Scottie Scheffler wins sixth PGA Tour title of the year after intruders disrupt play

CROMWELL, Conn. —  Scottie Scheffler beat Tom Kim on the first playoff hole to win the Travelers Championship on Sunday — waiting out a disruption by intruders who sprayed powder on the 18th green for his sixth win of the year.

That’s the most in one PGA Tour season since Tiger Woods won six in 2009.

And Scheffler, the world’s top-ranked player, still has two months to go.

It was Scheffler’s fourth victory of the year in the PGA Tour’s $20-million limited-field, no-cut signature events, earning him a payday of $3.6 million. He also won the Masters and The Players Championship.

Scheffler closed with a five-under-par 65 for a four-day total of 22-under 258 at the TPC River Highlands. After the disruption on the 18th, which delayed play for about five minutes when police tackled the intruders, Scheffler left a 26-foot putt from the fringe on the edge of the cup and tapped in for par. Kim then made a 10-foot birdie putt to match Scheffler at 22 under.

The six people were protesting climate change. They came out of the crowd while the leaders were lining up their putts on the final hole of regulation. The protesters sprayed white and red powder, leaving stains on the green. At least one of the group was wearing a white T-shirt that said, “NO GOLF ON A DEAD PLANET.”

The hole location on the 18th was moved for the playoff to avoid the parts of the green affected by the intruders. Scheffler hit his approach to within 11 feet while Kim found a plugged lie in a greenside bunker. Scheffler two-putted for par and the victory.

“When something like that happens, you don’t really know what’s happening, So it can kind of rattle you a little bit,” Scheffler said.

“That can be a stressful situation, and you would hate for the tournament to end on something weird happening because of a situation like that,” he said. “Tom and I both tried to calm each other down so we could give it our best shot there on 18.”

Coming off a tie for 41st in the U.S. Open — by far his worst finish of the year — Scheffler trailed Kim by three strokes after the first round, by two after the second round and by one heading to the tee on Sunday.

Scheffler took a one-stroke lead over Kim with three straight birdies on Nos. 13-15 — he had putts for eagle on two of them. While Tom Hoge signed for a 62 to finish at 20 under, and Sungjae Im joined him there, Scheffler and Kim matched pars over the next two holes to set up the surprising finish.

Patrick Cantlay, Tony Finau, Justin Thomas and Akshay Bhatia tied for fifth at 18 under. Bhatia was also in the final group that was disrupted by the protest.

“I was scared for my life,” Bhatia said. “I didn’t even really know what was happening. ... But thankfully the cops were there and kept us safe, because that’s, you know, that’s just weird stuff.”

Scheffler and Kim share a June 21 birthday — Scheffler is six years older — and they celebrated with New Haven pizza before the tournament about 30 miles north. The birthday buddies and Dallas-area residents played together in the final group on Sunday, chatting and joking together.

“As much as I love him, I would have loved to take that away from him,” Kim said of Scheffler claiming the winner’s trophy. “But I’m happy for him, and after I tapped out, after he tapped out, he said some really nice words and it meant a lot to me.”

But only one of them could hold the trophy at the end.

And just like it’s been so often of late, it was Scheffler.