Travelers Championship Round 4: Scottie Scheffler's 8-Footer in the Dark Forces a Monday Playoff With Viktor Hovland

Seventy-two holes, a storm, a 61 from the clubhouse and an 8-foot par putt in fading light. The Travelers Championship still does not have a winner.

Scottie Scheffler and Viktor Hovland finished tied at 21-under 259 on Sunday at TPC River Highlands after Scheffler holed that 8-footer on the 18th green to match Hovland. Scheffler shot 68, Hovland 69. With not enough daylight left for even one extra hole, the two will return at 9 a.m. ET Monday for a sudden-death playoff on No. 18. Collin Morikawa, who started the day nine shots back, posted a 61 and finished one shot out of it at 20 under.

Storm, Then Chaos

The final round was already tense before the sky opened. Hovland began the day with a one-shot lead, but the round never found a rhythm for him. He played a 10-hole stretch in the middle of the round with only two pars, and a bogey at the 10th dropped him two behind, per Golf Digest. Scheffler, meanwhile, reached the par-5 13th in two and two-putted for birdie.

Then the weather took over. Play was suspended at 5:57 p.m. ET with lightning in the area, and 1.12 inches of rain fell on River Highlands, according to the PGA TOUR. When play stopped, both leaders were sitting in the 14th fairway with Hovland two back. Play resumed at 7:20 p.m. after a delay of nearly an hour and a half, on a course that suddenly played very differently.

Hovland Answers

The wet greens seemed to suit Hovland. Coming out of the delay, he holed a 15-footer from just off the green to get within one. Scheffler had to make a 6-foot par putt to keep his nose in front. On the reachable par-4 15th, Scheffler's pitch from the collar ran over the back and down a slope, and he needed a chip and a good par putt to survive. Hovland made birdie from about 3 feet to draw level. That was his third straight birdie, the last two coming after the rain, per the AP.

"I hit some good shots and then some bad shots and I just couldn't quite get a flow in," Hovland said.

From there the final pair traded pars. Scheffler's 10-foot birdie try at 17 spun off the left edge of the cup.

The Putt in the Dark

The 18th is where Sunday got its ending, or at least its pause. Scheffler played from wet rough right of the fairway to just inside 30 feet. His birdie putt raced about 8 feet past the hole, leaving the kind of comebacker nobody wants in near darkness with a title on the line. He poured it in. Hovland's 25-footer for birdie and the win missed by inches, and he tapped in to set up Monday.

"It's more fun when you're making the ones to win," Scheffler said. Asked about the morning, he kept it simple: "I live another day until tomorrow, and will be coming out in the morning and see what I can do."

A PGA TOUR official made the call before the final pair even finished that there would not be enough light for a playoff hole. It is the first PGA TOUR event to go to an extra day since THE PLAYERS Championship in 2025.

Morikawa's Clubhouse Wait

The best round of the day belonged to someone who had no business thinking about a trophy at breakfast. Morikawa made nine birdies for a 61, the last of them after a shot from a wet bunker at 18 to inside 10 feet, and briefly shared the lead. He signed his card before the storm and then waited roughly three hours, including the delay, to see whether 20 under would be enough. It wasn't, by one.

"The thought of actually having a chance, waiting it out, didn't really cross my mind," Morikawa said. Morikawa even shared the pre-round goal: "Let's shoot 61 and end the three-week stretch on a good note."

The Chase Pack

Matt Fitzpatrick shot 64 to finish alone in fourth at 19 under. Wyndham Clark, the U.S. Open champion, was at 19 under through 14 holes when play stopped and was right in the hunt until a ball in the water at 17 led to a bogey. Clark shot 65 and tied Akshay Bhatia (67) for fifth at 18 under. Clark needed just 20 putts on Sunday, the fewest in a round on record at this event, according to the PGA TOUR. Corey Conners (63), J.J. Spaun (64) and Alex Fitzpatrick (64) tied for seventh at 17 under.

Monday Morning at 18

So it comes down to one hole, repeated until somebody blinks. Scheffler is 2 and 2 in PGA TOUR playoffs and beat Tom Kim in one at this event in 2024. Hovland won a playoff at the 2023 Memorial. Both have had the full Sunday experience, the lead, the deficit and the delay. Only one of them gets to leave Connecticut with the final Signature Event of the regular season.

Catch up on Round 1, Round 2 and Round 3. Full scoring is on the official PGA TOUR leaderboard (opens in a new tab), and the TOUR's weather and playoff update (opens in a new tab) has more.

Sources: PGA TOUR (AP final-round recap, weather update, Signature Scroll, leaderboard), AP, Golf Digest. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.