Ponte Vedra, Florida – Scottie Scheffler started Sunday’s final round with a two-stroke cushion over Min Woo Lee, and after seven holes the lead remained just two, but after five straight birdies that included a chip-in on the par 3 eighth, the drama was over. Before Sunday, only two players in the history of The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass had shot all four rounds in the 60’s, today Scottie Scheffler became the third to do so – firing rounds of 68-69-65-69 (17 under par – 271 total) to win the PGA Tour’s flagship event by 5 shots over Terrell Hatton (who carded a final round 65, for the lowest round of the day).
It was just thirteen months ago that Scheffler was winless on tour, and today he has run his total to 6 in his last 27 starts. And, with all due respect to his win at Augusta National last April, this victory at The Players may just be his most impressive to date, he dominated the best field in golf on Pete Dye’s demanding Stadium Course and he made it look easy. Scheffler only had five bogeys for the week, and in his post-round press conference on Sunday, the defending Masters Champion stayed humble as usual – giving credit to caddie Ted Scott for helping him achieve success, “I guess the experience helps, I talked a little about that. I didn’t feel any different last year, but I would say I’m a bit more comfortable knowing what I need to do. Before Phoenix (in ’22) I think I had this idea that I needed to play perfect on Sundays and hit nothing but good shots, and that’s not necessarily how golf is played – very rarely do I hit exactly how I want to, maybe only a couple times a tournament and so most of it is just managing yourself around a golf course and Teddy has been a huge part of that, helping me stay patient and grinding things out and trusting ourselves, he’s been a huge part of that on the golf course.”
Swirling winds throughout the week, proved to humble many of the games’ best, but Tom Hoge figured things out on Saturday. Hoge, who made the cut on the number at 2 over par on Friday, blistered the course on Saturday, setting a new course record (10 under par) 62. Hoge finished tied for third with Victor Hovland at 10 under par.
Scheffler regained No.1 in the Official World Golf Rankings, bolted to the top of the Fedex Cup points standings, and collected 4.5 million for the win at TPC Sawgrass.
