in. He is leading the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoff race, posting top-four finishes in two of the season’s three majors so far.
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Meanwhile, Hovland has struggled since winning the Tour Championship in 2023. He was ranked 30th in the world before Travelers Week, but his best result this season was a solo third place at the RBC Canadian Open two weeks ago. He has missed the last two majors and has finished in the top 25 five times in the 13 he has played so far this week.
Travelers marks the end of the 2026 PGA Tour’s eight signature events. As announced early last week before the start of the tournament, the tour will be radically reworking its entire schedule starting next season. The tour’s goal is to create more events, at least at the top level of the game, with leaderboards like this year’s Travelers. In addition to Hovland and Scheffler, the top of the Travelers’ leaderboard included major winners such as Collin Morikawa at -20, Matt Fitzpatrick at -19, and newly crowned U.S. Open champion Windham Clark at -18.
The PGA Tour is currently headed to Illinois for the John Deere Classic in Illinois, and from there the traditional two-week tour of England to this year’s Genesis Scottish Open and British Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. British Open defending champion Scottie Scheffler.
