Scottie Scheffler secures his sixth win of the 2024 season
Signature events and Scottie Scheffler seem to go together like your golf buddy and free tees when they get to play at a private club. This is quite the season coming together for Mr. Scheffler. The wins started early this season and show no signs of stopping as we head into The Open Championship and the Olympics over the next month and a half. To date in 2024, Scheffler tallied victories at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, The Players Championship, Masters, RBC Heritage, the Memorial Tournament, and now Travelers Championship. Quite the impressive list of trophies and jackets - remember that they also have a brand new jacket for the winner of the RBC Heritage. Even more impressive is the season earnings mark set by Scheffler, a whopping $23.3 MILLION from his first place finishes alone. His full season earnings, as of Sunday evening after the Travelers Championship, comes to $27,696,857.50. Second place on on the 2024 Tour Money List is Xander Schauffele with $12,636,360.33.
The last player to win more than 6 tournaments in one season? Well, if you were watching during Tiger’s prime, you already know that answer. What’s so impressive about Tiger Woods is that he had multiple seasons with 6+ wins. Both competitors, Woods and Scheffler, seem to be sparked by mediocre performances that set off historic runs. There is an opportunity for Scottie to catch Tiger’s mark of 9 victories in a single season - he would need to continue his hot streak into the FedEx Cup Playoffs. The question will be if he carries momentum across the pond, or if the odd schedule this July will throw cold water on Scheffler for the remainder of 2024.
This was Scheffler’s first win that required going to a playoff, as Tom Kim forced extra golf on the 72nd hole of the tournament with a closing birdie. The leaderboard as packed as they made the turn for the home stretch Sunday. Tony Finau (T-5 | -18) tried mounting another closing round miracle but, like other times this season, came up just short in his bid for an elusive win in 2024. An impressive final round 62 from Tom Hoge (T-3 | -20) vaulted him way up the leaderboard and helped secure a serious payday. Sungjae Im (T-3 | -20), Patrick Cantlay (T-5 | -18), Justin Thomas (T-5 | -18), and fellow North Carolinian Akshay Bhatia (T-5 | -18) rounded out the top-9 from Cromwell.
Travelers Championship goes low again
Known for being a birdie-filled four days of tournament golf, we saw yet another incredible single-round performance at TPC River Highlands in Connecticut. Cameron Young came out firing on Saturday to card a third-round 59 in soft conditions. He joins twelve other PGA Tour players in the sub-60 round historical category. If not for an opening 2-over par 72, Young would have found himself right in the mix of things on Sunday. Despite being over after the end of the first round, a career setting mark on Saturday helped Young play his way into a top-10.
Scoring certainly was low again this year across the entire field. Only one player finishing in the top 13 had a round over par, with that player being Young’s previously noted opening round 72. Three players failed to break par for the entire tournament, and Ben Griffin found himself the solo even par finisher. Even Max Homa who amusingly titled his current performance as “shit" golf, with the help of the poop emoji, managed to finish at -3 for the tournament.
Sunday’s final round saw two 62s (Tom Hoge & Brian Harman), two 63s (Wyndham Clark & Seamus Power), and a 61 (Sepp Straka). In total, 57 of the 70 players on course on Sunday fired sub-par rounds. The scoring average for the day almost snuck under 67, with only 6 rounds over par on the final day. For the tournament, the scoring average was 67.4, with the opening round playing the toughest of the week. Thursday saw a few course modifications and dry weather inch the scoring up slightly as there were 18 rounds over par and only 43 rounds able to turn in scores under par.
Up Next: Rocket Mortgage Classic
The PGA Tour heads up to Detroit, Michigan this week where Rickie Fowler is set to defend his title. Only two events remain before many of the players traverse the Atlantic to begin preparing for The Open Championship, a test that normally begins with The Scottish Open. An interesting storyline we’ll all have eyes on will be Rory McIlroy making a return to tournament golf after a few weeks away with his family. 2024 has been a rollercoaster for McIlroy - winning again at Quail Hollow around the same time announcing a divorce, only to come back and reconcile at home to keep his marriage together. Then, heartbreak at Pinehurst over the closing stretch of holes. Rory, the 2023 Scottish Open champion, will look to successfully defend his title and carry momentum heading into The Open Championship at Royal Troon.
All stats and figures gathered from PGA TOUR ShotLink data & PGA Tour official statistics. 