The 50th edition of the Players Championship saw a tournament first as Scottie Scheffler claimed the PGA Tour's flagship event for the second straight season. It was a one-stroke victory for Scheffler, whose 20 under score bested 54-hole leader Xander Schauffele, 36-hole leader Wyndham Clark and Brian Harman.
The world No. 1 became the first player to successfully defend his Players Championship title, and he needed to come from five back on Sunday to do it. He tied the largest 54-hole deficit overcome en route to winning, and Scheffler's 64 on Sunday tied the lowest final-round score from a Players Championship winner (Davis Love III, Fred Couples, Jack Nicklaus).
Prior to Scheffler's successful defense, the best finish by the defending champion was T5, most recently accomplished by Hal Sutton in 2001.
Scheffler is also the first player since Tiger Woods in 2001 to win The Players Championship a week after winning emerging victorious on the PGA Tour, according to Justin Ray. He is also the fourth to win at Bay Hill and TPC Sawgrass in the same season, joining Tom Kite (1989), Woods (2001, 2013) and Jason Day (2016).
The most predictable man in golf experienced one of the most unpredictable tournaments of his career. Dealing with a neck injury that started ailing him during the second round, Scheffler did well just to enter the final round within arm's reach of Schauffele.
"I was hoping to be in this position," said Scheffler. "Yesterday -- I put up a good fight for four days. That's really all there was. Teddy [Scott] kept me in a good head space out there. We had a great finish yesterday, and then got off to a slow start today, but then the hole-out on 4 kind of propelled us a little bit, and hit a lot of good shots today, did a lot of good things this week."
Making three straight pars out the gate, the reigning PGA Tour Player of the Year jump started his round with a hole-out from 82 yards on the par-4 4th for an eagle. He added a birdie on his next hole before nice conversions from outside 10 feet on Nos. 8-9 to turn in 5-under 31, pulling even with Schauffele and Clark.
Back-to-back tap-in birdies on Nos. 11-12 saw Scheffler tie Schauffele once again at 19 under. He appeared keen on keeping the birdie train rolling when he threw his tee shot on the par-3 14 to 4 feet, but Scheffler was unable to convert.
Coolly navigating the difficult 14th and 15th, Scheffler added his eighth birdie of the round on the par-5 16th to grab the lead all to himself. He secured par on the 17th and had eyes on one more birdie on the closing hole after finding the fairway.
Scheffler's approach took an odd hop and settled 16 feet away. One last birdie conversion would have all but clinched the trophy, but when his putt slipped by, the door remained open for the chasing pack as he posted 20 under.
Harman made his move with a birdie on No. 15 to get within one, but a wayward drive on No. 16 handcuffed the Champion Golfer of the Year on the easiest hole on the back nine. He arrived at the 18th needing birdie to tie the clubhouse lead, but Harman failed to convert from 17 feet and join Scheffler at 20 under.
Only two men remained with a chance to track down the game's top player. Both Schauffele and Clark made it difficult on themselves with dropped shots on No. 14. Schauffele added another bogey on No. 15 to fall two off Scheffler's pace but quickly rebounded with a birdie on No. 16.
Clark joined Schauffele with a birdie on the 16th and stepped to the 17th one day removed from his chunked wedge shot that found a watery grave. The U.S. Open champion more than made amends when his tee shot settled 4 feet from the traditional Sunday pin location to set up his second straight birdie to get within one of Scheffler.
Schauffele's tee shot settled just outside Clark's ball, but unlike his playing partner, Schauffele was unable to make his birdie putt. The two came to the par-4 finisher both needing birdie to tie Scheffler. Schauffele did not give himself a good look while Clark faced the same 17-footer Harman missed just prior.
Clark's putt came as close as it could come without dropping. Horeshoeing hard around the hole and out, the birdie bid fell by the wayside and gave Scheffler another slice of history at The Players Championship.
2024 Players Championship leaderboard
T2. Wyndham Clark, Xander Schauffele, Brian Harman (-19): All three visited the 72nd hole with a chance to win this championship, and all three failed to make birdie. Harman saw his 17-foot bid never threaten, and Schauffele failed to give himself a realistic chance after hitting his tee shot in the pine straw. That left just Clark for Scheffler to dodge, and the U.S. Open champion did just about everything but make his.
How each player got to this position was quite different. Harman hovered and hovered and hovered before making a birdie on No. 15 to get within one. The Champion Golfer of the Year won't kick himself for not making birdie on the 17th or even 18th for that matter, but for letting the par-5 16th go by without adding another. Meanwhile, Schauffele was in full control of this tournament until the final five holes.
The 54-hole leader arrived to the par-4 14th with the lead and walked off one behind as Scheffler made a birdie ahead and Schauffele dropped a shot. He made another bogey on No. 15, missed a convertible 7-foot birdie putt on No. 17 and has to be walking away thinking he let this one through his grasp.
Clark battled his swing over the weekend and was as many as three down late in his back nine, but he hung tough. He failed to convert an 11-foot eagle chance on 16 before rectifying Saturday's mistake on 17 with a birdie from 4 feet. His birdie putt on 18 to force a playoff will be played for weeks to come as it may be one of the most brutal lip outs in recent memory.
5. Matt Fitzpatrick (-16): The Englishman raced through the finish line with four straight birdies, but it was too little too late. Fitzpatrick struggled for the majority of the day carding four bogeys from Nos. 4-13 to play himself out of contention. The devilish par-4 4th which yielded birdies all week (and which Scheffler eagled Sunday) was a thorn in his side as he played that hole 5 over on the week while someone like Scheffler played it in a 3-under fashion.
T6. Hideki Matsuyama, Si Woo Kim (-15): Matsuyama was so solid despite some injury concern coming into the week. Less than confident that he was 100% healthy, the man from Japan posted rounds of 69-69-68-67 for another quality result at the Players Championship and his third top 10 since 2019.
8. Ludvig Aberg (-14): Talk about a tournament debut. The young Swede continues to show that when the lights are the brightest his game may be at its best. Aberg came home with a bogey-free 67 on Sunday to climb inside the top 10 and collect his fifth straight top-25 finish.