Scottie Scheffler led Collin Morikawa by one stroke in the final round of the Travelers Championship when play was suspended due to thunder and heavy rain at TPC River Highlands, with the world No. 1 with five holes remaining.
Scheffler started the day one shot behind overnight leader Viktor Hovland, who was seeking his eighth PGA Tour win and first in 15 months.
But the Norwegian appeared to be wilting under the pressure despite a daunting opening third round. Hovland started his first round with a bogey after finding the rough with his tee shot.
Hovland settled in with pars on the next four holes, followed by a mix of three bogeys and three birdies to drop to 19 under before the klaxon sounded.
A pack of chasing players charged up the leaderboard, with Morikawa shooting a career-low score of 61 to move nine strokes into the lead and Scheffler tied at 20 under to take the clubhouse lead.
Like Hovland, world number one Scheffler stuttered on the front nine. Despite recording a birdie on the 4th hole, he had difficulty putting in the early stages, and missed the approach green on the 7th hole and failed to save par.
The four-time major winner, looking for his second PGA Tour win of the season, fought back with birdies on the 10th and 13th holes to take a one-stroke lead over Morikawa as the sky turned gray and players evacuated the course.
U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark also enjoyed a good round with 6 birdies and 19 under par through 14 holes, and England’s Matt Fitzpatrick also recorded 7 birdies and 2 bogeys to get within 3 strokes of Scheffler with 3 holes remaining.
Watch round one of the John Deere Classic live on Sky Sports Golf from 5pm on Thursday. There is also coverage on Sky Sports Golf and Sky Sports Main Event From 10pm. Stream Sky Sports without a contract.
