The Players Championship crowned a repeat champion, Scottie Scheffler, for the first time in its 50-year history.
In the final round on Sunday, Scheffler prevailed in a thrilling four-way struggle ahead of Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark, and Brian Harman, despite suffering from neck pain and taking on the top players on the PGA Tour amidst the hazards of the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.
Clark's birdie putt on hole eighteen almost forced a playoff, but it lipped out.
In the final round, Scheffler overcame a five-stroke deficit with a 64, and he finished the tournament at 20 under, becoming the first back-to-back winner of the Gold Man Trophy in The Players' golden jubilee. Each of Clark, Harman, and Schauffele scored 19 under.
In the final round, Scheffler overcame a five-stroke deficit with a 64, and he finished the tournament at 20 under, becoming the first back-to-back winner of the Gold Man Trophy in The Players' golden jubilee. Each of Clark, Harman, and Schauffele scored 19 under.
The 27-year-old Dallas resident joins Jack Nicklaus, Hal Sutton, Davis Love III, Fred Couples, Steve Elkington, and Tiger Woods as the eighth man to win the Players multiple times.
Scheffler started with an eagle on No. 4, having undergone therapy on Friday and Saturday for neck stiffness that was impeding his backswing and his ability to shape shots. He then went on to add birdies on Nos. 5, 8, 9, 11, 12, and lastly No. 16 to take the lead entirely. He finished with a par on the tricky 18th hole.
Scheffler started with an eagle on No. 4, having undergone therapy on Friday and Saturday for neck stiffness that was impeding his backswing and his ability to shape shots. He then went on to add birdies on Nos. 5, 8, 9, 11, 12, and lastly No. 16 to take the lead entirely. He finished with a par on the tricky 18th hole.
Since Greg Norman won at 24 under at the 1994 Players, the winning score was the lowest at The Players. Scheffler's final-round 64, along with Couples' in 1996 and Love's in 2003, matched for the lowest of any Players champion.
Harman, a resident of St. Simons Island, needed a birdie at 18 to force a playoff. He managed to get past pine straw and find the green in two, but he was unable to sink the birdie putt from 17 feet, 4 inches.
At the Island Green, morning leader Schauffele had an opportunity to tie Scheffler, but he missed a birdie putt from six feet, eight inches. Then, on hole 18, he erred badly on his tee shot into the pine straw, forcing him to approach the hole more than sixty feet away. His putt for the birdie went just wide to the right of the cup.
After making birdies at 16 and 17, Clark attempted to narrow the distance. On 18, he approached the cup from nearly the exact same distance—17 feet and 4 inches—as Harman. Just when it looked like it was about to drop, his putt bounced out and rolled around the rim.
Scottie Scheffler wins The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in year 50