Climate change protestors disrupt Travelers Championship
Protestors stormed the 18th green during the final round of the Travelers Championship Sunday afternoon.
As Tom Kim stood on the final green with a chance to force a playoff against World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, with the pair poised to take their final putts on the 18th, the gripping finale of the PGA Tour’s final non-cut signature event took another twist.
A group of climate change protesters representing ‘Extinction Rebellion‘ slipped under the ropes, bypassed Cromwell police and stormed the putting surface in astonishing scenes.
The fairway invaders, who appeared to be wearing climate change messages on their t-shirts, tossed red, white and yellow powder at the golf course, with one even trampling through a greenside bunker.
The group of at least five were swiftly arrested by law enforcement on site and carted away. However, the destruction they left in their wake delayed the thrilling end to the tournament.
Protestors stormed the 18th green during the final round of the Travelers Championship
Tour officials were called to the green where groundskeepers waited with leaf blowers ready to be called into action.
Some of the intruders wore t-shirts with the message ‘No Golf On A Dead Planet’ emblazoned across the front.
Police handcuffed at least five people, according to CBS play-by-play man Jim Nantz.
After they were escorted off the course, Scheffler left a potential 26-foot clincher from the fringe on the right edge of the cup, then tapped in for par.
If the delay heightened Kim’s nerves at all he didn’t show it. Following the greenside drama, the 22-year-old calmly stepped up and sank his birdie putt to tie the world’s top-ranked golfer and force a play off.
‘It kind of took like the meaning of the putt kind of a way for a second,’ Kim later told the media. ‘Because for the past 17 and a half holes all you’re thinking about is golf, and suddenly when that happens you’re almost not even playing golf anymore.
‘I thought it was a dream for a second. The security guards were tackling people and people were getting arrested, it’s really hard to see nowadays.
‘It took my mind off of the moment and [I] just kind of realized what was happening and obviously even though those people did something bad, you still don’t want them to get hurt. Obviously the police are trying to protect the players, I get it, but you still don’t want people to get hurt and I think it just kind of personally just took my mind away from golf a little bit and worried about something else.’
Climate change activists stormed the green just before a crucial Scottie Scheffler (right) putt
The fairway invaders, who appeared to be wearing climate change messages on their t-shirts, tossed red, white and yellow powder at the golf course
Police handcuffed at least five people as World No. 1 Scheffler watched on in Connecticut
Extinction Rebellion released a statement shortly after Sunday’s protests at the championship
The group insist they were aiming to highlight the ‘worldwide danger of climate breakdown’
Some intruders wore t-shirts with ‘No Golf On A Dead Planet’ emblazoned across the front
Scheffler eventually held his nerve in the playoff to prevail on a dramatic day over in Connecticut, marking his sixth win on the PGA Tour this year.
He came out on top for the second time in three weeks, capturing the Memorial Tournament prior to last week’s struggles at the US Open.
‘It was definitely a bit weird,’ Scheffler said of the incident after hoisting the trophy. ‘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.
‘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 shot 5-under 65 in the final round, but Kim’s 66 with a 10-foot birdie putt on the last hole forced the extra golf. On the last hole of regulation, Scheffler left his approach on the left fringe and two-putted from there.
Kim’s approach shot was within a couple of inches of the hole before rolling back before he converted the must-make putt to extend the tournament.
The duo played No. 18 again in the playoff, with Kim’s approach short and in a bunker. After blasting out, he couldn’t roll in a long par putt.
Extinction Rebellion released a statement shortly after Sunday’s protests at the Travelers Championship, insisting they were aiming to highlight the ‘worldwide danger of climate breakdown’.
They also pointed to Saturday’s events in Cromwell, where spectators at the tournament were struck by lightning amid a thunderstorm in the area.
Scheffler and Tom Kim (left) were disrupted before taking their final putts on the 18th
Scheffler eventually prevailed after Kim forced a playoff round when play resumed
‘With this action, Extinction Rebellion is NOT protesting any individual or organization,’ the statement reads. ‘Rather, the protest highlights the worldwide danger of climate breakdown.
‘Case in point: the last 13 months were the hottest on record, with extreme weather events around the globe. The activists pointed out that natural disasters are already causing large-scale loss of human, animal, and plant life, as well as significant damage to infrastructure, property, and agriculture.
‘Just yesterday, they noted, at least two fans were injured due to a lightning strike at the Travelers Championship. This was of course due to increasingly unpredictable and extreme weather conditions.’
