The Punter's In-Play Blog: Monday finish at the Travelers

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09:30 - June 29, 2026 - Scottie Scheffler and Viktor Hovland set to playoff for the Travelers Championship

Having been matched at as short as 1.21/5 halfway through round three of the Italian Open, the pre-event favourite, Joaquin Niemann, was simply not a factor in round four.

Jaded after the US Open, the Chilean struggled in the heat on Saturday afternoon and having lost his substantial lead, he failed to get going in round four, eventually finishing third, beaten by six.

Matt Wallace chipped in at the opening hole on Sunday morning for an eagle three and he drew alongside the 54-hole leader, pre-event 26.025/1 chance, Eugenio Chacarra, with a birdie at the fourth.

The Englishman was matched at a low of 2.285/4 but Chacarra responded immediately with a birdie two at the par three fifth and he was quite brilliant after that.

He caught a few breaks on the way, getting a number of nice bounces to miss fairway and greenside bunkers but he birdied three holes in-a-row around the turn before eagling the par five 15^th and when a dejected Wallace bogeyed the last two holes, the Spaniard went on to win by five.

Having won the KLM Open at the start of June, and having not played since, Chacarra is the third player to win back-to-back events on the DP World Tour this season, emulating Jayden Schaper, who won the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the Mauritius Open before Christmas and Casey Jarvis, who won the Kenya Open and the South African Open in February.

Over on the PGA Tour, Viktor Hovland and Scottie Scheffler began the final round of the Travelers Championship separated by a stroke and four ahead of the remainder but neither man was at his best and their lacklustre performances opened the door for the chasing pack.

Collin Morikawa shot 61 to climb all the way up to solo third (beaten by one) but it never looked like his final round would be quite good enough and he was matched at a low of 23.022/1.

Last week's US Open winner, Wyndham Clark, who played his last four holes in one-over, was matched at a low of 10.09/1 but Matt Fitzpatrick, who had begun the final round trading at in excess of 230.0229/1, and Akshay Bhatia, were both matched at a single-figure price.

Fitzpatrick, who is going to finish fourth, beaten by two, hit a low of 5.49/2 and Bhatia, who is alongside Clark in a tie for fifth, beaten by three, hit a low of 5.79/2.

With Hovland struggling badly, Scheffler was matched at as low as 1.152/13 yesterday.

The world number one led by two when play was suspended due to an electrical strike as the pair prepared to play their approach shots on the par four 14^th and the break did Hovland the world of good.

He holed for birdie on 14 from just off the green before drawing level with Scheffler on the drivable par four 15^th, where Scheffler needed to hole from around eight feet for par.

Hovland was clearly the more comfortable after the resumption and he was matched at as low as 1.351/3.

It looked like it might be settled on the 72^nd hole when Scheffler left himself nearly nine feet for par, but he stepped up to the plate in style and there'll return to the course at 14:00 UK time today for the playoff.

Clutch.

Scottie Scheffler says see you tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/brwsCDfhys

-- PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 29, 2026

The two men will play the 18^th hole until someone betters the others score and it's very hard to call.

Scheffler, who was the 5.69/2 pre-event favourite, has played in four playoffs previously, winning two and losing two and this is only Hovland's second.

The Norwegian, who was a 46.045/1 chance before the off, won the Memorial Tournament in extra time in 2023, beating Denny McCarthy at the first extra hole.

The market favours Scheffler, who currently trades at 1.748/11, with Hovland a slightly tempting 2.3411/8 chance.

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11:10 - June 28, 2026 - Scheffler still odds-on with 18 to play

After a slow start to round three of the Travelers Championship yesterday, the halfway leader, Scottie Schffler, who played his first 10 holes in level par, got his skates on - on the back nine, birdying the 11^th, 13^th, 14^th and 15^th holes to stay ahead of his closest challenger, Viktor Hovland.

The world number one looked all set to maintain his lead overnight until a two-stroke swing on the 18^th saw the top two swap places at the top of the leaderboard and it's the Norwegian that heads into today's final round with the slenderest of advantages.

Here's the 54-hole leaderboard with prices to back at 11:00.

Viktor Hovland -20 2.466/4
Scottie Scheffler -19 1.875/6
Patrick Cantlay -15 40.039/1
Akshay Bhatia -15 55.054/1
-13 and 230.0229/1 bar

The market strongly favours the world number one over the 54-hole leader and the in-running trends here at TPC River Highlands suggest that's correct.

Although four of the last nine winners were leading after 54 holes, the third-round leader or co-leader has gone on to win only seven times in the last 22 years.

Hovland has held a clear lead after 54 holes four times previously and he's only failed to convert once, at the Boise Open on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2019.

Since then, he's successfully converted a one stroke lead at the Puerto Rico Open in 2020, a three-shot lead at the BMW International Open on the DP World Tour, and a two-stroke lead at the World Wide Technology Championship, in 2021.

Like four of the last 12 winners of the Travelers, Hovland missed the cut at the US Open last week and that could hold the key today.

Scheffler was in-contention all week at Shinnecock and mental and physical fatigue may be an issue so having layed him yesterday, I'm going to leave things alone for now.

It looks highly likely that one of the front two will claim the spoils but we can't completely rule out an off the pace winner.

Russell Knox won from three adrift a decade ago after the clear odds-on leader, Daniel Berger, shot a disappointing 74 to finish tied fifth but many a winner has come from even further back. 

Marc Leishman trailed by six 14 years ago, as did Bubba in 2010, and again eight years ago, and the two veterans Watson beat in the playoff 16 years ago (Scott Verplank and Corey Pavin) came from six and eight shots back respectively.

When Brad Faxon won in 2005, he was trailing by seven after three rounds. Phil Mickelson won from five back in 2002 and Kevin Streelman was four back and trading at 55.054/1 in 2014. 

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19:00 - June 27, 2026 - Long odds-on Neimann wobbles in Turin

The 36-hole leader, Joakin Niemann, played his first eight holes of round three at the in four-under-par Italian Open today and he looked long odds-on to make at least a birdie at the par five ninth when he found the green in two, but having been matched at as low as 1.21/5 and having led by as many as five, he missed his birdie effort from inside three feet.

Whether the short miss on nine rattled him or not is hard to gauge but he bogeyed his next three holes before going on to post a four-over-par 39 on the back nine, and that was the worst back nine by anyone in the field in round three.

His playing partner, Angel Ayora, who had begun round three two off the lead and two clear of Matt Wallace and Eugenio Chacarra, was again a bit disappointing in-contention, matching Niemann's level-par 71.

Wallace and Chacarra both played nicely but with a burst of three birdies in-a-row from the 15^th, it's the Spaniard that's hit the front ahead of tomorrow's early start.

With poor weather in the forecast, there'll be in three-balls tomorrow morning with the final group kicking off at 10:35 (9:35 in the UK).  

Here's the 54-hole leaderboard with prices to back at 18:50.

Eugenio Chacarra -17 2.3811/8
Joaquin Neimann -15 3.211/5
Matt Wallace -15 5.95/1
Angel Ayora -13 18.017/1
Nicolai Von Dellingshausen -13 60.059/1
Dylan Fritelli -12 140.0139/1
-11 and 320.0319/1 bar

Having layed Niemann this morning at odds-on, I'm in a strong position heading into round four and I've now added the man alongside him with 18 to play at 5/16.00.

As highlighted in the preview, experienced pros dominated the leaderboards at the two previous editions at the venue, and the 36-year-old Englishman looks fractionally big at 5/16.00.

It's obviously very hard to predict how tomorrow will pan out but I may look to lay Chacarra if he goes odds-on.

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Can Chacarra kick on in round four?

The 26-year-old won the KLM Open at the start of the month, having been tied for the lead with a round to go, and he won the Indian Open last year, having led by a stroke with 18 to play, but he traded at as short as 1.162/13 when attempting to defend in India, when he'd led by four with a round to go, and he also finished fourth at the China Open last year after he'd been tied for the lead through 54 holes.

He has a mixed record when leading or co-leading, winning two and losing two, but on all four occasions he's failed to break 70.

Neimann may well bounce back tomorrow but it's been a draining 10 days or so for the Chilean and today's back-nine was quite ugly so he's hard to fancy with confidence.

Ayora, who sits alongside last year's Austrian Open, Nicolai Von Dellingshausen, looks like one to be wary of for now in-the-mix, although it's worth highlighting that he still learning and is only 21, but the value appears to sit with Wallace with 18 to play.

The Englishman is a five-time winner on the DP World Tour and a winner on the PGA Tour (won the Corales Puntacana Championship in 2023) and he looks very fairly priced at 5/16.00.

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12:10 - June 27, 2026 - Scheffler two clear at River Highlands

It's not often we see someone trading at odds-on after two rounds on either the DP World Tour or the PGA Tour and I can't recall the last time it happened on both Tours in the same week but that's the case this week.

The 10.519/2 pre-event favourite, Joaquin Niemann, leads the Italian Open by two strokes over Spain's rising star, Angel Ayora, and the 5.79/2 pre-event jolly at the Travelers Championship, Scottie Scheffler, leads by two over Viktor Hovland, after opening the event with rounds of 64 and 60.

Niemann heads into round three trading at 1.758/11 and Scheffler is now a 1.422/5 chance.

On -16 at halfway, Scheffler is two clear of Hovland, who is two clear of Akshay Bhatia and Eric Cole, who Dave Tindall correctly predicted to end round one with the lead at 50/151.00.

Scheffler is obviously the man to beat but I'm happy to take him on modestly at 1.422/5.

He won the Open Championship last year having led by a stroke at halfway and he's won twice when three clear at the midway point but he's also failed to convert on three occasions when he's only led by one at halfway - at the Byron Nelson in 2023, The Sentry in 2024 and the Houston Open last year.

He finished only sixth her last year when defending the title having been tied for the lead after rounds one and two and looking at past results at TPC River Highlands, he may be worth opposing modestly.

In the last 30 years, 20 players have held a clear 36-hole lead and only five of them went on to win.

And eight have led by two or more and only two went on to win so it's clearly not an easy place to make the running.

It's obviously not as simple as that as most of them weren't even close to the player that Scheffler is but it's never easy to back up a low round and we also have to consider that he's coming off a gruelling week at the US Open.

I suspect he will get the job done but he's simply too short at 1.422/5 and the same can be said of Niemann in Italy.

Both could suffer from mental and physical fatigue over the weekend after a long week at Shinnecock.

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Neimann two clear in Italy

Having written the following before the off, I'm kicking myself for not backing the Chilean.

"It's very tempting to back the favourite, Joaquin Niemann, who finished tied for seventh, beaten by five strokes, at last week's US Open, despite dropping seven strokes on one hole in round one!

"After chalking up a nine, thanks mainly to hitting two drives out of bounds on the par four sixth hole, Niemann was penalised a further two strokes for serious misconduct because he threw his club around 50 yards in anger.

"Had he parred that hole instead of making an 11, he'd have finished the week two in front of the winner, Clark.

"That's obviously a far too simplistic way to look at what would have transpired had he not dropped seven strokes on one hole in round one, but the fact remains that he played extremely well, and importantly, he putted really nicely.

"The Chilean is a class act trading at a nice price on the Betfair Exchange ([10/1 at the time) but he often starts slowly and for that reason I'm going to leave him out before the get-go."

He hasn't started slowly!

Like Scheffler, he's very much the man to beat but he too is too short and worth a modest lay at 1.758/11.

Niemann has been playing on the LIV Golf Tour, which up until this year has featured only 54-hole events so he hasn't led a 72-hole event often.

In fact, he's only led a 72-hole event twice - way back in 2019 in his homeland, when he finished third, beaten by by three, and as recently as February on the Asian Tour, where he finished third in India, beaten by eight, having led by two at halfway.

Both men may well kick on and claim the spoils but I'm happy to take them on modestly at the prices.

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