Rory McIlroy’s drama, Scottie Scheffler creates history – What we learned from The Players Championship

The Players Championship was celebrating its 50th anniversary of the first staging of the event, with lots of fanfare and reminiscing of historic moments gone by. Scottie Scheffler added the latest chapter by becoming the first ever player to win two Players Championships in a row.

Scheffler’s back-to-back quest was nearly derailed by a neck injury, for which he received on-course treatment on multiple occasions during the second round. Scheffler was clearly pained by the discomfort, wearing tape on the left side of his neck for the final two rounds, and caddie Ted Scott shared that he wasn’t sure his man would even finish the tournament.

“I told my wife Friday night, ‘I don’t see him playing this weekend,’” Scott said. “He couldn’t move. He had maybe 10 degrees of mobility.”

However, beware the injured golfer. Scheffler wasn’t going anywhere and whilst he was still battling his injury, that did improve day on day, the young American gritted his teeth and put on a clinic. Much like he did the week prior where he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational by five strokes.

Despite being five back of overnight leader Xander Schauffele heading into Sunday, Scheffler put his foot firmly on the pedal. A hole out for an eagle two at the par-4 fourth hole from just shy of 100 yards really caught the attention of the fans and players alike. It felt like an all too familiar feeling. Here comes Scottie.

A further six birdies on a blemish free scorecard saw him post 20-under par and post a record equalling final round 64 before Brian Harman, Xander Schauffele and, agonisingly, Wyndham Clark all failed with their birdie efforts at the last to force a play-off.

Rory McIlroy’s seven-under performance during the opening round at TPC Sawgrass became secondary to how it was scored thanks to the multiple drops he took that were cross-examined by his playing partners, Jordan Spieth and Viktor Hovland.

The first was at the 18th hole (his ninth hole that day) after his drive went into the lake, the second at the seventh hole after his tee shot also found water. The issue in both situations stemmed from the question of where his ball last crossed land before entering the penalty area. Though the initial incident on No. 18 was resolved with polite discourse, the latter on No. 7 produced quite the back-and-forth between McIlroy and Spieth, with the broadcast brilliantly airing the entire hostilities for all to hear and see.

Under the rules of golf, players must take their drop from where the ball entered the hazard. If McIlroy’s shot bounced above the red line, which he claimed it did, he could take his drop from close by, within range of the green – below, and it was back more than 200 yards to the tee box for his third shot.

Whilst the broadcast gave us the full discussion – critically – it didn’t capture where the ball landed. As a result, it was down to the trio to come to an agreement based on what they saw, one rules official declared.

While McIlroy said he was “pretty sure” that he saw his ball bounce above the line, Ryder Cup team-mate Hovland was less convinced, replying that he “couldn’t say either way.”

Spieth went a step further, telling McIlroy that “everyone” he had heard from was “100% certain” that it landed below.

McIlroy’s caddie Harry Diamond incredulously asked, “Who is everybody, Jordan?”

Spieth responded, “TV. They’re saying [with] their eyes, they didn’t see it on camera … it doesn’t mean anything, it is what you guys think.”

Eight minutes later and one penalty drop taken, McIlroy took his approach from above the red line on his way to a bogey.

Asked about Spieth confronting him on the seventh fairway, post round, McIlroy said, “I think at the end of the day we’re all trying to protect ourselves, protect the field, as well. I wouldn’t say it was needless. I think he [Spieth] was just trying to make sure that what happened was the right thing.”

It’s been a bit of a mixed bag of results thus far for Matt Fitzpatrick this season. A couple of Top 15’s have been marred by a handful of cuts.

Despite the cuts though, Fitzpatrick has been feeling more like himself, and that was evident after signing for an opening round six-under par 66, which included an eagle at the 16th.

His driving looked particularly strong, and the stats backed it up as he led the field in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (+2.64). He missed just three fairways while ranking fourth in driving distance (311.4 yards), as well.

So, was there anything that the 29-year-old could attribute this success to? Well, his answer will leave you baffled.

Fitzpatrick was initially asked why he hadn’t felt like himself, and under a volley of questions, the story unfolded.

Early in 2023, Fitzpatrick and his team put weights in the grip of his irons as an experiment. Due to its initial success, they then put in a weight – four grams – into the grip of his driver. In March of 2023, he decided he didn’t want the weight in his irons anymore, so he took them all out.

The problem was, he forgot about the driver.

The weight remained for nearly a full calendar year, by which point the club needed regripped due to wear and tear. The person who did the job back in England put too much tape on it, exceeding the maximum shaft length, and so he took the club to manufacturers Titleist for an adjustment.

“They regripped it for me, and they’re like, ‘Oh, you know there’s a weight in there,’ and I almost had a heart attack.

“My driving kind of got worse from pretty much after Harbour Town, and we were going back and forth,” he said.

“We were just very confused swing-wise, did all sorts. Turns out, take the weight out of the top of the driver, and I think since Phoenix is when I’ve taken it out, I’ve driven it a lot better.”

Fitzpatrick did indeed drive the ball better, but it was his putting that hampered him last week around TPC Sawgrass where he fell just shy, eventually finishing in a tie for fifth.

Who knows, maybe he’s forgotten about a weight in his putter too?

First Brian Harman, then Xander Schauffele and finally Wyndham Clark. All three had one opportunity on the 18th hole to match Scheffler’s score but painfully, no one was able to capitalise.

The conclusion of this year’s Players will live long in the memory thanks to the part that these Ryder Cup team-mates played as they tried to force their way into a playoff with Scheffler.

Although the trio had rather indifferent starts compared to what Scheffler was producing, they were still within touching distance of the 20-under par target. Harman had three cracks at joining the leader down the stretch but came up shy, despite his impressive approach from the pine straw on the 18th.

It was the Open champion’s first round that really did the damage, as he only mustered an even-par 72 when the course was there for the taking.

“I kind of shot myself in the foot the first day or I could have really done something special this week.”

Behind him was Clark and Schauffele. Both had muscled themselves back into the fray after costly bogeys late on but like Harman, neither were able to take advantage of their birdie opportunities at the last. A languishing Schauffele never troubled the cup with his putt and so that left Clark with the last crack.

It was a putt that looked in all the way, so much so that the 30-year-old gave it the early walk, before it cruelly lipped out to leave everyone in dismay.

“I’ve always wanted and dreamt about making a putt that really mattered to either force a playoff or win a tournament, and I have yet to do it in my professional career, so I was pretty bummed that I didn’t have one of those really awesome moments,” a crestfallen Clark reflected.

There is always great anticipation around the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass. The famous ‘Island Green’ has cooked up its fair share of drama over the years, from memorable hole-in-ones to multiple water balls from the tee.

If the fans wanted to see a hole-in-one however, they didn’t have to wait long.

New Zealand’s Ryan Fox was going in reverse having bogeyed the 14th and 15th holes, on a day where conditions were perfect for low scores. However, he refocused and picked apart the 515-yard, par-5 16th – his seventh hole of the day after starting on the back nine – and made an eagle after a sublime approach to around two feet from the hole.

He then wandered over to the 17th, buoyed by his bounce-back eagle on the previous green. With a wedge in hand, he slapped it on a perfect line, just right of the flagstick. It pitched about eight feet beyond the hole and trickled back down the ridge on a perfect line with just the right amount of speed and then, nothing but darkness.

The crowd went wild and Fox shared the celebrations with playing partners Kevin Streelman and C.T. Pan. Analyst Craig Perks called it “Perfection” on the broadcast.

A three and then a one, the only one of the week. Back-to-back eagles. It was confirmed that he was the first ever player to make consecutive eagles on any two holes in the tournament’s 50-year history.

“You get up there and most of the crowd probably either wants you to make a one or hit it in the water, so I’m glad to be on the right side of it in that respect,” commented the Kiwi.