Xander Schauffele took advantage of a final-hole error by leader Sahith Theegala to win his first individual PGA Tour title in three years with a two-shot victory at the Travelers Championship in Connecticut.
Leaderboard
-19 Schauffele
-17 Poston, Theegala
-15 Thorbjornsen
-14 Hadley
Report
Xander Schauffele took advantage of a final-hole error by leader Sahith Theegala to win his first individual PGA Tour title in three years with a two-shot victory at the Travelers Championship in Connecticut.
The world number 11 and Olympic gold medallist trailed by one to the rookie as he walked to the 18th hole of a round which had begun with him leading by a stroke.
He watched from the tee as in the group ahead Theegala took two attempts to get his drive out of a bunker to make a double-bogey six for a round of 67 and a 17-under total.
That afforded Schauffele the luxury of making par to win but having hit his short approach to three feet he birdied to sign for a 68.
“I’ve been out here long enough, this is my sixth year on Tour, and you just know that no-one’s going to to hand you a win,” said the American, whose week had begun in a rush after a 25-minute misunderstanding of his opening-day tee tie.
“I was very aware of that and ready to birdie the last and I thought that was going to be to get in a play-off so I was just lucky it was to make me on top.
“I really think this was, in a small way, a big win for me mentally just because I sort of had to check myself.
“When you’ve been out here and things are going easy you just expect to play well all the time. Sometimes it’s good to take a step back – and I thought I did that this week.”
Theegala, who had started the final round in the penultimate group three shots off the lead, registered his best career finish as he tied for second with JT Poston, his second top-five in his last three starts.
American amateur Michael Thorbjornsen’s second consecutive 66 saw him finish in fourth place on 15 under, five shots better than Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy who was the joint first-round leader after a 62 but faded in his middle rounds as a fourth consecutive week caught up with him.