Golf

Scottie Scheffler confirms his supremacy by retaining Players Championship

Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy tied for 19th place

Rory McIlroy plays a shot from a bunker on the eighth hole during the final round of The Pplayers Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Photograph: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
Rory McIlroy plays a shot from a bunker on the eighth hole during the final round of The Pplayers Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Photograph: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
Philip Reid
Sun Mar 17 2024 - 22:24

Scottie Scheffler didn’t walk on water on the copious number of lakes dotted around TPC Sawgrass to prove his golfing divinity. He didn’t need to, as the world number one again showed his game to be on a level not witnessed since the dominant era of Tiger Woods. By firing a final round 64 in The Players Championship, the flagship event of the PGA Tour, Scheffler became the first player to successfully retain the title.

For a player apparently hampered by a neck injury, Scheffler – who came into the tournament on the back of a win in last week’s Arnold Palmer – defied any physical ailments to sign for a total of 20-under-par 268, which saw him leapfrog to the top of the leader board and wait for those behind to attempt to match his wizardry.

Thing is, the quality of golf – on a day of little breeze and perfect conditions – was such that Scheffler had to wait ... and wait ... and wait as one pretender to his crown after another followed on the pristine turf of the Pete Dye-designed course.

Brian Harman, the Open champion, came up just short after his 17 footer for birdie on the 18th failed to drop. A 68 for 269, one shot short of Scheffler.

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While Scheffler retreated to the practice putting green, Xander Schauffele, the Olympic champion, and Wyndham Clark, the US Open champion, who had birdied 16 and 17 to get back into the mix, hunted the 18th in search of a birdie to force a playoff.

Schauffele, from the pine straws, hit his approach to 60 feet. The impossible ask proved too much. But Clark, with a driving iron off the tee, hit his approach to 17 feet. Incredibly, Clark’s putt – seeking three birdies in a row to finish – somehow stayed above ground as it horseshoed out. Like Schauffele’s, an impossible ask.

“I put up the good fight for four days, did a lot of good things and delighted to come out on top,” said Scheffler, who added $4.5 million to his season’s financial haul.

Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy finished for tied-19th but their shared placings were achieved in quite different manners.

For Lowry, who’d finished fourth and third in the Cognizant Classic and the Arnold Palmer Invitational, a final round 66 for nine-under-par 279 again demonstrated just how comfortable he is in his own skin as he improved his position on the FedEx Cup standings from 30th to 25th.

Lowry’s round threatened for a time to be even better, promising something truly special: he had five birdies on the front nine – on the first, second, fourth, seventh and ninth holes – to turn in 31 and added another birdie after reaching the green on the Par 5 11th in two, only to bogey the 12th and 15th. However, he responded brilliantly on the final run-in with further birdies on the 16th and 17th.

In McIlroy’s case, a closing round 72 – five birdies, five bogeys – for 279 provided as many questions as answers as to the state of his game as the Masters edges ever nearer to that date circled in his calendar. He had 26 birdies, more than anyone, but was undone by too many mistakes.

McIlroy, who is tinkering with his swing, said of his first top-20 finish on the PGA Tour this year: “I think overall I probably made a little bit of progress from this time last Sunday at the Arnold Palmer, so, yeah, it’s there. I think, after the first round my expectations sort of went sky high because I was like, ‘oh, I think I’ve figured it out’. Then the last three days were a little bit more of a struggle.”

He added: “But I think I’m headed in the right direction. I’ve definitely straightened out a few of the iron shots, which was a big key for me coming into this week. I made enough birdies, it’s just a matter of getting rid of the bad stuff.”

Séamus Power, meanwhile, finished with a closing 69 – six birdies, three bogeys – for a total of level par 288 in tied-64th place.

Philip Reid

Philip Reid

Philip Reid is Golf Correspondent of The Irish Times