Viktor Hovland almost let the Travelers Championship slip away on Sunday. He started the round with a one-shot lead over Scottie Scheffler, but when the final round was halted for 83 minutes due to weather, with both men on the 14th hole, Hovland was trailing by two shots.

The break changed the whole feel of the round. Hovland fought his way to a 1-under 69 and a tie with Scheffler at 21-under 259 to force a sudden-death playoff. After the final round, Hovland was honest about what those 83 minutes did for him.

"I hit some good shots and then some bad shots, and I just couldn't quite get a flow in. So it was nice to just get completely off the golf course and reset, and I felt a lot better coming back," Hovland said in the post-round presser posted by TenGolf on YouTube. "So, sometimes that's kind of all you need."

After shooting an excellent 6-under 64 to take a one-shot lead on moving day, Hovland bogeyed four of his first ten holes on Sunday.

By the time the storms hit, Hovland had four bogeys and three birdies, leaving him one-over for the round and sitting at 19-under, two behind Scheffler at 21-under.

But when the play resumed at 7:20 p.m. ET, Hovland birdied back to back on Nos. 14 and 15 to erase the gap.

"It's just one of those things, like while you're out there, you try to do the best you can and reset after every single shot, and I was definitely just in a poor rhythm there," Hovland added in the same interview, posted by TenGolf on YouTube.

Now Hovland and Scheffler head into a sudden-death playoff starting at 9 AM ET, where both players will play hole 18 on repeat until someone wins.

Scottie Scheffler had it, then the rain changed everything

Scottie Scheffler started Sunday on the right note. He came in one shot behind Hovland, and made birdies at Nos. 10 and 13 to move to 21-under and take a two-shot lead over Hovland with only 5 holes remaining to play, and one-shot lead over Morikawa's 20-under par final number.

Then the rain changed the golf course, leaving the greens soaked and the rough wet in ways that made the ball behave completely different.

Scheffler's roughest stretch came on No. 15, where a wet chip raced over the green and forced him to save par. He then missed a good birdie chance on 17 and had to grind from the rough on 18 just to give himself one last chance.

"Coming out after the delay, I felt like I hit some good shots," said Scheffler in the post-round presser posted by TenGolf on YouTube. "I just, you know, conditions were different, it was hard to predict how the ball was going to come out of the grass, it was pretty wet out there. Then late it got dark pretty quick."

The world No. 1 has gone 11 starts without a victory since the American Express despite several close finishes. So, when he sank that putt to force a playoff, he let out an emotional fist pump and shout.

Did the 83-minute rain delay save the tournament for Viktor Hovland, or did it unfairly break Scottie Scheffler's momentum? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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Written by

Md Saife Fida

Edited by

Shubhi Rathore