50 years in the making: Scottie Scheffler becomes first back-to-back Players champion

PONTE VEDRA BEACH — Scottie Scheffler’s neck didn’t appear to bother him Sunday in the final round of the 50th Players Championship, other than the occasional shrug or rub before hitting a shot.

In reality, he’s become a pain in the neck for the rest of the PGA Tour, some of whom see the world’s No. 1-ranked player as an incarnation of Tiger Woods, one to be watched and feared when peeking at leaderboards and seeing his name climb.

“On [No.] 11 I looked ... it's the first time I really looked at a leaderboard,” said Wyndham Clark, who led The Players for the first 49 holes of the tournament. “I kind of chuckled and I said, ‘yeah, of course.’ I mean, he's the best player in the world.”

When 54-hole leader Xander Schauffle was asked what he thought when he saw Scheffler make his move, his reaction was direct.

“Just another week,” he said.

Debate if you will whether Scheffler can reach Woods’ level of domination. And at the age of 27 in his fifth full season on the Tour, Scheffler is still 14 majors and 74 Tour titles behind.

But Scheffler has something Woods never had, or anyone else, for that matter: back-to-back Players Championship victories.

Scheffler matches Love, Couples final rounds

Scheffler stormed back from five shots off the lead at the start of the day and matched the best final-round score for a winner with a bogey-free 64 to win his second Players in a row at 20-under-par 268 at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.

He won by one shot over Schauffele (70), Clark (69), who is the defending U.S. Open champion, and Brian Harman (68) of St. Simons Island, Ga., the defending British Open champion.

Scheffler tied Fred Couples (1996) and Davis Love III (2003) for the low final round by a Players champion. He tied Fuzzy Zoeller (1994) for the second-lowest 72-hole score by a winner (Greg Norman beat Zoeller by four shots that year) and won for the eighth time in his career and the second week in row.

He also broke one of the longest streaks in golf: no one in the previous 49 years of The Players had ever successfully defended their title.

Scheffler, who won by five shots last year, is the seventh multiple winner of The Players, joining Woods, Love, Couples, Jack Nicklaus, Hal Sutton and Steve Elkington. Nicklaus is the only person to have won it three times.

“I think that's why we put in all the work, is to be able to finish off tournaments and to play well at the right time,” Scheffler said. “Going into days like today it's nice coming out on top, for sure. It's a great feeling.”

Scheffler earned 700 FedEx Cup points to solidify his hold at the top of the Tour’s season-long race and earned $4.5 million.

Scheffler said Tiger comparisons are premature

Golf has been looking for the next Tiger Woods, just as it was looking for the next Jack Nicklaus before Woods came along.

Stars who got on extended hot streaks such as Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Kopeka have failed to measure up to Woods over the balance of their careers — some of which are still going strong.

Scheffler, as unassuming as any contemporary Tour star, is the one who counsels patience with such expectations, despite winning eight times, two Players and a Masters since 2020-21.

“Anytime you can be compared to Tiger I think is really special,” he said. “But ... the guy stands alone I think in our game. He really does. This is my eighth tournament win now out here, I've tied him in Players Championships. Outside of that, I got 14 more majors and 70-some PGA Tour events to catch up. So I think I'm going to stick to my routine and just continue to plod along, try and stay as even-keeled as I can.”

But Scheffler is posting Woods-like ball-striking numbers. He hit 12 of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 greens in the final round, needed only 25 putts and led the field in Strokes Gained (SG) total, SG off the tee and SG tee-to-green.

Scheffler makes his move with an eagle at No. 4

Scheffler may want to put the brakes on putting his name in the same sentence with Woods.

But he sure looked like a Tiger on Sunday.

Scheffler played in the fourth group from the last and began his move up the board with an eagle-two at the par-4 fourth hole (he holed a wedge from 92 yards) and a birdie at the difficult par-5 fifth hole, on a putt of nearly 18 feet.

He birdied another tough hole, the long par-3 eighth, on a 16-foot putt, then drained an 11-footer at No. 9 after he went after a 62-foot eagle attempt too hard.

Birdies at Nos. 11 and 12 followed and Scheffler finally passed Schauffele with a birdie at No. 16, getting up-and-down from the left bunker.

Scheffler has shot in the 60s in his last eight rounds at the Stadium Course. And he did it with the nagging fear that his neck pain might affect his game, or worse, force him to withdraw.

Scheffler's neck was 'quite painful'

Scheffler's neck issues cropped up early in his first round, and he was getting quick massages from a physical therapist between holes. He said it got worse on the 12th hole in the second round.

"When my neck pinched, I think I had like 90 yards to the pin and hit a 56-degree [wedge]," he said. "It was quite painful. I didn't really know if I was going to be able to swing."

Scheffler said even putting was bothersome because it hurt more to turn his head to the left to look at the hole.

"But I figured as long as I could get through the round on Friday," he said. "Saturday. I felt a little bit better. Sunday felt pretty good overall."

Trio tied for second had their chances

Schauffele, Clark and Harman weren’t playing poorly Sunday. They combined to go 9-under with 14 birdies.

But they all made critical mistakes with Scheffler breathing down their necks. Schauffle bogeyed Nos. 14 and 15 after missing the fairways to the right. Harman failed to birdie the short par-4 12th hole and was the only player among the contenders who failed to pick up a shot at the 16th. And Clark bogeyed Nos. 10 and 14 after missing both greens.

“I hung in there,” said Schauffle, who began the day with a one-shot lead over Clark. “I gave myself a realistic chance. I hung tough ... no surprise to see Scottie’s name up there.”

After barely missing a birdie attempt of 16 feet, 7 inches at No. 18, Scheffler bided his time in the past champions locker room, then hit some balls on the range in anticipation of a playoff.

Players tied for second all had their chances

Then came the heartbreak.

Schauffele missed a birdie attempt of less than 7 feet at No. 17, and had a 60-footer at No. 18 sail past the hole on the right after pulling a second shot from the pine straw on the right of the fairway and missing the putt after a bold effort.

Harman, who ran off three birdies in a row to close out the front nine, missed from 28 feet at No. 17 and from 20-8 at the last, burning the left edge.

The gut-wrenching moment came when Clark, who was brilliant with opening rounds of 65-65, and solid if not spectacular in posting weekend scores of 70-69, faced a birdie attempt of 16-10 at No. 18. He was coming off short birdie putts at Nos. 16 and 17, after falling two shots off the pace at one point.

Clark had a perfect read but too much steam on the ball. Almost half the ball was below the cup, and it spun out, dropping Clark to his knees.

“I don't know how that putt doesn't go in,” he said. “It was kind of right-center with like a foot to go, and I knew it was going to keep breaking, but it had speed and I thought it was going to good inside left, and even when it kind of lipped, I thought it would lip in. I'm pretty gutted it didn't go in.”

The consolation prize will be $1,981,667 million for each of the three players tied for second, which tops every first-place check prior to 2019.

Clark has finished solo second and tied for second to Scheffler in the last two weeks. He has earned more than $4 million in those two weeks.

"Obviously there's positives in it. You finish second, you get a bunch of points and money and all that stuff, but it just sucks," Clark said. "I'm really hoping that these two seconds are just leading to something greater. I'm really looking forward to what's ahead."

Money is one thing. Trying to throw a lasso over Scheffler is another.

"He's the best player in the world, and this is a championship golf course ... so the best player this week won,” said Harman. “That's kind of what you want in a golf tournament. We all had our chances, and he just performed — he out-executed two or three more times than the rest of us.”

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Scottie Scheffler becomes first repeat Players champion with final-round 64