| -17 S Scheffler (USA); -12 T Hatton (Eng); -ten V Hovland (north), T Hoge (USA) |
| Selected: -9 H Matsuyama (Japan); -8 J Rose (Eng), MW Lee (Aus); -6 A Rai (Eng); -5 D Willett (Eng), T Fleetwood (Eng) |
Scottie Scheffler will return to the top of the world rankings after a five-stroke victory in the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.
The American birdied five at the trot midway through his inning to pull away from the field as he finished with a three-under 69 to win on 17-under.
England’s Tyrrell Hatton finished second with less than 12 after missing his last five holes in 65.
Viktor Hovland’s 68 propelled him to third with 10 under with Tom Hoge.
Scheffler will overtake Jon Rahm at the top of the standings after the Spaniard withdrew from the Players Championship after the first round due to illness.
Strong enough to win
The victory sees Scheffler become the third player to hold the Players and Masters titles at the same time, emulating Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus.
It also nets him $4.5m of a record purse of $25m (£21m) at the PGA Tour’s showpiece event.
Scheffler started the final round with a two-shot lead over Australia’s Min Woo Lee, but that advantage was snuffed out on the third hole. Lee birdied the opener and Scheffler bogeyed the third to leave them tied at 13 under.
However, a triple bogey seven in the fourth derailed Lee and he also had a double bogey seven in the 11th par five as his challenge faded further. He eventually signed for a 76 to finish on eight under par.
The threat to Scheffler strolling towards the title seemed to come from Hatton, who was enjoying a barn finish.
Hatton tied for his first nine holes but then birdied the 10th, 12th and every hole from the 14th to play the final nine holes in a record 29 and set a clubhouse goal of 12 under. .
But just as Hatton was finishing, Scheffler birdied on the par three eighth to reach 14 under and it sparked his streak of five back-to-back birdies that took him to a six-stroke lead with six to play.
“I did a really good job staying patient and not trying to force things [early on] and then I got hot in the middle of the lap and tried to put things away,” the Texan said.
“The final straight is difficult, especially with the wind there was. The shots on 17 were difficult and I had a good par on 18. I’m relieved and tired.”
More soon.
