Scottie Scheffler battles injury to win second-straight Players Championship

It took 51 weeks between Scottie Scheffler‘s sixth and seventh PGA Tour wins.

Win No. 8 took just one for the unquestioned No. 1 Player in the World.

A week after returning to the winner’s circle for the first time since last year’s Players, Scheffler made it two in a row on the PGA Tour and back-to-back at TPC Sawgrass, shooting a final-round 64 to win the 2024 Players Championship by one over Xander Schauffele, Brian Harman and Wyndham Clark.

It’s Scheffler’s second win in as many weeks after he broke a year-long winless drought at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He becomes the first player ever to successfully defend a Players Championship title and the seventh to win the event multiple times in its 50-year history.

Scheffler started the day five back of 54-hole leader Xander Schauffele and seemed to be hampered by a neck injury that saw him receive treatment during his round Friday.

But his otherworldly ball-striking over the past couple years was unhampered, even as he said he took extra club to avoid aggravating the injury. He led the field in strokes gained: off-the-tee and SG: tee-to-green.

His putter, which finally broke a cold streak at Bay Hill was just as good as he needed it to be. He was middle of the pack in putting for the week, but took just 25 putts on Sunday.

Sporting visible kinesiology tape on his neck on the final day, he jump-started his round by holing his second shot at the 4th for an eagle. He added six more birdies plus a nifty two-putt par from 48 feet on the island green 17th.

At the same time as Scheffler was playing the famous closing stretch, the final group of Xander Schauffele and Wyndham Clark bogeyed the 14th hole. That put Scheffler in the lead by himself as Schauffele drifted one back and Clark three back. Brian Harman, who was 19 under through 15, hit it in the trees on 16 and failed to birdie the par-5 to tie Scheffler.

All three chasers came to the 18th a shot back of Scheffler after Schauffele got back to 19 under with a birdie on 16 and Clark went back-to-back on 16 and 17. All three gave themselves a chance on the 72nd green to tie. All three missed with Clark coming the closest, his birdie effort suffering a 180-degree lip out to secure his second-straight runner-up.

The five-shot comeback for Scheffler matches the largest in tournament history.

Jack Hirsh

Golf.com Editor

Jack Hirsh is an assistant editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, earning degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his high school golf team and recently returned to the program to serve as head coach. Jack also still *tries* to remain competitive in local amateurs. Before joining GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but also producing, anchoring and even presenting the weather. He can be reached at jack.hirsh@golf.com.