Scottie Scheffler becomes first golfer to win back-to-back Players Championships
For the first time in its 50 years of competition, The Players Championship crowned a repeat champion, and his name is Scottie Scheffler.
Fighting through neck pain and challenging 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 round.
Clark nearly forced a playoff with his birdie putt on 18, but his putt lipped out.
Scheffler erased a five-stroke deficit with a final-round 64 and topped the field at 20 under for the tournament, becoming the first-ever back-to-back winner of the Gold Man Trophy on the golden anniversary of The Players. Clark, Harman and Schauffele each came in at 19 under.
The 27-year-old Dallas resident becomes the seventh man to win the Players multiple times, joining Jack Nicklaus, Hal Sutton, Davis Love III, Fred Couples, Steve Elkington and Tiger Woods.
Scheffler, who received treatment Friday and Saturday for neck pain that hampered his backswing and his ability to shape shots, began with an eagle on No. 4. From there, he added birdies on Nos. 5, 8, 9, 11, 12 and finally No. 16 to move into sole possession of the lead, closing with a par on the treacherous 18th.
The winning score was the lowest at The Players since Greg Norman won at 24 under in the 1994 Players. Scheffler's final-round 64 tied for the lowest for a Players champion, joining Couples in 1996 and Love in 2003.
Harman, needing a birdie at 18 to force a playoff, escaped pine straw to find the green in two but couldn't sink the birdie attempt from 17 feet, 4 inches.
Morning leader Schauffele had a chance to tie Scheffler at the Island Green but pulled a birdie putt left from 6 feet, 8 inches. He then missed right with his tee shot on 18 into the pine straw, leading to an approach that left him over 60 feet from the hole. His birdie putt rolled just wide right of the cup.
Clark, who had made birdies at 16 and 17 to close the gap, hit his approach on 18 to almost the same spot as Harman, 17 feet and 4 inches from the cup. His putt rolled around the rim and bounced out just when it appeared set to drop.