In the first 49 years of the Players Championship, there had never been a repeat winner.
Jack Nicklaus couldn’t do it (three times). Neither could Fred Couples (twice), Davis Love III (twice), Tiger Woods (twice) and so many others
On Sunday, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler became the first back-to-back Players winner in the 50th edition of the “fifth major” at TPC Sawgrass, chasing down Xander Schauffele from 5 strokes back at the start of the final round to win with a 72-hole total of 20 under.
With the two most recent major championship winners, Brian Harman (The Open) and Wyndham Clark (U.S. Open), and the world’s sixth-ranked golfer, Schauffele, chasing him, Scheffler could only watch from the driving range as the trio tried to make one more birdie to force a playoff.