Scottie Scheffler-Jon Rahm, the rivalry to come

After losing the world number 1 in Los Angeles in the win of Jon Rahm at the Genesis Invitational, scottie scheffler He lost a good chance to regain the throne at Bay Hill, where he was defending his title. Untimely gastroenteritis forced Rahm to withdraw from it The Players on Friday he laid out the red carpet for the second time the American already to wrest the leadership of the OGWR from the Basquesalso went down in battle with the British Rory McIlroy. Scheffler won with a 5 stroke lead over second, Englishman Tyrrell Hatton, and never on the final day in TPC Sawgrass Stadium Coursein Ponte Vedra Beach (Florida) he felt his rivals breath on his neck.

Scheffler wasn’t intimidated by TPC Sawgrass, which can make the most painted nervous on every hole. The wind was getting stronger and stronger, and all he wanted was to make sure his lead on The Players increased. “You can’t limp onto this golf course,” Scottie said after the umpteenth masterful performance that only furthered his reputation as a player who gives it his all when playing against the best in the world.

Scheffler made five straight birdies midway through his round, building a six-shot lead and leaving all the drama to the others on his way to a 69er to win the PGA Tour’s richest prize. “He seems to be calm, doing his thing, not caring what everybody else is doing and making birdies,” Cameron Davis said. The win earned him $4.5 million and put him back at world number 1 for the second time this year. now add six wins in his last 27 PGA Tour tournaments (Phoenix 2022, Bay Hill 2022, Mundial Match Play 2022, Masters 2022, Phoenix 2023 and TPC 2023).

When he holed a 20-foot par putt on the final hole, Scheffler had the largest margin of victory at The Players since Stephen Ames won six in 2006. site soon,” Scheffler said. He celebrated with his wife, his parents, his sister and his 87-year-old grandmother, who followed him for most of the day.

Scheffler, who finished at 17-under 271, became the third player to win the TPC with four rounds in the 1960s. Scheffler lit up TPC Sawgrass when he teed off from the bunker side of the green on the par-3 8th hole, closing out the top nine with another birdie.

Tyrrell Hatton, the first player to shoot 29 on the back nine at Sawgrass on Sunday, is 12-under (276). The wind was blowing at about 50 km/h, which only increased the problems on this field. However, Scheffler remained aggressive, scoring three more birdies on 10, 11 and 12. Scheffler won for the sixth time in the past 13 months, all on the treacherous course. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan named him the PGA Tour player of the year in 2022, and now the Players champion in 2023. “He’s in a good position to continue to dominate the circuit for a while,” he said. Jordan Spieth.

Since the start of the 2021-2022 season, Scheffler is the player with the most wins, six, followed by Rahm, Max Homa and McIlroy, three with four. In the FedEx Cup with 600 points, he rose from fourth to third place, with Rahm continuing to dominate.

With the permission of Jon Rahm, now the only one to overshadow him, and surpass him in the number of victories this year, a month before the first Grand Slam, the Masters. The Green Jacket holder said he is ready to defend his title at Augusta in the second week of April. Scheffler is the third golfer along with jack nicklaus and Tiger Woods, holding the Masters and The Players Championship titles at the same time. “This tournament looks like a good tournament for me. I did a good job of being patient, not trying to force things,” said Scottie, who needed to finish fifth or better to recover the Biscayan’s number one spot.