Scottie Scheffler Wins 2024 the PLAYERS Championship: Becomes First Ever Pro to Defend the Title Crown

The 12th event on the PGA Tour also considered as ‘The Fifth Major’ of golf finally finds its winner. THE PLAYERS Championship, after four scintillating days of play, crowned defending champion Scottie Scheffler as its winner as he was able to beat the field of golfers including the likes of Brian Harman, Wyndham Clark, and Xander Schauffele, through a final day’s score of 8 under 64, all the while beating the lot who finished tied at T2 by 1 stroke. Moreover, he became the first-ever athlete in the event’s history to successfully defend his title.

Interestingly, his triumph, which came as a result of his overall figures of 20 under 268, helped him grab a winner’s cut of $4.5 million from the total prize pool of $25 million. What’s more, the victory at the PGA Tour event in TPC Scottsdale for the professional marks his 8th victory on the Jay Monahan-led circuit, the last of which came in 2024 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Interestingly, the golfer was placed at T6 after the third round of play after scoring figures of 67, 69, and 68 over the three days. However, a spectacular and flawless display of golf on the final day, including six birdies and an eagle on the fourth hole, helped him clinch back his title from Schauffele and Clark who had been hovering at the top of the leaderboard since day 1.

Meanwhile, the golfer would be receiving a total of 80 OWGR points to the winner. But wait, there’s more if the golfer has managed to emerge victorious on the PGA Tour multiple times in 52 weeks. A 60% bonus will be given to athletes who win for a second time, while a 70% bonus is awarded to those who win three or more times. It seems the current world No. 1 would be receiving the latter owing to his triumphs at the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational and the 2023 PLAYERS Championship.

What about the FedEx Cup standings? Well, the golfer had topped the rankings owing to his win at last week’s signature event at the Bay Hill Golf Course. Fortunately, nothing has changed for the 27-year-old, who received a total of 750 FedEx Cup points to his already garnered figures of 1,548. Fascinatingly, this has helped him to achieve a projected total of 2,298, all the while keeping first place in both the rankings and the tournament despite having a sore neck.

An injured Scottie Scheffler tops the leaderboard

During the second day of play at THE PLAYERS, the 8-time PGA Tour champ was spotted dealing with some discomfort and pain in his neck. “I hit a shot on my second hole today, and I felt a little something in my neck,” divulged the golfer as he added how everything started after the 11th hole, “I tried to hit my tee shot on 12, and that’s when I could barely get the club back.”

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Fortunately, he managed to receive some treatment as he sat beside the 14th tee as Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas made their tee shots. Although the 1-time major champ was laboring to get the club away from himself, he decided to give his all at the end of the day as he said, “I did what I could to kind of stay in the tournament today, and hopefully, it’ll loosen up and then I’ll be able to make somewhat normal swings tomorrow.” It appears his hard work did pay off in the end.

“I’m a pretty competitive guy, and I didn’t want to give up in the tournament.” said the champ after his win at the event. Adding on, he alluded to the physical discomfort he felt over the days as he gratefully confessed, “You know I’d do what I could to hang around till my neck got better and today it felt really good, you know… I’m just very thankful.” Well, one can’t help but respect the professional for his insane feat.

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