Viktor Hovland
Viktor Hovland confined world number one Scottie Scheffler to his fourth runners-up finish of the season, winning the Travellers Championships golf tournament in the first playoff hole.
The Norwegian made a 7-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole and won the title after Scheffler missed a 4-foot birdie putt. Scheffler had made an 8-foot par in near darkness Sunday night to force the playoff.
Both golfers found the middle of the fairway on the par-4 18th. Scheffler hit his approach to 4 feet as some 3,000 fans surrounding the green erupted in cheers.
Hovland responded, just as he did on the back nine Sunday when he made up a two-shot deficit, hitting his approach to 6 feet. His downhill birdie putt with a sharp left-to-right break barely caught the inside right of the cup.
Scheffler played his outside the left edge, with a little too much impact, and it rolled over the left edge.
It was Hovland’s eighth victory on the Tour, with his last victory coming at last year’s Valspar Championship. The 28-year-old also the first Norwegian to win the title.
He is also the seventh international winner of the event and first since Russell Knox in 2016, which ends the longest active streak without an international winner on Tour.
As for Scheffler, a 20-time Tour winner, it was his 14th runner-up finish.
