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

For most professional golfers, a five-month gap between PGA Tour victories would hardly qualify as a drought.

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

The Travelers Championship made that idea seem pretty ridiculous, even if Scheffler had to wait until Monday morning to see if the drought would end.

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

The playoff is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. ET on the par-4 18th hole. The Travelers Championship play-off format is sudden death, meaning the player with the lower score in the play-off hole wins. If Scheffler and Hovland close the gap, they continue until someone leaves.

For Scheffler, this means the streak isn’t over yet.

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For Hovland, it means another chance to knock off the best golfer on the planet after refusing to let Scheffler withdraw in the tense, rain-delayed final round.

Scheffler enters Travelers in 2026 with just one victory, which came in January at The American Express. Of course, “just one victory” does a lot of work in this sentence.

It cannot be said that Scheffler has played poorly this season. Actually, quite the opposite. The world’s best player has finished in the top five eight times in his first 13 starts this season, including a win at The American Express and second-place finishes at the Masters, RBC Heritage and Cadillac Championship. Last week he finished third at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson and finished fourth at the US Open.

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

But he’ll need to sleep 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, shot a nearly historic 59 on Friday to settle for 60, then shot a 67 on Saturday to leave him alone in second place behind Hovland.

From here it looked like Scheffler had a familiar scenario ahead of him.

Scottie Scheffler of the United States greets the crowd after making birdie on the 10th green in the final round of the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands on June 28, 2026 in Cromwell, Connecticut. (Jordan Bank/Getty Images)

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

Instead, Hovland was confident the Travelers Championship would require more than 72 holes.

Scheffler, who rarely needed help from other players, received early help from Hovland. The Norwegian player, who scored 64 points by scoring 18 points on Saturday and advanced to the final round after Scheffler, made a bogey move on his first hole on Sunday and fell into a draw with Scheffler again.

Scheffler had a ho-hum front nine, making a birdie and a bogey to reach the even-par 35. Hovland shot a lead-off 36, which allowed several players to return to the tournament. Collin Morikawa shot 61 in the final round to move the clubhouse lead to 20-under with just a few hours left before Scheffler and Hovland finished the match.

For a while, Morikawa looked like the player Scheffler needed to beat.

Then Hovland made his move.

Scheffler made birdies on Nos. 10 and 13 to move to 21-under and take a one-shot lead over Morikawa’s clubhouse trick. Hovland, who also made birdie on the 13th, and US Open winner Wyndham Clark were still lurking two behind, but Scheffler appeared to be in control of the tournament when heavy rain began to pound TPC River Highlands and weather conditions forced the postponement.

Scottie Scheffler of the United States looks on from the 13th green during the final round of the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands on June 28, 2026 in Cromwell, Connecticut. (Jordan Bank/Getty Images)

After the delay, Hovland completely reversed the momentum.

He birdied No. 14 to get within one, then added another birdie on No. 15 to grab a share of the lead. Suddenly Scheffler was no longer headed for his 21st PGA Tour victory. He was trying to survive a late charge from Hovland.

Scheffler had his own chance to regain control, but his birdie on No. 17 blew and left two players tied heading into the 72nd hole.

Both players landed solid approach shots on No. 18, but Scheffler found himself a little further away from Hovland. The American gave him too much speed, sending him well past the hole and finding himself 8 1/2 feet back to make par.

It didn’t matter that Hovland drained his 25-foot birdie putt, but it eventually leaked all the way down the hole. This meant Scheffler had to make his shot to send the duo into the play-offs.

Is there any doubt about what happened next? Scheffler drained the shot, delivered a spirited jab and shook Hovland’s hand as the two almost certainly exchanged “See you tomorrow.”

This will be the PGA Tour’s first Monday playoff since Rory McIlroy defeated JJ Spaun in a three-hole bracket play-off at the 2025 Players Championship last March. This will be much simpler. Scheffler and Hovland will return to the 18th hole on Monday morning, and the first player to win the playoff hole will win the tournament.

According to Scheffler, the situation is familiar in one sense and unfamiliar in another.

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

After a difficult start, it was a friendly course for Scheffler. 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 a chance to win again in 2026.

Quite good.

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The drought still technically continues.

That’s the weird thing about Scheffler right now.

His dry spells would be career bests for just about everyone. He continues to put himself at the top of the leaderboards, finishing in the top five and continuing his heavy Sunday runs at the biggest events in golf.

However, when the bar is this high, rapprochement is not enough.

Scheffler arrived at TPC River Highlands and looked as if he was ready to end any talk of the drought without too much fuss. Instead Hovland dragged him through Monday.

Now one or more holes will decide whether the drought at Scheffler will finally end or extend for another week.

Either way, the point is pretty clear.

Whether you win or lose on Monday, Scottie Scheffler has no problems.