Kim finds positives despite Travellers playoff loss to Scheffler

World number one Scottie Scheffler extended his phenomenal run with his sixth win of the season in the Travellers Championship on Sunday, beating young Korean star and good friend Joohyung ‘Tom’ Kim on the first playoff hole at TPC River Highlands.

In dominant form this season, Scheffler now has 12 PGA Tour titles in all and his 22 under par for the event with a closing 65 pulled him level with Kim on Sunday before the Korean star – who had led after the first three rounds – faltered in the shootout.

The 22-year-old produced a gutsy 10-foot birdie on the 72nd hole to force extra time against Scheffler, but made bogey on the first extra hole from a plugged lie in the greenside bunker while Scheffler comfortably made a regulation two-putt. Scheffler is the fourth player (and the ninth instance in all) with six or more wins in a season and the first since Tiger Woods in 2009, the PGA Tour said.

Scheffler said: “It was a great finish. This golf course produces a lot of those, you know, the exciting stuff coming down the stretch. It's great competing against one of my good buddies in Tom Kim, but it's also very difficult at the same time.

“I want what's best for him, and so sometimes it can be hard, I think, for both of us, you know, battling against each other out there. But it was a lot of fun and I'm proud to be sitting here with the trophy.”

“I’m going to definitely look at this week as a positive,” said Kim, who totalled a career best 258 after a final round 66.

The three-time winner, took consolation that no one in the elite field beat him through 72 holes and will also find confidence he ranked first in driving accuracy (48/56), greens in regulation (66/72) and scrambling (6/6) at the $20 million event which is the eighth and final Signature event of 2024.

He dropped only two shots all week, both through three putts, and ranked 20th in Strokes Gained: Putting – ingredients that will make him a favourite at the Rocket Mortgage Classic which starts on Thursday. It will be his ninth consecutive tournament.

“Against the best players in the world, I fought really hard,” said Kim. “I had so much fun out there, felt like a practice round with (Scheffler) … It's just nice to know that the hard work kind of really does come to life. Like, yes, it would have been super sweet if I won, but it still doesn't change who I am.”

Young Indian-American Akshay Bhartia, also bidding to become a repeat winner this season after his Texas Open success finished in a tie for fifth place on 18 under par 262.

Kim and Scheffler have become friends in recent times, share the same faith and regularly practice together in Dallas. They also have the same birthdate of June 21 – Scheffler turned 28 last Friday while Kim turned 22 – but the American was simply a touch better at the crunch.

With a packed leaderboard, Scheffler hit three straight birdies from holes 13 to 15 to pull ahead briefly. Kim stayed on Scheffler’s heels with his own birdies on 13 and 15, and then raised the roof with a brilliant closing birdie in front of large crowds which he celebrated with his customary fist pump, so reminiscent of his Presidents Cup heroics in 2022.

With a career second runner-up finish, Kim will now turn his attention to the Rocket Mortgage Classic as he seeks to ride on the crest of a wave where he was also T4 at the RBC Canadian Open earlier this month.

“I feel like this year has been a lot of learning,” said Kim. “I’ve had a lot of learning lessons of trying to not label things. I am who I am, 10 wins or zero wins, it's not going to change me.

“I think it took a lot of experiences for me to actually learn that … when I work hard, not expect anything, just kind of let things happen. I think that's what happened this week. I was really close to wire-to-wire finish; that would have been awesome, but it just wasn't meant to be and I'll have my chances.”

Scheffler’s 12 title came in his 126th tour start and the run started with the Phoenix Open in 2022. Just this year, he has taken the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, the Players Championship, and the Masters Tournament amongst the others and he has crossed the $27 million mark in official earnings so far in the 2024 season.