Scottie Scheffler drains clutch putt to force sudden-death Monday playoff with Viktor Hovland at Travelers

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For most professional golfers, a five-month gap between PGA Tour victories barely qualifies as a drought.

For world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, it’s long enough to make people wonder if something is wrong.

The Travelers Championship made that notion look pretty silly, even if Scheffler still has to wait until Monday morning to see if the drought ends.

Scheffler and Viktor Hovland finished regulation tied at 21-under Sunday at TPC River Highlands, setting up a rare Monday playoff at the Travelers Championship after weather and darkness prevented the tournament from being decided before the end of the day.

Viktor Hovland and Scottie Scheffler shaking hands with caddies on the 18th green at Travelers Championship

The playoff is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. ET on the par-4 18th hole. The Travelers Championship playoff format is sudden death, meaning the player with the lower score on a playoff hole wins. If Scheffler and Hovland tie the hole, they keep going until someone finally separates.

For Scheffler, it means the winless streak is not over yet.

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For Hovland, it means one more chance to take down the best golfer on the planet after refusing to let Scheffler pull away during a tense, rain-delayed final round.

Scheffler entered the Travelers with just one victory in 2026, which came all the way back in January at The American Express. Of course, “just one victory” is doing a lot of work in that sentence.

It’s not like Scheffler has played poorly this season. Quite the opposite, in fact. The world’s top player had eight top-five finishes in his first 13 starts this season, including his win at The American Express and runner-up finishes at the Masters, RBC Heritage and Cadillac Championship. He finished third at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson and tied for fourth at the U.S. Open last week.

Now, he has another chance to turn a close call into a trophy.

But he will have to sleep on it first.

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Scheffler started the final round one shot behind Hovland after a wild first three days in Connecticut. He opened with a 64, nearly shot a historic 59 on Friday before settling for a 60, then posted a 67 on Saturday that left him in solo second place, one back of Hovland.

From there, it looked like Scheffler had a familiar script in front of him.

Scottie Scheffler acknowledges the crowd on the 10th green at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut

The best golfer on the planet had 18 holes to hunt down another trophy.

Instead, Hovland made sure the Travelers Championship would need more than 72 holes.

Scheffler, who rarely needs help from other players, got some early help from Hovland. The Norwegian, who birdied 18 on Saturday to post a 64 and take the lead from Scheffler heading into the final round, made bogey on his first hole Sunday to fall back into a tie with Scheffler.

Scheffler had a ho-hum front nine, making one birdie and one bogey for an even-par 35. Hovland dropped a shot on the front with a 36, which allowed a number of players back into the tournament. Collin Morikawa shot a 61 in the final round, posting the clubhouse lead at 20-under several hours before Scheffler and Hovland finished.

For a while, it looked like Morikawa might be the player Scheffler had to beat.

Then Hovland made his move.

Scheffler made birdies at Nos. 10 and 13 to move to 21-under and take a one-shot lead over Morikawa’s clubhouse number. Hovland, who also made birdie on No. 13, and U.S. Open winner Wyndham Clark were still lurking two back, but Scheffler appeared to have control of the tournament when heavy rain started hammering TPC River Highlands and forced a weather delay.

Scottie Scheffler looking on from the 13th green at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut

After the delay, Hovland completely reversed the momentum.

He birdied No. 14 to pull within one, then added another birdie at No. 15 to grab a share of the lead. Suddenly, Scheffler was no longer coasting to his 21st PGA Tour victory. He was trying to survive Hovland’s late charge.

Scheffler had his own chance to regain control, but his birdie putt on No. 17 lipped out, leaving the two players tied heading to the 72nd hole.

Both players hit solid approach shots on No. 18, but Scheffler found himself slightly farther away than Hovland. The American gave it too much pace, sending it well past the hole and leaving himself 8 1/2 feet coming back for par.

It wouldn’t have mattered if Hovland drained his 25-foot birdie putt, but it just leaked wide of the hole at the end. That meant Scheffler would need to make his putt to send the pair to a playoff.

Is there any doubt what happened next? Scheffler drained the putt, gave an enthusiastic fist pump, and shook Hovland’s hand as the two almost certainly exchanged “See ya tomorrows.”

It will be the PGA Tour’s first Monday playoff since Rory McIlroy defeated J.J. Spaun in a three-hole aggregate playoff at the 2025 Players Championship last March. This one will be much simpler. Scheffler and Hovland will head back to the 18th hole Monday morning, and the first player to win a playoff hole wins the tournament.

For Scheffler, the situation is familiar in one way and unusual in another.

He has been here before at the Travelers. In 2024, Scheffler defeated his friend Tom Kim in a playoff for his first victory at TPC River Highlands. It only took one hole for Scheffler to beat Kim.

It’s a course that has been friendly to Scheffler after a rough start. After missing the cut in his first trip to Connecticut in 2020 and finishing 47th in 2021, he turned the event into one of his best stops on Tour.

Scheffler finished 13th in 2022, fourth in 2023, won in 2024, finished sixth last year and now has another chance to win again in 2026.

Pretty good.

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Still, the drought technically continues.

That’s the strange thing about Scheffler right now.

His dry spells would be career-best stretches for just about everyone else. He keeps putting himself near the top of leaderboards, keeps piling up top-five finishes and keeps making deep Sunday runs at the biggest events in golf.

But when the bar is this high, close is not enough.

Scheffler came to TPC River Highlands looking like he was ready to end any talk of a dry spell before it got too loud. Instead, Hovland dragged him all the way into Monday.

Now, one more hole, or maybe several, will decide whether Scheffler’s drought finally ends or stretches into another week.

Either way, the larger point is pretty clear.

Win or lose Monday, there is nothing wrong with Scottie Scheffler.

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