The conclusion of the Travelers tournament was chaotic.
James Gilbert/Getty Images
In what has already been a strange year in golf news – especially news involving World No. 1 and police intervention – things got even weirder on Sunday at the end of the Traveler Championship.
As the final team of Scottie Scheffler, Tom Kim and Akshay Bhatia approached the 18th green during the final round at TPC River Highlands, with Scheffler leading Kim by a stroke, five environmental activists emerged from the crowd and stormed the green, spraying colored powder. . or paint something on the shelf.
Play was halted for several minutes as authorities arrested the protesters, who were representing the climate activist group, Extinction Rebellion.
“I mean I was afraid for my life. I didn’t even know what was really going on,” said Bhatia after the round. “I was scared and my heart was pounding. It went down and when it happened I just freaked out, I just tried to pass where everyone was.”
The frenzy began as Scheffler began to hoist a 27-foot birdie putt that would have put the tournament out of Kim’s reach. The first protester ran out of the crowd and into the front right side of the green. Kim himself was 10 feet behind the fairway to force a playoff.
“It kind of took the definition of the putt for a second,” Kim said. “Because like 17 and a half years ago you were thinking about golf, and all of a sudden when that happens you’re just like, your mind just goes, like, you don’t even play golf anymore, like people, guards – like I thought it was a dream for a second.”
Scheffler started walking back towards Kim – who both looked confused – as the first protester came off the green with smoke masks. A can of red or power paint is thrown onto the green a few feet from the hole.
“They just came flying down the mountain from the gallery,” said Jim Nantz on CBS radio.
James Gilbert/Getty Images
The Cromwell Police Department quickly arrested five protesters, four of whom were wearing shirts that read “No golf in a dead world.” They were led away in handcuffs as the crowd in the theater surrounding the 18th green began chanting profanities, forcing CBS to briefly cut the audio feed.
Extinction Rebellion revealed that it is involved in this protest in a statement sent to the media after the end of the competition. The same group protested outside the gates of the DP World Tour’s KLM Open on Sunday in the Netherlands, delaying the final round there by two hours.
Once the incident was under control, Scheffler, Bhatia and Kim shared a few smiles. The crowd erupted into chants of “USA! USA! USA!”
Despite all the chaos, the 18th green was unscathed except for paint and powder.
In all, it took less than two minutes for the protesters to be removed from the green, but PGA Tour officials and TPC River Highlands maintenance staff were called in to discuss how to end the game.
After a chaotic protest on the 18th green, Scottie Scheffler wins for the Travelers
Nick Piastowski
The staff cleaned the green as best they could, but the white powder remained directly between Bhatia’s ball and the cup. Under Rule 16, Bhatia was given a reprieve from the course’s poor condition and moved his ball a few yards to the left before two-putting to finish the tournament at 18 under.
Scheffler missed his birdie putt while Kim made his to force a playoff, both finishing at 22 under.
“Who prepares someone, the four people he runs with — I don’t know what they were doing, but they left a lot of marks on the green, which is not good for us players, especially when two guys are trying to win the game. golf tournament,” said Kim. “But I’m very grateful to the Tour and Tour security for handling that well and making us players feel very safe.”
With red paint still visible near the original hole, Tour officials and course maintenance staff decided to cut a new hole for the playoff.
The hole was moved to the front left half of the green and Kim and Scheffler were given a chance to check it out before driving to the tee for the playoff.
Scheffler made the par to win the playoff after Kim hit a second from the greenside and made bogey. It was Scheffler’s sixth win of the season and 12th of his PGA Tour career, but certainly not one that ended like this.
