Scheffler rallies to make history at The Players | The Sunday Swing

The Sunday Swing
March 17th, 2024

Welcome back to another edition of the Sunday Swing presented by 2nd Swing Golf. This week in the world of professional golf all eyes were on Pete Dye’s infamous TPC Sawgrass in Ponte
Vedra Beach, Florida for the 50th playing of the PLAYERS Championship.

The PLAYERS Championship - Tournament History 

The Players Championship was founded back in 1974 and has since been known by players and fans as golf's fifth major and most prestigious tournament outside of the four major championships. As the PGA Tour’s flagship event, it hosts the most competitive field on Tour, traditionally featuring the world’s top 50 players. Some of the most famous moments in the game’s history have come out of the Players Championship including Tiger’s “better than most” putt, Hal Sutton’s “be the right club today” shot, and Rickie Fowler's dominance of the island green 17th to win the event in 2015. 

The course features one of the most iconic closing stretches in the game including the par-5 16th, island green par-3 17th, and difficult par-4 18th. When players arrive at the 16th tee on Sunday, they will have an opportunity to make up ground in a hurry if they can find the fairway off the tee. In 2021, Justin Thomas made eagle at the 16th on Sunday en route to his first Players championship. We’ve also seen players lose the tournament on this stretch, with water lurking at every corner hoping to spoil your tournament if you aren’t on your A-game. The 17th always provides drama throughout the week, but on Sunday the pin is tucked on the right side bringing the water more into play for players who get too aggressive and seemingly always ruins someone’s chances coming down the stretch. 

One of the more recent and famous examples of this came in 2013 when Sergio Garcia dumped two in the water on 17 and ultimately made a quadruple bogey which opened the door for Tiger Woods to win his second Players Championship. The most recent five players to conquer the iconic venue are as follows: 

2024 - Scottie Scheffler (-20)
2023 - Scottie Scheffler (-17)
2022 - Cameron Smith (-13)
2021 - Justin Thomas (-14)
2019 - Rory McIlroy (-16) 

The Big Swing

For the second consecutive week, the big swing belongs to world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. Not only did Scheffler pull off the improbable feat of winning back-to-back on the PGA Tour, he also became the first player in Players Championship history to successfully defend his title. TPC Sawgrass is home to so much water and so many unique challenges that it is known to be one of the most volatile tournaments in the world, thus making it extremely difficult to have success year over year. 

Scheffler entered the week fresh off a victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational (a prestigious event in its own regard) and his second win there in the past three years. Winning the Players a second year straight was a whole other challenge, as he would have to fend off the games very best including Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Wyndham Clark, Jordan Spieth, Xander Schauffele, and many more. To make matters even more difficult, Scheffler tweaked his neck during the second round, making it difficult for him to bring the club back and impacting his swing and short game. After an opening round of 67, Scheffler could be seen having his neck worked on in between shots on Friday and was visibly in pain. He managed to grind out a second round 69, making the cut easily and finding himself in contention once again. 

McIlroy started out hot on Thursday, making 10 birdies on his way to an opening 65. Despite stumbling to a 73 on Friday, he was still firmly in contention. Another big storyline was Wyndham Clark – arguably the hottest player on the planet not named Scottie Scheffler. Clark won the Wells Fargo Championship last year and followed that up with a U.S Open title at Los Angeles Country Club to cement himself as a force to be reckoned with in the golf world. He also won another signature event earlier this year at Pebble Beach after a historic round on Saturday to come from well behind and win the weather shortened event. Clearly in good form, Clark finished runner up to Scheffler last week and came into the week in arguably the best form in the game. His momentum carried over into the Players, where he carded back to back rounds of 65 to hold a 4-shot lead over Schaufflele heading into the weekend. 

On Saturday the story was Schauffele. The 30-year-old American, although an Olympic Gold Medalist, is arguably the best player in the world who has yet to win a major or a big-time title. He played a flawless round on Saturday, carding seven birdies and no bogeys and to catch and surpass Clark, setting the stage for an epic final-round battle. Scheffler, meanwhile, was able to grind out another under-par round thanks to a scorching finish where he birdied the final three holes.

The leaderboard was loaded with big names entering the final round of the PGA Tour’s flagship event. Aside from Schauffele and Clark, players in the mix included Maverick McNealy, Matt Fitzpatrick, Sahith Theegala, and reigning Open Champion Brian Harman. Scheffler entered the final round five shots behind Schauffele. 

After making par on his first three holes, Scheffler holed his wedge shot from 92 yards on the fourth for eagle and was quickly right back in the mix. He would go on to birdie Nos. 5, 8, and 9 to turn in 31 and was suddenly a major threat heading into the back nine. He didn’t slow down on the back nine, making birdies at 11, 12, and 16 to hold the clubhouse lead at -20. 

After the final pairing of Schauffele and Clark each made bogey at 14, they would have their work cut out for them if they wanted to catch the world No. 1. Harman was also in hot pursuit of Scheffler, and after birdies at 7, 8, 9, 11, and 15, he found himself just one back with three to play. Unable to capitalize on the final three, Harman would finish at -19, clearing the stage for the final pair who both arrived at the 18th tee just one back. 

After Schauffele two-putted from long range at the 72nd hole, Clark was the lone challenger with a chance to catch Scheffler. Facing an uphill, left-breaking birdie putt from 17 feet, Clark hit a firm putt with plenty of speed.. As the ball approached the hole, Clark’s arms began to raise as the putt looked as if it would surely fall. However, a devastating horseshoe lip-out ensued, leaving Clark tantalizingly close to forcing a playoff, but ultimately coming up short. Scheffler and his caddie, Ted Scott, celebrated another addition to a long list of impressive victories.

Winner’s Bag - Scottie Scheffler

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler defied all odds this week, becoming the first player in tournament history to successfully defend at the Players. The TaylorMade staffer continued his typical play this week despite dealing with a neck injury, and dominated all statistical categories to pick up his eighth tour title.There were no changes to his bag this week, and he stuck with the new putter that got him back in the winner’s circle a week ago at Bay Hill. At the top of the bag, Scheffler games the new Taylormade Qi10 Driver (8 degrees). He also carries a Qi10 3-wood (15 degrees). Powering his dominant iron game, Scheffler carries a pair of Srixon ZU85 irons (3-iron and 4-iron), along with a set of TaylorMade P7TWs (5-PW). Around the greens, Scheffler plays Titleist wedges, including two SM8s (50 & 56 degrees), and a WedgeWorks Prototype lob wedge (60.5 degrees). On the greens, he’s now rolling a TaylorMade Spider Tour X, seemingly the key to his recent success.