Ponte Vedra, Florida – It’s Scottie Scheffler’s world, and we’re all just living in it . . .
It took 50 years of playing The Players Championship for us to see a repeat winner, and that unicorn who finally broke through and defended his title was world No.1 Scottie Scheffler. Scheffler’s final-round, 8-under 64 at TPC Sawgrass was good for a 20-under par (268 total), coming back from a five-stroke deficit to win be one over Wyndham Clark, 54-hole leader Xander Schauffele and 2023 Open Champion Brian Harman.
The 27 year-old Texan dealt with several challenges during the week, including a nagging pinched nerve in his neck – where he required treatment on the course during Friday’s second round. Scheffler took the lead after a front nine 31 on Sunday, that including a 92-yard, hole-out for eagle at the par-4 fourth, then made three more birdies before the turn. All three runner-ups had a chance to send the championship to extra holes, but it wasn’t to be, it was Scheffler’s time. Not only did Scheffler repeat at The Players, but he won the previous week at The Arnold Palmer Invitational winning back-to-back on the PGA Tour.
“I didn’t really know if I was going to be able to swing,” he said. Scheffler received on-course massage from therapist Marnus Marais during the middle of the back nine on Friday. “It was kind of miraculous that he could even get it around,” said caddie Ted Scott. “It just shows you what tenacity, resilience, whatever fancy words that you want to use to describe Scottie Scheffler.”
Even with the injury, Scheffler still proved to the finest ball-striker for the week – leading the field in Strokes Gained in several categories including: Tee-to-Green, Off-the-Tee and Driving Accuracy, while also ranking in the top 10 of Greens in Regulation (T3) and Approach (7th).
Ted Scott’s man now has eight career PGA Tour wins and is the obvious betting favorite to win the Masters in April.
