PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — In the first 49 years of the Players Championship, there has never been a repeat winner.
Jack Nicklaus couldn't do it (three times). Neither did Fred Couples (twice), Davis Love III (twice), Tiger Woods (twice) and so many others.
On Sunday, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler became the first consecutive winner in the 50th edition of the “fifth major” at TPC Sawgrass, chasing Xander Schauffele from 5 shots behind early in the final round to win by a total of 72 holes of 20 under par.
“Pretty special,” he said of the replay. “That's something you don't get the opportunity to do very often. It's hard enough to beat a player.”
With the two most recent major championship winners, Brian Harman (The Open) and Wyndham Clark (US Open), and the world's sixth-ranked golfer, Schauffele, chasing him, Scheffler could only watch from the driving range as the trio attempted to make One more birdie to force a playoff.
Scheffler's second victory in as many weeks was not assured until Clark birdied the iconic 17th hole to move to 1 behind and then cruelly watched his 17-foot birdie attempt on the difficult 18th catch the left lip and spin to reach the pair.
With an 8-under 64, Scheffler became the fourth Players winner to shoot 65 or better in the final round, joining Nicklaus (65 in 1976), Couples (64 in 1996) and Love (64 in 2003).
Harman, Schauffele and Clark tied for second place at 19 under par. Former Open Championship winner Matt Fitzpatrick was fifth at 16 under, making birdie on his final four holes.
Scheffler tied the biggest comeback by a Players Championship winner at TPC Sawgrass; Justin Leonard and Henrik Stenson also came back 5 points in the final round in 1998 and 2009, respectively.
Scheffler suffered a neck injury in the second and third rounds, but fought through the pain Saturday to birdie four of his final five holes to stay in the hunt. He said one “hot day” [Sunday] could go a long way.”
Scheffler was really hot over the last 18 holes. After making pars on his first three holes, he began his round with an eagle on the par-4 fourth from 92 yards away to move to 14 under par. He followed with an 18-foot birdie putt on No. 5 and 16-foot and 11-foot birdie putts on Nos. 8 and 9, respectively.
Scheffler, a former Masters champion, took over the lead at 19 under with consecutive birdies on the 11th and 12th holes. He blew a chance to take the lead alone when he missed a 5-foot birdie putt on the 11th and 12th holes. .13, his only miss within 5 feet in the entire tournament.
After falling 1 behind Schauffele, Scheffler tied him again at 20 under on the par-5 16th. After hitting his approach shot into the small greenside bunker, Scheffler jumped to within 1 foot and capitalized for birdie. By then, Schauffele had made consecutive bogeys, Clark had regressed, and Harman was running out of holes.
