Scottie Scheffler’s clutch par saves arrange Monday Vacationers playoff vs. Viktor Hovland

The final time Scottie Scheffler received the Vacationers Championship, he did so in further holes, besting Tom Kim in a playoff in 2024.

On Monday, he’ll have an opportunity to do the identical thanks to 2 large par saves as darkness descended on TPC River Highlands on Sunday evening.

Scheffler began the day one shot again of Viktor Hovland, however the two tossed the lead forwards and backwards all through the opening 12 holes. The duo had three one-shot swings and two two-shot swings within the opening 5 holes. By the point they bought to the twelfth gap, Scheffler led Hovland by two and appeared primed to tug away from the Norwegian.

Then got here the downpour. Each Scheffler and Hovland birdied the par-5 thirteenth within the rain earlier than the horn blew because of lightning. After an virtually two-hour delay, Hovland got here out and birdied 14 and 15 to tie Scheffler.

It was there on the drivable par-4 fifteenth, that Scheffler made the primary of two large par saves.

The World No. 1’s tee shot landed within the left tough in entrance of the inexperienced. Anticipating the soaked greens to decelerate his chip, Scheffler tried to place a bit of further on it to get it to the back-right gap location for a simple birdie. As a substitute, his chip raced previous the outlet and off the again of the inexperienced. His chip coming again left him seven ft for par. With Hovland already in for birdie, Scheffler wanted to make the putt to remain tied. He buried it.

“I assumed with it popping out and being a bit of bit softer, the greens would decelerate a contact,” Scheffler stated of his chip on 15. “I assumed I cozied that one up there fairly good, and it simply appeared prefer it stored going. However did an excellent job of staying in it. That’s a part of golf. When situations change, the golf course adjustments, and you bought to take the nice with the dangerous. Did an excellent job of getting that one up-and-down and preserve myself in it.”

The 2 exchanged pars on 16 and 17 earlier than reaching the closing gap. With the solar about to set, the 72nd gap of the event could be Sunday’s last gap, whether or not a winner was topped or not.

Hovland cut up the golf green and hit his strategy to 24 ft. Scheffler’s tee shot discovered the left tough, however he bought an excellent lie and was capable of land his strategy on the again of the inexperienced. Scheffler’s birdie try was excessive the entire method and ran eight ft previous the cup. Hovland missed his birdie try however tapped in for par, leaving Scheffler with a testy par putt to find out if there could be a sudden-death playoff on Monday or if Hovland could be the champion.

Scheffler surveyed the putt in the dead of night and poured it within the coronary heart. As his ball discovered the underside of the cup, Scheffler pieced the air with a large fist pump to place an exclamation level on a chaotic day of golf in Cromwell, Connecticut.