Scheffler goes for a third straight Players Championship

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida — The Players Championship has four decades of history at TPC Sawgrass, suggesting it doesn't favor a particular style of golf — power player or pea shooter, great short game or consummate iron player. And then Scottie Scheffler came along.

In one of his more remarkable performances in an astonishing 2024 season, Scheffler nearly withdrew in the second round with a neck injury, made three late birdies on the Saturday to at least stay in range, then overcame a five-shot deficit to win with a 64.

He became the first back-to-back winner of the PGA Tour's premier tournament, which means next to nothing to the world's No 1 player as he goes for three in a row.

"What does last year's tournament have to do with this year?" he said Tuesday, after playing a nine-hole practice round with Sam Burns, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele.

"What does that have to do with what I'm trying to do this week? Not much, right? Like, do I start 1-under? Do I start at 2-under?" he said. "It's great to have won this tournament the last two years, but can I rely on some of those experiences when I step up on the first tee and give myself a little bit of confidence? Yes. If I missed the cut here last year, am I going to be stepping onto the first tee and be like, 'man, I duck-hooked that one last year, I better not duck-hook it again', you know?"

That's how he feels about all of 2024, when he won nine times — seven on the PGA Tour, including the Masters and The Players, the Olympic gold medal in Paris and the Hero World Challenge holiday event in the Bahamas.

New year, new chapter

He hasn't turned many pages, all because of some ravioli. Scheffler cut his right hand on a wine glass he was using to cut ravioli over Christmas, an injury that required surgery and kept him out of competition until February.

The results have been mediocre by his standards — certainly the standard last year. Scheffler does not appear to be the least bit impatient.

"Last year is last year. I'm not trying to replicate it. I'm not trying to look back on it," he said. "At the end of the day, it's in the past. It was a great year. I'm tremendously thankful. I lived a full lifetime in a year. A lot of great things happened, and I'm very thankful for that."

He faces another course that can yield low scores and big numbers, against a field that is as strong as the PGA Tour can offer.

"It's the kind of course where you need a lot of things to go right to be in the mix," said Adam Scott, who won at Sawgrass in 2004, but hasn't seriously contended since then. That's true for a lot of former Players champions.

"If you're not on, it's hard to always post a good number here, it's hard to get into the clubhouse on the last three holes," he said. "I think Scottie was the first guy to successfully defend last year, so it's been challenging for every champion."

Scheffler isn't the only player off to a slow start. PGA and British Open champion Schauffele played the season opener at Kapalua and then sat out two months waiting on a rib injury to heal. He returned last week at brittle Bay Hill and did well to make the cut for the 58th straight tournament on the PGA Tour.

Schauffele is another example of how the TPC Sawgrass doesn't reward past results. He was a runner-up on his debut in 2018. He was a runner-up last year. In between were a trio of missed cuts and a pedestrian tie for 19th.

Asked for an explanation, Schauffele hinted at what TPC Sawgrass does favor.

"Scottie won it two years in a row," he said. "Someone that has the whole package is going to play well here. You're hitting a lot of fairways, you can shape the ball off the tee, short game's wicked, you can get a little bit of relief on the greens."

Schauffele got a closer look during that practice round on a gorgeous day, with the rain having cleared and a dry, sunny forecast for the week. He didn't get into details on the nine-hole match against Scheffler and Burns except to say that he wasn't a winner.

"He's not like hitting it 50 yards past anyone," Schauffele said. "He's just hitting the extra fairway more than someone. He's hitting it closer than everyone, and he's chipping it closer than everyone.

"It's definitely something I take note of, but it seems like clockwork to me now."

Agencies via Xinhua