The Break: Viktory Monday at the Travelers

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Viktor Hovland turned a case of the Sunday Scaries into a Monday win over Scottie Scheffler at the Travelers.

To the Viktor goes the spoils

Viktor Hovland is a winner on the PGA Tour for an eighth time, making surprisingly quick work of world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler with a birdie 3 on the first playoff hole on Monday at the Travelers Championship. Hovland and Scheffler came back on Monday to play the 18th hole at TPC River Highlands as many times as it took to determine the final Signature winner of the year, but it took just one more time playing the par-4 finishers.

Hovland and Scheffler hit basically the same drive, but Scheffler went first and stuck it to about 5 feet. Hovland went second and left something closer to 15 feet for birdie. Going first, Hovland’s birdie bid found the side door with the last of its momentum and dropped, prompting a fist pump. Scheffler’s birdie putt seemed simple and somewhat of a formallity, but Scheffler played too much pace and power-lipped-out to end the playoff.

With the win, Hovland improves to 12th in the Official World Golf Ranking and picks up a smooth $3.6 million. Scheffler notches his fourth runner-up finish of the season, but it seems like a crisper version of the four-time major winner would have won this in a rout in the Sunday sunset.

Scheffler continues to struggle with the short putts in a way that almost makes me wonder if he’s searching for an approach he likes inside of 5 feet. This week, he seemed committed to jamming in shorter putts, but he’s also prone to pulling those putts with his motion (I should know; I have the same problem!). Scheffler has a few weeks to get it all sorted out and win the final major of the year at Royal Birkdale.

Meanwhile, Hovland won and did the Norway rowing chant with his fans that came to watch on Monday. It’s so much fun when he’s playing his best and not down on himself or in his own head. He has the game to be a major winner, particularly when he can drive it well, which he did with a relatively new (to him) Ping driver this week.

If this generation’s Padraig Harrington could convince himself to not tinker and stay positive for about 18 months, he might be able to go on the same kind of career-defining run in the majors. Either way, golf is better when a smiling Viktor Hovland is part of it.

For more on this past weekend’s major championship, scroll down!

Making things clic with Clicgear's John Hess

On this episode of The Bag Room podcast, Clicgear head of marketing John Hess joins me to talk about reviving the Clicgear brand, continuing to innovate and modernize the walking golf cart and trying to convince a new generation of golfers to push, not carry.

Haeran Ryu wins the Women’s PGA Championship

Nelly Korda’s quest for a single-season Grand Slam — or even becoming the first player since Inbee Park in 2013 to win the first three majors of a season — ended on Sunday as Haeran Ryu won her breakthrough major title in taking the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Hazeltine National in Minnesota.

On a tough final day of scoing, Ryu shot 2-under 70 to hold off 36-hole leader Ina Yoon for heer first major on 13-under 275. Brooke Henderson, who was seeking a second Women’s PGA title 10 years after her breakthrough at Sahalee, shot 72 and never got it going.

Korda, who had made up ground on Saturday thanks to Yoon’s 75, shot a Sunday 73 that left her in a tie for eighth place.

“I was just kind of disappointed in the way that I played this week, not that I came up short really,” Korda said.

Maybe there’s something to be said for Ryu taking the last month off in preparation for this event. She skipped the US Women’s Open at Riviera, and now she nabs a major. She said she wound up spending time at home with her mom, eating her great cooking. Getting right and being happy goes a long way in golf.

As for Korda, she said the single-season Slam was never on her mind this week — and it probably wouldn’t have been until sometime on Saturday at the Evian, had she won. But now she’s going to take a little vacation time in Europe to get ready for the next major, next week in France. Maybe the Ryu playbook can help.

The Links

We have a short slate this week, with the PGA Tour playing the John Deere Classic in the Quad Cities as Jackson Koivun makes his pro debut, the DP World Tour in Germany for the BMW International Open and the PGA Tour Champions having a major with the USGA-conducted US Senior Open in Ohio.

I have a lot of fantasy content already up and going for the John Deere, and the model should be up this evening or tomorrow for our members.

Eugenio Chacarra feels like a mortal lock to be on the PGA Tour in 2027 after pulling away from the field to win the DS Automobiles Italian Open on the DP World Tour for his second win in as many events.

Dicky Pride was an emotional playoff winner at the Dick’s Open on the PGA Tour Champions, beating Padraig Harrington in a playoff.

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