Scheffler back at No.1 as Lee’s charge falters
AMERICAN Scottie Scheffler won The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass by five strokes on Sunday to return to No.1 in the world.
Scheffler ran away with the US PGA Tour showdown at Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, after making five straight birdies between the eighth and 12th holes while his closest rival, Australian Min Woo Lee, imploded.
The defending Masters champion, who ended on 17under par 271, will replace Spain’s Jon Rahm atop the rankings. Rahm withdrew from the event due to illness.
Scheffler won four events on the tour last year, including at Augusta, and now has two more already this season, having won in Phoenix last month.
The 26-year-old from New Jersey began the day with a two-stroke lead over Lee, who immediately reduced the deficit with a birdie on the opening hole.
When Scheffler bogeyed the third, they were in a tie for the lead, but things soon changed dramatically when Lee had a nightmare on the par-4 fourth hole, where he made a triple bogey.
Lee found the rough off the tee and took his medicine, chipping out back on to the fairway, but that cautious decision was followed by his approach shot ending in the water.
A double bogey on the 11th, where he got into trouble in the trees, meant Lee fell out of contention and by then Scheffler was in his groove and moving away from the field.
“It happened really quick,” Lee said.
“It’s one of those things where it’s Sunday and you just make a couple bad decisions and it all kind of falls down.
“To make a seven there, it was pretty gut-wrenching.”
Australia’s Cam Davis was third on the leaderboard overnight but had to settle for a share of sixth after shooting 74.