Shane Lowry played some of his best stuff this weekend at the Travelers at TPC River Highlands but the 39-year-old fell to a poor finish closing out the final round on Sunday, posting an even-par round in somewhat sketchy conditions.
Storms were brewing around Cromwell, Connecticut all day with some players struggling with the softer ground and you could say that Lowry was one of them.
It was a steady but eneventful front nine for Lowry, making just one birdie as he took the turn at one-under-par. Lowry seemed to be picking up the pace with two more birdies at the 11th and 13th but as the storm began to roll in, so did the mistakes.
Lowry went on to make three bogeys in his final five holes, posting a 70 to see him fall out of the top five and down to T22 where he finished at 13-under.
There was final hole drama at the top of the leaderboard as leaders Scottie Scheffler and Viktor Hovland traded pars at the last to force a playoff with the pair finishing 21-under for the week.
The round was stopped for 90 minutes as storms moved in earlier in the day and officials deemed that there was not enough daylight for them to start the playoff – forcing the playoff to take place on Monday morning.
It was a nervy finish for world no.1 Scheffler as he blasted a 30ft birdie putt 8ft passed the hole at the last but Scottie shown his nerve by sinking the par putt, pumping his fist with more emotion than he showed all day.
“It’s more fun when you’re making the ones to win,” Scheffler said. “But to keep yourself in it is also nice. Like I said, I live another day until tomorrow, and will be coming out in the morning and see what I can do.”
Hovland had a chance to win it himself with a 25ft birdie opportunity which missed by inches, as he tapped in for a final round 69.
“Man, I played a lot of great golf this week, so I’m feeling pretty good. Obviously I would have liked to have gotten it done in regulation, but to have a chance again tomorrow to win, feeling pretty good about that. So try to get a good night’s sleep and be fresh,” said Hovland.
Collin Morikawa gave himself an outside chance of adding to his one win this year as the 29-year-old posted an incredible bogey-free nine-under 61 to finish just behind the leaders at 20-under.
“I told my wife this morning the goal was to shoot 61 today. And you never know how things are going to go, but I think starting, when you’re that far behind, you just want to play a good final round,” said Morikawa.
Matt Fitzpatrick secured fourth at 19-under, followed by Wyndham Clarke and Akshay Bhatia who shared T5 at 18-under. A strong showing from Clarke this weekend to back up his U.S. Open win last week proved that he has something to prove this season.
The playoff will begin at 2:00pm Irish time on Monday.
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