Scheffler first back-to-back Players champ
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Scottie Scheffler refused to relinquish The Players Championship trophy.
It didn’t matter if he suffered from neck pain, or if he fell as many as nine strokes off the pace in the third round, Scheffler made no excuses. He slapped it around until his neck improved on Sunday and fired a final-round 8-under 64 at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass to edge Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman and Xander Schauffele, three of the top-10 players in the world, and become the first player to repeat as champion in the 50-year history of The Players.
“It’s tough enough to win one Players,” said Scheffler, whose final-round 64 tied for the lowest for a Players champion, joining Fred Couples in 1996 and Davis Love III in 2003, and he tied Justin Leonard in 1998 with his five-shot comeback. “So to have it back-to-back is extremely special.”
The final round played out under glorious sunshine at the Pete Dye-designed masterpiece and turned into great theater on Sunday.
Schauffele, the reigning Olympic champion, entered the final round with a one-stroke lead and remained in front with six holes to go thanks to a splendid short game. But he made back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 14 and 15 to drop two back. He birdied 16 but narrowly missed a 7-foot birdie attempt at 17. When his second shot at 18 flew 62 feet past the hole to the back ridge of the green, he placed his hands on his knees in disappointment as if he knew he’d let the title get away. Schauffele, who closed in 70, is winless the last six times he’s been in the final pairing.
“When I went to bed last night, it’s not exactly how I envisioned walking off the 18th green,” he said.
Harman, the reigning British Open champion, made four birdies in a fivehole stretch starting at No. 7 to join the
fray. He closed to within one with a birdie at 15 but managed just pars on the closing three holes, including missing a 17-foot birdie putt at the last.
“I had my chances,” said Harman, who closed in 68, “just didn’t cash in.”
Clark, the reigning U.S. Open champion, made bogey at 14 and fell to 17 under, but he added a birdie at 16 and stuffed his approach to 4 feet at 17 for another one. His 17-foot birdie putt at 18 was the last-ditch effort to force a playoff and it caught the left lip and cruelly spun out the right side. Clark covered his mouth with his right hand in disbelief.
“I don’t know how that putt doesn’t go in,” said Clark, who shot 69. “I’m pretty gutted.”
Scheffler, who was warming up on the range in case of a playoff, heard a collective groan from the gallery that said it all. He won for the second week in a row, but this one was a pain in the neck – literally. On his second hole of his second
round, he strained his neck while hitting a long iron that required two separate mid-round sessions with his personal physical therapist to continue and shot 69.
“I told my wife Friday night, I don’t see him playing this weekend,” said Scheffler’s caddie, Ted Scott. “His mobility was maybe 10 degrees.”
The 27-year-old Scheffler received treatment on his injury after the round, which also radiated pain to his right shoulder, and woke up the next day feeling a touch better. It hurt to finish his swing and he took one more club on most shots. As he put it, he “slapped it around,” somehow closing with four birdies in his final five holes on Saturday to stay in the trophy hunt.
“He found a way, which is what the great players do,” Scott said.
Scheffler said he felt “close to normal” on Sunday, though Scott isn’t buying it. On the range before the final round, Scheffler, who wore two strips of
KP tape on the left side of his neck, asked Scott to check his alignment.
“When he opened up to hit the shot and looked at the shot, his hips opened up 20 degrees. He couldn’t turn his head (left),” Scott said. “I didn’t know how today would go. Adrenaline is a crazy thing.”
The juices were flowing when Scheffler holed out from 92 yards for eagle at the fourth hole. Scheffler followed with an 18-foot birdie putt on 5. He surged up the leaderboard making four birdies in a five-hole span beginning at No. 8.
It didn’t hurt that Scheffler played bogey-free over his last 31 holes. At No. 11, Clark eyed the leaderboard for the first time all day and there was confirmation that Scheffler, who’d beaten him the week before too at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, had made his move. He chuckled and said, “Of course.”
Indeed, Scheffler is going to be a pain in the neck to beat for some time. He splashed out of a pot bunker to a foot at 16 to set up his final birdie and reach 20 under, the lowest winning score at The Players since Greg Norman’s record 24 under aggregate in the 1994 Players.
Scheffler became the seventh man to win The Players multiple times, joining Jack Nicklaus, Hal Sutton, Love, Couples, Steve Elkington and Tiger Woods. It marked Scheffler’s eighth wins in 26 months, and he’s got an iron-clad hold on world No. 1. But Scheffler isn’t the type to let any of it go to his head. He recalled that just last month he hit a tee shot at the Genesis Invitational and a fan yelled out, “Congrats on being No. 1 Scottie. Eleven more years to go.”
That’s all it will take to match Woods’ reign at the top of the mountain of men’s professional golf. After the trophy ceremony, Scheffler was prepping to take photos with his family on the stage and gripped the golden trophy loosely with one hand. His sister, Callie, offered to hold it, but Scottie would hear none of it. “I’ve got it, I’ve got it,” he said.
He most definitely does – and for a second straight year.