For the first time in its 50 years of rivals, The Players Championship topped a repeat champion, and his title is Scottie Scheffler.
Combating by way of neck ache and tough the PGA Tour’s best amid the pitfalls of the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, Scheffler triumphed in a gripping four-way battle ahead of Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark and Brian Harman in Sunday’s final spherical.
Clark nearly pressured a playoff collectively along with his birdie putt on 18, nonetheless his putt lipped out.
Scheffler erased a five-stroke deficit with a final-round 64 and topped the sphere with 20 beneath for the match, the first-ever back-to-back winner of the Gold Man Trophy inside the golden anniversary of The Players. Clark, Harman and Schauffele each obtained right here in at 19 beneath.
The 27-year-old Dallas resident turns into the seventh man to win the Players quite a few events, turning into a member of Jack Nicklaus, Hal Sutton, Davis Love III, Fred {{Couples}}, Steve Elkington and Tiger Woods.
Scheffler, who obtained remedy Friday and Saturday for neck ache that hampered his backswing and his means to kind pictures, began with an eagle on No. 4. From there, he added birdies on Nos. 5, 8, 9, 11, 12 and ultimately No. 16 to maneuver into sole possession of the lead, closing with a par on the treacherous 18th.
The worthwhile ranking was the underside at The Players since Greg Norman acquired at 24 beneath inside the 1994 Players. Scheffler’s final-round 64 tied for the underside for a Players champion, turning into a member of {{Couples}} in 1996 and Love in 2003.
St. Simons Island resident Harman, needing a birdie at 18 to stress a playoff, escaped pine straw to hunt out the inexperienced in two nonetheless couldn’t sink the birdie attempt from 17 toes, 4 inches.
Morning chief Schauffele had a possibility to tie Scheffler on the Island Inexperienced nonetheless pulled a birdie putt left from 6 toes, 8 inches. He then missed correct collectively along with his tee shot on 18 into the pine straw, leading to an technique that left him over 60 toes from the outlet. His birdie putt rolled merely broad correct of the cup.
Clark, who had made birdies at 16 and 17 to close the outlet, hit his technique on 18 to just about the an identical spot as Harman, 17 toes and 4 inches from the cup. His putt rolled throughout the rim and bounced out merely when it appeared set to drop.