CROMWELL, Conn. — Heading into Sunday, golf fans were faced with a tough question to ponder: On a rain-softened course that yielded a 59 Saturday, who would go low enough to win the $3.6 million prize?
Would it be Scottie Scheffler, who had already won five PGA Tour events, including the Players Championship and the Masters, or maybe Xander Schauffele, who won last month’s PGA Championship? Those stars, along with Collin Morikawa, Tony Finau, South Korea’s Sungjae Im, and rising star Akshay Bhatia, were all chasing Tom Kim, who was trying to be the first wire-to-wire winner at the Travelers Championship since Jordan Spieth did it in 2016.
As the contenders made their way through the early holes on the back nine, the leaderboard was more packed than I-95 on Sunday night leaving Cape Cod. At 2:20 p.m. local time, five golfers were tied for the lead at minus 19, with Tom Hoge just one shot back at minus 18.
In the end, Scheffler defeated Kim in a one-hole playoff to claim his sixth tournament of the season, but the event’s final hole experienced a bizarre twist that had people talking.
Playing the final hole, Scheffler stood at 22 under, with Kim trailing by a shot. The third member of their group, Akshay Bhatia, was four shots back and no longer a threat to win. As the three prepared to putt on the 18th green, protesters ran out and threw white and red powder on the putting surface. They also had devices that created smoke.
“It was definitely a bit weird. I saw one person out of the corner of my eye, and then I saw about five police officers sprinting around,” Scheffler said. “From my point of view, they got it taken care of pretty dang fast, and so we were very grateful for that. It seemed to go by really quickly to us.”
Bhatia added, “I was scared for my life. I didn’t even really know what was happening. All of a sudden, four, five people come out running on the green. I mean, it was kind of weird, but thankfully the cops were there and kept us safe, because that’s, you know, that’s just weird stuff.”
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After police officers apprehended the group and took them away, Scheffler nearly holed a 27-foot putt that would have won the tournament in regulation. He tapped into for par to remain at 22 under, Bhatia two-putted for his par and finished T-5, and that left Kim alone to finish. After coming up short on two birdie putts on the 14th…
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