Scottie Scheffler has made history, charging up the leaderboard on the final day at TPC Sawgrass to become the first-ever back-to-back winner at The Players Championship.
World number one Scheffler, who had been battling a neck injury, shot 68 with birdies on the last three holes to enter Monday tied for sixth on 12 under-par.
Scheffler was still five shots off leader Xander Schauffele at that point but carded an excellent final-round 64 to finish at 20 under overall and claim the $4.5 million ($A6.9 million) prize.
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“It’s pretty special,” Scheffler said.
“That’s something you never really get the opportunity to do very often. It’s tough enough to win one Players, so to have it back-to-back is extremely special.”
“I’m a pretty competitive guy, and I didn’t want to give up in the tournament,” Scheffler added when asked about how he overcame the neck injury.
“I did what I could to hang around until my neck got better. Today it felt really good. [PGA Tour phsio] Marnus [Marais] did a great job getting me going, getting it massaged out, and I was very thankful.”
There was some late drama as Schauffele, reigning British Open champion Brian Harman and Wyndham Clark all entered the final few holes in with a shot of chasing down Scheffler.
Schauffele and Clark were one and two shots behind the leader respectively heading into the 17th hole while Harman went into the final hole needing at least a birdie to force a playoff.
Both Schauffele and Clark had impressive tee shots to bring up birdie opportunities.
Schauffele, however, was just off target and had to settle for par and Clark soon drew level with him as he made birdie. It left both players at 19-under ahead of the final hole of the tournament.
Schauffele though was facing a tough task with a 61-foot putt to bring up the playoff and while he had the distance the line was off.
Clark, meanwhile, had his shot at birdie lip out in devastating fashion, costing him $1.775 million ($A2.7m) in the process.
“It was coming with some speed, too,” Clark said.
“I don’t know how that putt doesn’t go in. 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.”
While a heartbreaking result, Monday’s finish capped off two impressive weeks for Clark, who also finished second at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
It doesn’t make what happened any easier to take though.
“You know, obviously there’s positives in it,” Clark added.
“You finish second, you get a bunch of points and money and all that stuff, but it just sucks. I’ve always wanted and dreamt about making a putt that really mattered to either force a playoff or win a tournament, and I have yet to do it in my professional career, so I was pretty bummed that I didn’t have one of those really awesome moments.
“I don’t know, I’m still a little beside myself. I’m still shocked that putt didn’t go in.”
Earlier, Harman missed a 17-foot putt for birdie to go 20-under and keep his hopes of victory at TPC Sawgrass alive, instead settling for par and coming up just short of Scheffler.
The biggest highlight of the day from Scheffler came in the form of an incredible 92-yard eagle on the par-4 fourth hole and that was just the start of the American’s stunning surge as he went on to also record birdies on the fifth, eighth and ninth holes.
Elsewhere, Rory McIlroy entered the final day’s action needing a miracle after a one-over 73 and third-round 69 left him tied for 12th at nine under-par.
McIlroy started the day well with an early birdie on the par-five second which was agonisingly short of being an eagle.
But needing to take risks to move up the leaderboard, McIlroy gambled and lost as his tee shot on the fourth landed in the water, leaving the Irishman to settle for a bogey.
McIlroy made birdie on the sixth but later recorded another bogey, this time on the par-three eighth, to leave himself with a lot of work to do in the back nine.
Min Woo Lee SINKS 60-foot birdie putt | 00:29
Two straight birdies were exactly what McIlroy needed but once more McIlroy followed them up with a bogey to lose all momentum. Of course, McIlroy then responded with another birdie on the 14th.
Summing up McIlroy’s weekend was an unfortunate bounce on the 18th hole that saw his tee shot fall into the water as he ended the day with a bogey.
It saw McIlroy record a final round of 72 with five birdies and just as many bogeys.
As Sky Sports’ Jamie Weir pointed out it was a frustrating weekend wondering what could have been for McIlroy, who broke the record for most birdies (26) at The Players Championship but had his good work undone by bogeys and doubles.
“Woo-hoo,” McIlroy said, laughing, when informed of the record.
“I did the same thing at the back end of 2020 I remember, the back end of the COVID year I was making a ton of birdies and making a ton of mistakes, as well, and it was just a matter of trying to figure out a way to keep the bogeys off the card and still make the birdies,” McIlroy added.
“It’s not all bad. It could be a lot worse, I guess. If these are the worse finishes that I’m going to have 20ths, you know, I feel like that’s my floor and I haven’t quite got to the golf that I’ve wanted to play to get to my ceiling.
“Hopefully, over the next few weeks I can work at it and get closer to that level of golf.”
McIlroy went on to explain he thinks the issue was “swing related”.
“My misses last week were predominantly to the left. So I really tried to eradicate that this week, and for the most part with the irons I did, but started to get a left miss off the tee,” he said.
“Golf is a very fickle game. It gives you one thing and then takes away something else from you. It’s just, again, like, I feel like I’ve got all the components there, but just trying to put them all together on a given week. That’s the tricky part at the minute.”
As for the Australian contingent, Jason Day was having an impressive final round but finished it off with a triple bogey to drop down the leaderboard and finish T35 at six-under overall.
Adam Scott, meanwhile, finished four-under in a tie for 47th while Min Woo Lee was not much further back, coming in tied for 54th at two-under.
