After last week’s duel between Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy at the US Open, USGA chief executive Mike Whan rhetorically asked, “Anybody have any fun today?”
A week later at the Travelers Championship, the same question could be posed, and the answer would be the same resounding, “Yes!”
That’s because whether it’s Pinehurst No.2 or TPC River Highlands, great golf by great players is simply a pleasure to watch. It doesn’t hurt having a five-way tie at the top on the back nine to deliver the drama, either. Ultimately, it was Scottie Scheffler who emerged from the bunch, using the missteps of some and his own fine play to earn his 12th PGA Tour title – half of them coming this year – in a playoff over Tom Kim, who forced overtime with a 10-foot birdie putt at the last.
Turning points came quickly. Tony Finau held the lead but watched it and his chances fade with a tee shot in the water at the par-3 16th. Patrick Cantlay also bogeyed 16 to fall back. Akshay Bhatia failed to birdie the par-5 13th while Kim and Scheffler did, both with on-target 3-woods from 247 and 248 yards, respectively, that found the putting surface, leading to two-putt birdies.
Another turn came at the par-4 14th. Both Scheffler and Kim nutted line-drive tee shots that left each under 100 yards in. Kim could only make par, however, while Scheffler hit his Titleist Vokey SM9 WedgeWorks 60-degree wedge to four feet and made the putt to take the lead.
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Scheffler’s 3-wood wasn’t just effective off the deck but off the tee as well. He drove the green with the club at the 283-yard par-4 15th and made birdie to stay one ahead of Kim. Scheffler’s 3-wood is TaylorMade’s Qi10 model, with 15 degrees loft but set at 14.25 degrees. The shaft is Fujikura’s Ventus Black 8X at a shade longer than 42 inches and tipped 1.5 inches.
It was Scheffler’s iron game, however, that was the true standout. Using his TaylorMade P7TW irons based off Tiger Woods’ muscle-back blades, Scheffler missed just eight greens over 72 holes (88.9 percent) that somehow was just second-best in the field as Kim had two more.
That’s OK. We’re pretty sure being first on the leaderboard was good enough for Scheffler.
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What Scottie Scheffler had in the bag at the 2024 Travelers Championship:
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 (Fujikua Ventus Black 7X), 8 degrees
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10, 15 degrees
Irons (3-4): Srixon ZU85; (5-PW): TaylorMade P7TW
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM8 (50, 56 degrees); Titleist Vokey SM9 WedgeWorks prototype (60 degrees
Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour X X1
