Scottie Scheffler’s flourishing finish makes for a Players Championship first – Golf News

By Phil Casey

Scottie Scheffler overturned a five-shot deficit to change into the primary participant to efficiently defend the Gamers Championship within the event’s 50-year historical past.

Scheffler carded an eagle and 6 birdies in a flawless closing 64 at Sawgrass to complete 20 beneath par, a shot forward of US Open champion Wyndham Clark, Open champion Brian Harman and Xander Schauffele.

Clark birdied the sixteenth and seventeenth to maintain his hopes alive however agonisingly lipped out for one more birdie on the final to drive a play-off.

In a single day chief Schauffele paid the value for dropped pictures on the 14th and fifteenth and likewise missed from seven toes for birdie on the treacherous seventeenth.

“It’s fairly particular,” Scheffler advised CBS. “It’s one thing you don’t actually get the chance to do fairly often.

“It’s powerful sufficient to win one Gamers so to have it back-to-back is extraordinarily particular and I’m actually grateful.

“I put up a superb combat for 4 days, Teddy (Scott, his caddie) stored me in a superb head house. We had an excellent end yesterday, bought off to a sluggish begin at this time after which the hole-out on 4 sort of propelled us a little bit bit.

“I hit lots of good pictures at this time, did lots of good issues this week and it’s good to return out on high.”

Requested how he had coped with the neck damage he suffered throughout Friday’s second spherical, Scheffler added: “I’m a reasonably aggressive man and didn’t need to quit within the event.

“I did what I might to hold round till my neck bought higher after which at this time it felt actually good.”

Scheffler, who additionally received the Arnold Palmer Invitational by 5 pictures final week, kickstarted his problem by holing out from 92 yards for an eagle on the fourth and likewise birdied the fifth, eighth and ninth to race to the flip in 31.

That gave the world primary his first share of the lead and though Schauffele moved again in entrance with birdies on the seventh and ninth, Scheffler birdied the eleventh after which drove the inexperienced on the brief par-four twelfth to arrange one other.

Schauffele picked up a shot on the identical gap to take the outright lead once more, however Scheffler birdied the sixteenth to attract stage earlier than Schauffele crucially dropped pictures on the 14th and fifteenth.