Scheffler wins The Players 2023
Scheffler determined the recent victory of The Players with a putt to keep par at the 18th hole, six meters away.
He dropped five strokes from runner-up Tyrrell Hatton. This is the longest overall difference at the tournament since 2006. That year, Stephen Ames was crowned at -14 while Retief Goosen reached -8 to finish second. The best-to-second mark in tournament history is currently at seven strokes, belonging to Steve Elkington in the 1991 tournament, while the championship point record of -24 still belongs to Greg Norman in 1994.
At The Players 2023, Scheffler took the top of the table after round 3, at -14 and leading by two strokes. On the finish line, he started the last leg from hole 1, down to -13 after bogey on hole 3. However, with a string of five birdies, starting with a chip from the green that put the ball into hole 8 despite having to stand in the bunker.
When he birdie again with a one-meter putt on the 12th hole, Scheffler went -18 and a six-stroke advantage. That achievement came from his determination to take risks because he led by five strokes into the par4 12 hole, which is 307 yards long. With such a distance and advantage, Paul Azinger - a former golfer who won 12 PGA Tour cups now commenting for NBC - said the best solution is to play the segment to keep par. If fired to the left, Scheffler will be caught in a sand trap or lake. But Scheffer believes he can hit the green.
So the 26-year-old American golfer used the number 3 wooden stick, hitting 304 yards. The ball went to the right, not yet on the green, but close to the flag for him to hit a string of five birdies after two shots, including chips and putts. "I multiplied my momentum in the middle of the round, so I tried to earn more points to finish quickly," Scheffler shared with the media after the award ceremony.
When Scheffler finished the 12th hole with a score of -18, Hatton was close behind and had finished -12.
At the end of hole 14, Scheffler dropped to -17 due to bogey. But he turned it into a win with a par streak over the remaining four holes. Hatton received $2.725 million for the runner-up position.
Position T3 (-10) has Viktor Hovland and Tome Hoge, receiving the same reward of $ 1.475 million.
With 62 rounds in the third round, Hoge is the new record holder for 18 holes in 41 years of a major tournament settled in the TPC Sawgrass golf complex and is also the headquarters of the PGA Tour.
Adding The Players 2023, Scheffler won six cups through 27 tournaments in the US first-class golf arena within 13 months. Last year alone, Scheffler won four tournaments, including the major Masters. The latest victory pushes Scheffler back to the top of the professional golf world (OWGR), replacing Jon Rahm and increasing his reign to 32 weeks.
