[Photo: Andrew Redington]
The Travelers Championship is known for memorable finishes and this year’s edition continued that trend. Despite some Sunday runs, most notably Collin Morikawa with a closing 61, the tournament came down to the last pairing as Viktor Hovland and Scottie Scheffler provided the large galleries plenty of momentum swings; one or the other picked up or lost ground on nine of the 18 holes. They carried things over to a Monday playoff, where the final swing – a birdie by Hovland and a short miss by Scheffler on the first extra hole – proved the difference.
RELATED: Viktor Hovland makes birdie, takes title at Travelers Championship in Monday playoff
Now an eight-time PGA Tour winner, Hovland is familiar with the TPC River Highlands layout, having made his professional debut there in 2019. After finding the fairway on the first extra hole, he hit a 9-iron from 134 metres to inside seven feet, then made the clinching putt (one he described as “tricky”) with his custom Ping PLD DS-72 mid-mallet putter. For the week, Hovland was ninth in strokes gained/putting and fourth in putts per green in regulation.
At the other end of the bag, driver was a big weapon for Hovland as he led the field in strokes gained/off the tee. That ranking was well earned as he was T-8 in accuracy and eighth in distance.
Hovland’s driver is a 9-degree Ping G440 LST, the lowest-spinning version in the G440 line. The shaft is a Fujikura Ventus TR Black.
The scene at the 18th hole on Sunday was Ryder Cup-esque, with fans of Norway’s World Cup team raucously cheering for Hovland and chants of “USA! USA!” for Scheffler matching the decibel level. There was a good crowd there on Monday morning, too, with a similar vibe. In the end, however, Scheffler needed to match Hovland’s birdie and couldn’t.
What Viktor Hovland had in the bag at the 2026 Travelers Championship:
Driver: Ping G440 LST (Fujikura Ventus TR Black), 9 degrees
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D, 15 degrees
Hybrid: Ping G440, 19 degrees
Irons (4-PW): Ping i210
Wedges: Ping s259 (50, 56 degrees); Ping Glide 2.0 (60 degrees)
Putter: Ping PLD DS-72
