The Travelers Championship returns this weekend, with the controversy from last year’s tournament still fresh in the mind.
Scottie Scheffler would pick up the win at River Highlands in a dramatic playoff win over Tom Kim.
Golf, however, wouldn’t be the main talking point of the day, with the tournament being overshadowed by controversy.
With Scheffler, Kim and Ashkay Bhatia all fighting it out for the trophy, play would have to be halted after protestors from the ‘Extinction Rebellion’ invaded the 18th hole and threw different coloured powder all over the putting surface.
Police and event organisers would quickly get play back underway, but it still managed to interrupt the flow of Scheffler on his way to the title.
Protestors nearly cost Scottie Scheffler Travelers Championship title
Players of Scheffler’s quality don’t get fazed by much on the golf course, but he even admitted he found the situation ‘stressful’.
“Yeah, it was definitely a bit weird,” Scheffler told reporters post-tournament.
“I saw one person out of the corner of my eye, and then I saw about five police officers sprinting around. From my point of view, they got it taken care of pretty dang fast, and so we were very grateful for that. It seemed to go by really quickly to us.
“But when something like that happens, you don’t really know what’s happening so it can kind of rattle you a little bit, just because there’s people running around the green and there’s police officers running around the green and you don’t know if they’re peaceful, you don’t know what they’re doing, you have no idea what’s going on, so it can be a bit stressful.”
Scheffler went on to reveal how his fellow competitors, Kim and Bhatia, reacted to the situation.
“You could kind of see me and Akshay talking to each other for a minute, me and Tom talking to each other for a minute, basically just trying to calm down.
“That can be a stressful situation and you would hate for the tournament to end on something weird happening because of a situation like that. And so I felt like Tom and I both tried to calm each other down so we could give it our best shot there on 18.”
Travelers Championship security is ‘priority’
The organisers of the tournament, as well as the PGA Tour, won’t want a repeat of last year and will no doubt be doing their utmost to avoid controversy once again.
With that being said, Michael Baliker, the director of communications for the PGA Tour, has since revealed that ‘security’ is a priority for organisers this year.
“The health and safety of everyone who attends a PGA Tour tournament is our highest priority. We work closely with a number of partners – tournaments and local law enforcement agencies – to address all concerns and provide a safe environment that fans can enjoy,” Baliker relayed to Ctpost.
The field will be hoping the PGA Tour can deliver on their promise, with Scheffler aiming to retain his title in slightly less dramatic fashion this time around.
