The final round of the $A29 million signature event was stopped for 90 minutes as storms moved over the TPC River Highland course in Connecticut, creating a dash to finish, and officials deemed there was not enough daylight for them to play another hole.
World No.1 Scheffler shot a two-under-par 68 and third-round leader Hovland posted a 69 as they both finished at 21-under 259.
Norwegian Hovland nearly won it with his birdie attempt from about 25 feet on the last hole, but the ball settled inches from the cup.
Scheffler needed to save par with his second putt from just inside nine feet. He fist-pumped emphatically when his ball dropped.
"It's more fun when you're making the ones to win," said Scheffler.
"But to keep yourself in it is also nice. Like I said, I live another day until tomorrow, and will be coming out in the morning and see what I can do."
Hovland fell behind by two early, only for a two-shot swing on No.7. There was a two-shot swing in Scheffler's favourto start the back nine, and then Hovland made up ground with three straight birdies, the final two after rain changed the condition of the course.
The break was good for Hovland just to settle him down.
"I hit some good shots and then some bad shots and I just couldn't quite get a flow in," Hovland said. "So it was nice to just get completely off the golf course and reset and I felt a lot better coming back. So sometimes that's all you need."
Scheffler and Hovland finished one shot ahead of Collin Morikawa, who closed brilliantly with a 61 and was briefly tied for the lead, though it never looked as though it would be enough.
England's Matt Fitzpatrick (64) placed fourth at 19 under. Wyndham Clark (65), a week removed from winning the US Open, and Akshay Bhatia (67) shared fifth place a shot further back.
It wasn't a great week for the three Australians in the elite 72-player field.
Jason Day closed with a 69 to tie for 55th at six under, while Min Woo Lee surged with a 66 to be two strokes further back.
Adam Scott (71) was 65th at three under.
