Sunday’s final round at the Traveler’s Championship featured a close battle for first between Scottie Scheffler and Tom Kim. But unfortunately, both were distracted by a number of protesters damaging the greens on the 18th hole as they ran out from the gallery.
The incident couldn’t have come at a more crucial time of the tournament. The three-man group of Scheffler, Kim, and Akshay Bhatia had each hit their second shot which were either on or around the green.
Scheffler, who had a one-stroke lead over Kim going into the final hole, had a birdie putt from just off the green. As he approached his putt, five protesters disrupted things by throwing dye sacks onto the green.
Here is the scene of the protestors rushing the green at the Travelers Championship right before Scottie Scheffler takes his potential winning putt. Wild scene pic.twitter.com/CWm4fwgKrH
— Fairway Updates (@fairwayupdates) June 23, 2024
The moment didn’t last all that long, as police officers on the scene were quickly able to round up all the protesters and take them off of the green.
Protesters cause a delay at the 18th hole of the Travelers Championship final round.
(via @SchefflerLegion)pic.twitter.com/5cm6dOEzs2
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 23, 2024
There was then a pretty lengthy delay as the course management crew began to repair the green so that the uber-important final hole was able to be finished.
Ultimately, Scottie Scheffler would go on to make par on the hole after missing the birdie putt. Tom Kim on the other hand would take advantage of a great second shot and make birdie to force a sudden death playoff hole with Scheffler.
NEEDED IT, GOT IT! 💪
Tom Kim birdies the 72nd hole to force a playoff @TravelersChamp pic.twitter.com/Phj5DQEgdf
— Golf on CBS ⛳ (@GolfonCBS) June 23, 2024
Ironically, the playoff hole happened to be on the 18th hole yet again. So even more work was done to get the putting green up to the course standards while both Kim and Scheffler quickly went back to the clubhouse to turn in their scorecards.
When the action returned, Scheffler would go on to win in the playoff hole with a par thanks to an errant second shot into the bunker from Kim.
Scottie Scheffler with another tournament title! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/teP1qqELfA
— Golf on CBS ⛳ (@GolfonCBS) June 23, 2024
It’s another big win for Scheffler in a season of golf that has been simply unbelievable from him.
Not to take away from the win. But you have to wonder whether things could have gone differently for Kim if not for these delays due to the protesters.
We will truly never know. But this kind of situation during the biggest moment of the tournament can certainly mess with a player’s mindset. And given how great we have seen Scheffler play in unusual conditions recently, which included playing a round after an arrest at the PGA Championship, we know that Scheffler certainly had the advantage in that category.
