Scottie Scheffler admitted the moment climate activists ran onto the 18th green during the final round of the Travelers Championship on Sunday was "definitely a bit weird" and "a stressful situation."
The World No.1 would ultimately go on to claim his sixth victory of the season - four of which have been PGA Tour Signature Events - via a playoff over good friend Tom Kim at TPC River Highlands, but only after members of international climate movement Extinction Rebellion had stopped play at a crucial juncture by throwing different colored powder all over the putting surface.
PROTESTORS STORM THE 18TH AT TPC RIVER HIGHLANDS@NUCLRGOLF @PGATUOR @GolfDigest pic.twitter.com/JSjcYidOaRJune 23, 2024
Connecticut police officers swiftly arrived to arrest the protesters as the final group walked down the 18th in regulation, and Kim was left to join Scheffler on 22-under via a fourth round 66 - capped off by a last-gasp birdie.
Akshay Bhatia - who was the third member of the last group to go out on Sunday - admitted in his post-round interview that he was "scared for my life" and echoed Scheffler's assessment that the whole situation was "weird."
In his own post-tournament press conference, Scheffler explained what happened from his point of view. The 28-year-old said: "Yeah, it was definitely a bit weird.
"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 revealed that all three players were - understandably - placed on high alert once the activists had descended onto the green. The Texas resident went on to say that while they waited for law enforcement to deal with the situation, Kim, Bhatia and he ended up leaning on each other for support in order to make sure the culmination of a thrilling tournament was decided in the right way, rather than due to a mistake caused by abnormally high stress levels.
The two-time Major winner said: "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."
Once 72 holes were indeed completed and players were signing their scorecards, it was quickly decided that a new hole would be cut for the playoff away from the damage caused by protesters. Scheffler made the most of the new location, too, draining a par putt to continue his incredibly successful year.
Earlier in the day, over on the DP World Tour, Extinction Rebellion members had delayed the start of the KLM Open by blocking the entrance to The International Golf Club in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Activists at both sites wore t-shirts with messages that read: "No golf on a dead planet." The group later released a statement which clarified that they were not campaigning against the sport specifically but simply trying to raise awareness around the critical state of the world's climate.
The statement said: "On Sunday June 23, in a disruption far less severe than that of any extreme weather event, notably the previous day’s lightning strike, Extinction Rebellion activists interrupted play at Travelers Championship, as Scottie Scheffler was playing at the 18th hole."
"With this action, Extinction Rebellion is NOT protesting any individual or organization. Rather, the protest highlights the worldwide danger of climate breakdown."
