PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – On Friday, Scottie Scheffler spent plenty of time getting physiotherapy on his neck – so much so that when he lined up a wedge on the 12th hole at TPC Sawgrass that day there was a little chance he might even need to withdraw.
The pain was enough to see him ask the question. But the opportunity to make history at The Players Championship was too great.
“That’s probably why I kept playing,” Scheffler said.
After an 8-under 64 in the final round, Scheffler went back-to-back at The Players, becoming the first person in the event’s history to win twice in a row. He also won for the second week in a row on the PGA Tour.
“Being at the top of the leaderboard last week and this week, it's a real test mentally and physically. This week was a physical test, as well, just with how my neck was Friday and Saturday,” Scheffler said. “So, I put a lot into trying to win this golf tournament, it's very it's very satisfying to be walking out of here with the trophy.”
Scheffler was standing on the driving range of TPC Sawgrass when he found out he won, as Wyndham Clark’s final-hole birdie try aggressively lipped out. Clark finished tied for second at 19 under alongside Brian Harman and Xander Schauffele. At the time, Scheffler was hitting the wedge shot he thought he was going to need as part of the three-hole aggregate playoff The Players has (they play 16-17-18). Turns out, the extra warm-up was all for not.
Clark had made two birdies in a row on Nos. 16 and 17 but couldn’t quite make a third. The 19-under total from Harman, Clark, and Schauffele would have won every Players Championship contested in history save for one prior to this year – in 1994.
“I don't know how that putt doesn't go in,” Clark said of his final-hole birdie effort. “It was kind of right centre 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 lipped, I thought it would lip in. I'm pretty gutted it didn't go in.”
Scheffler, who trailed by five shots coming into Sunday, became the first golfer on the PGA Tour to win The Players after winning the week prior since Tiger Woods in 2001.
He’s on a historic run with both his results and his ball-striking, ranking first in strokes gained: off the tee this week and in the top 10 in strokes gained: approach the green and around the green – right in line with his season-long stats.
It makes sense, then, that Scheffler would be compared to Woods himself.
But Scheffler knows how much further he has to go in order to actually be compared to Woods. He told a story from this year’s Genesis Invitational where a spectator congratulated Scheffler on returning to world No.1, and then added, “Just 11 more years to go!” That is, or thereabouts, the number of weeks Woods spent as the top-ranked golfer in the world.
“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 plot along, try and stay as even-keeled as I can,” Scheffler said. “Anytime you can be compared to Tiger I think is really special, but, I mean, the guy stands alone I think in our game.”
Woods may, but for now on the PGA Tour, it is very much Scheffler and everyone else.
Corey Conners, who had a front-row seat to Scheffler’s effort on Saturday, ended up as low Canadian after a 4-under 68 in the final round – including a two-foot tap in birdie on the last hole of the week. Conners was much improved with the driver as compared to Saturday when he hit just three fairways. Conners matched that total in his first three holes of Sunday and despite two late bogeys he had a solid final-round climb.
Conners said he spent some time on the driving range Saturday night getting his set-up dialled back in for the final round.
“It’s always something simple, really,” Conners said. “Saturday definitely left a sour taste in my mouth. Definitely wasn’t driving the ball well and left myself in some crazy positions and made it tough on myself.
“It was a solid week. The Saturday round was really disappointing to put me out of contention […] you have to put four good rounds together to contend in these big events.”
Conners, who notched his second top-20 in a row on the PGA Tour, will take two weeks off before returning to the Valero Texas Open as the defending champion.
Mackenzie Hughes shot a 4-under 68 on Sunday – his lowest round of the week – after making the cut on the number. Hughes drove the green on the par-4 12th and converted the eagle (“The number was perfect,” he said. “I landed it short, it rolled to the middle of the green, and I made a 15-footer. It was pretty sweet.”) and had four other birdies in the final round.
Hughes told Sportsnet he was disappointed with his putting – he was 66th in strokes gained: putting for the week, which was among the worst of anyone who made the cut – but he’s looking at the silver lining with his performance.
“I’m working on a few new things, and I’ve seen some great signs. If I putted just ‘average’ this week I’d be pretty far up there,” Hughes said. “To me that’s an encouraging sign as much as its frustrating because I’m doing it with ball striking and my game off the tee. If I do that stuff and continue to do it and the putter is ‘normal Mac Hughes’ I like my chances.
“I feel pretty good into the next run of events.”
Hughes finished tied with Nick Taylor for 27th at 8 under. Taylor was firmly in the mix after the first 36 holes but had a tough start to his Saturday round and tumbled down the leaderboard. He told Sportsnet he needed to “get up” a little, mentally, for today’s finale. Taylor said he “hung in there” well enough through Sunday’s final round en route to a 2-under 70.
“With this course, there’s such a fine line – if you told me at the start of the week I would have finished where I finished, I probably would have been happy but given how I started I’m disappointed,” Taylor said. “Had three under-par rounds out here, (Saturday) was just a weird first 10 holes so I chalk it up to that and move on.”
CANADIAN CHIP SHOTS…
After a tough run to start 2024 where he’s missed four of his last six cuts including this week at The Players Championship, Adam Svensson has made a caddy change. Jace Walker, Mackenzie Hughes’ former looper, will work with Svensson starting next week at the Valspar Championship. Walker and Svensson have worked together previously – for Svensson’s final season on the Korn Ferry Tour and his first on the PGA Tour – and Walker confirmed the news to Sportsnet Sunday afternoon… Nick Taylor will not be heading to Augusta National for a pre-tournament scouting trip, but he will arrive about two days earlier than a normal tournament. He’s set to get to Augusta on the Saturday prior… Taylor, Hughes, Hadwin, Svensson, Ben Silverman, and Taylor Pendrith are all in the field next week at the Valspar Championship, the site of Hadwin’s lone PGA Tour title.
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