Hovland’s Winning Roll and Ryu’s Putter Reset Defined the Week

Compiled by Multiple-Award-Winning PGA Professional Brendon R. Elliott, PrimePutt’s Director of Instruction and Lead Writer

Between Viktor Hovland winning the Travelers Championship in a Monday playoff on the PGA Tour and Haeran Ryu completing a remarkable comeback at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship on the LPGA Tour, the week in professional golf came down to the same uncomfortable truth every player knows. The putter can save you, expose you, reset you or completely change the shape of a tournament.

Hovland’s winning moment at TPC River Highlands was as clean a pressure-putting example as golf can offer. Scottie Scheffler had hit his approach tight on the first playoff hole and looked like he had the advantage, but Hovland rolled in a 7-footer for birdie. Scheffler then missed from 2 feet, 4 inches, burning the left edge with a putt he later said was on his line but “just a little firm.”

At Hazeltine National, Ryu’s putting story was not about one single putt. It was about a decision. After opening the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship with a 73 and struggling badly on the greens, she changed putters mid-championship and immediately flipped the direction of her week. By Sunday night, she was a major champion.

Two tours. Two very different putting stories. One shared lesson.

The ball does not care how good the rest of your game has been.

Hovland Delivered First

What made Hovland’s playoff putt so impressive was the order of events.

He did not get to react to Scheffler’s miss. He did not know the door was open. He stood over his birdie putt knowing Scheffler was close, knowing the world No. 1 was likely to make, and knowing that anything less than a committed roll could hand the tournament away.

That is what pressure putting really is. It is not just the length of the putt. It is what the putt means.

Hovland’s birdie putt snuck in on the right side, and that was enough. The stroke did not need to be perfect. The ball did not need to dive into the center of the cup. It needed the right speed, the right read and enough trust to reach the hole with a chance.

That last part matters.

So many pressure putts are missed before the stroke because the player becomes afraid of the result. Hovland had every reason to feel that. Instead, he rolled it like a player willing to live with the outcome.

Scheffler’s Miss Was a Reminder, Not a Red Flag

Scheffler’s miss will get replayed because it was short, dramatic and decisive. That is how professional golf works. But it should not become some lazy referendum on his putting.

His putter had already done real work the day before. Golf Channel noted that Scheffler needed an 8-footer for par on the 72nd hole just to force the playoff, and he converted it. That was one of several important putts he made during the final round.

Still, the playoff miss is valuable because of what it teaches.

Short putts under pressure are not automatic, even for the best players in the world. They require speed discipline. Scheffler’s own explanation said plenty. He felt like he hit the line, but the putt was too firm. That is the fine edge of pressure putting. A ball rolling just a touch too fast can make the hole play smaller, especially on a putt with any break or edge involved.

For everyday golfers, that is the lesson. On short putts that matter, the goal is not to prove how brave you are by ramming it in. The goal is to match your line and speed. Firm enough to hold the line. Soft enough to let the hole accept the ball.

That balance is where pressure putting lives.

Ryu Changed the Tool and Changed the Tournament

On the LPGA Tour, Haeran Ryu’s week at Hazeltine may have been the best putting story of all because it showed something every golfer has felt at some point.

Sometimes you need a reset.

Ryu opened the championship 10 shots behind after a 1-over 73 and was ranked 141st in Strokes Gained: Putting on Thursday. She then switched from a TaylorMade 5K-ZT model to a Scotty Cameron Phantom 11R OC, a putter she had used previously, and gained 4.445 strokes on the greens during an 8-under second round that ranked first in the field for Strokes Gained: Putting that day.

That is not just an equipment note. That is a confidence note.

Players do not change putters in the middle of a major championship unless something feels off. Ryu’s move worked because it gave her a look and feel she trusted. From there, the rest of her game had room to breathe.

She finished the week at 13 under for her first major title and fourth LPGA Tour victory, completing one of the most significant comeback wins in women’s major championship history. Hazeltine’s recap noted that she began the championship tied for 70th and 10 shots off the lead, then closed with a final-round 70 to win by two.

That is the power of the putter. It can turn a player from chasing the cut line to holding a trophy.

One More LPGA Pressure Moment

Ryu’s win was the headline, but Dewi Weber’s finish was another reminder that a single putt can carry more weight than the scorecard shows.

Weber finished tied for third at 10 under, a career-best LPGA Tour finish and the first top-five major finish by a player from the Netherlands. But on the 18th green Sunday, she missed a 5-footer to save par that would have left her tied for second instead of tied for third. The financial difference was roughly $250,000.

That is not to reduce a great week to one miss. Weber herself recognized how much good there was in the performance. But it is a perfect example of why putting at the professional level is never just about trophies.

It can affect standings. It can affect exemptions. It can affect money. It can affect confidence.

For amateurs, the stakes are different, but the feeling is familiar. A putt to win $5 from your buddy can feel like a major. A putt to shoot your best score can feel like a million dollars. Pressure is relative, but the body reacts like it matters.

PrimePutt Takeaway of the Week

This week gave us three different putting lessons.

Hovland showed what it looks like to roll the putt first and put pressure on the player who is supposed to answer.

Scheffler showed how even a short putt can become complicated when speed and line do not match.

Ryu showed how confidence with the putter can change the entire direction of a tournament.

That is why pressure putting practice has to be more than hitting the same five-footer until one finally goes in. You need practice that asks you to commit once, roll once and live with the result. You need to train speed as much as start line. You need to understand that confidence is not some magic feeling. It is often built from preparation, comfort and a tool that lets you trust what you are doing.

The best players in the world reminded us of that again this week.

On the PGA Tour, one putt won the playoff.

On the LPGA Tour, one putter change helped win a major.

Different stories. Same message.

When the moment gets big, the putter always gets a vote.

YTD Putting Watch

The week’s biggest putting moments are always the headline, but the year-to-date numbers help give those moments context.

On the PGA Tour, the current SG: Putting leaders are Vince Whaley, Jake Knapp and Akshay Bhatia. Whaley continues to set the pace in one of the game’s most revealing categories, gaining more than three-quarters of a stroke per round on the greens. That matters because SG: Putting is not just counting putts. It is measuring how much value a player is creating with the putter compared to the field.

On the LPGA Tour, the public putting leaderboard is built around average putts per round, where Mi Hyang Lee leads at 28.03. Hyo Joo Kim is close behind at 28.07, followed by Minami Katsu, Patty Tavatanakit and Alexa Pano. That group is a good reminder that putting efficiency looks different from player to player. Some players create advantages through elite speed control. Others do it by converting more chances inside 10 feet. The best do both often enough to stay near the top of the board.

That is why this weekly watch matters. A player can have one great putting week and win a tournament, but the year-to-date leaders show who is consistently turning green-reading, speed and start line into strokes saved over time.

Pressure Putts drops every Monday with the week’s best putting stories, stats and drills from the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour and DP World Tour. Got a putting question or drill request? Drop us a line.