Scottie Scheffler misses short putt to lose Travelers play off to Viktor Hovland
Twelve hours before Scottie Scheffler holed a 4-footer to extend Monday’s playoff at the Travelers Championship, he had faced two putts this length just to force one.
On Sunday, Scheffler was in the driver’s seat for a long time at TPC River Highlands, but suddenly Viktor Hovland’s furious offense threatened to do all that. Scheffler had many plans in 16 and 17 to gather parsley to prevent Hovland, but now, at 18, he made a rare mistake. His birdie putt, a 25-footer, flew through the hole, an uncharacteristically bad putt that opened up Hovland’s own playoff-clinching tap-in par.
Now, with Hovland at 21 under, Scheffler needed an 8-footer to finish at the same mark. With the tournament on the death row Sunday evening, Scheffler holed the putt, followed it up the hole with a fist pump and appeared in the moment to hold momentum heading into Monday’s playoff with Hovland.
However, 12 hours later, Scheffler was still on the same hole, staring down another putt with the same stakes on the line. It didn’t seem like much – the 8th birdie foot touching the break from left to right – but still the size of the moment is not for the person: the practice and the tournament will continue; miss and Scheffler would go home a loser.
Scheffler looks pretty bad a lot he may have made his putt, but it was actually a lot of coin: The average visit from the same distance is 50% to 54%, depending on the year (53.55% this year) – and that leaves out. pressure to put the subject of the Signature in line.
Scheffler stepped into his putt, steadied himself and hit it well, eyeing the ball toward the hole. But he had hit it hard. The ball catches the rim of the cup, spins and bounces. Loss lip-out.
World No. 1 can do nothing but watch his ball go into the tap away from his home. He put his head in his hands as the crowd watched in shock. After that, he had little to say.
“I probably hit it harder than I intended to,” Scheffler said. “It looked like it was too far from the hole and I was playing it outside the hole, so I hit it down my line, maybe the speed was a touch off.”
For Hovland, the win was his second PGA Tour title since his breakout 2023 season and the first of a 2026 campaign that has featured no shortage of tumultuous play.
“You always want to try to hit your best,” Hovland said. “What he’s been doing the last few years is amazing, and I have a lot of respect for him and his game. To fight him and get a chance to beat him, I think it’s very exciting. That’s what you get up every day to get better, that’s because of those moments right there.”
In the end, it was a reminder that golf is a game of high effort … again in a wonderful way small berries.
“It’s been a really long two weeks,” Scheffler said. “Being in contention both weeks. Anytime after a big tournament, especially the US Open, I think you’re going to be very tired. But like I said, I felt like I did some really good things this week, which I’m going to use that momentum going into the rest of the season.”
