The Players: With a commanding five-shot victory at The Players, Scottie Scheffler won his sixth PGA Tour championship in the past 13 months and reclaimed the top spot in the global rankings.
Scheffler entered the final round of the PGA Tour’s marquee event with a two-shot lead and never lost it, shooting five straight birdies at the turn to edge away from the group of challengers.
The American, who just needed a top-five finish to retake the world number one position from Jon Rahm, carded a final-round 69 to finish the week on 17 under and win the $4.5 million jackpot. Scheffler was far ahead of Tyrrell Hatton, who was the closest rival, in the standings.
Hatton finished the tournament on 12 under par after a spectacular back nine of 29, while Ryder Cup teammate Viktor Hovland finished the week two strokes further back in a tie for third with Tom Hoge and ahead of Hideki Matsuyama in fifth place.
Scheffler the superstar at Sawgrass
Playing in the last group, Min Woo Lee immediately trimmed the overnight lead with a six-foot birdie at the first and then took advantage of a drop near a sprinkler head in the rough to scramble a par at the next. Scheffler also made a five at that hole after failing to duplicate the chip-in from the rough the day before.
Nevertheless, Scheffler went three clear when Lee had to pitch out of thick rough and then found water at the fourth on his way to a triple-bogey seven, regaining a share of the lead. Scheffler missed from five feet to save par at the third, where his playing partner got up and down to save par.
When Scheffler chipped in from off the eighth green, Lee was four shots behind after scrambling par on his first two holes then draining a 30-foot birdie on the seventh to temporarily draw back within two.
Hatton finished the back nine in even par, but after making a 20-foot birdie at the 10th and converting from six feet at the driveable 12th, the Englishman went on to make five more birdies to tie the tournament record for the lowest back nine scores.
Hatton moved to 12 under after making a 10-foot birdie on the final hole, pulling him temporarily within two strokes of Scheffler. However, the Masters champion took advantage of the par-five ninth hole and made a putt from 18 feet on the following to leap four shots ahead of the pack.
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