Scottie Scheffler has made historical past, charging up the leaderboard on the ultimate day at TPC Sawgrass to grow to be the first-ever back-to-back winner at The Gamers Championship.
World primary Scheffler, who had been battling a neck harm, shot 68 with birdies on the final three holes to enter Monday tied for sixth on 12 under-par.
Scheffler was nonetheless 5 photographs off chief Xander Schauffele at that time however carded a wonderful final-round 64 to complete at 20 beneath total and declare the $4.5 million ($A6.9 million) prize.
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“It’s fairly particular,” Scheffler stated.
“That’s one thing you by no means actually get the chance to do fairly often. It’s robust sufficient to win one Gamers, so to have it back-to-back is extraordinarily particular.”
“I’m a fairly aggressive man, and I didn’t need to hand over within the event,” Scheffler added when requested about how he overcame the neck harm.
“I did what I may to hold round till my neck obtained higher. At present it felt actually good. [PGA Tour phsio] Marnus [Marais] did an amazing job getting me going, getting it massaged out, and I used to be very grateful.”
There was some late drama as Schauffele, reigning British Open champion Brian Harman and Wyndham Clark all entered the ultimate few holes in with a shot of chasing down Scheffler.
Schauffele and Clark had been one and two photographs behind the chief respectively heading into the seventeenth gap whereas Harman went into the ultimate gap needing at the least a birdie to power a playoff.
Each Schauffele and Clark had spectacular tee photographs to convey up birdie alternatives.
Schauffele, nevertheless, was simply off track and needed to accept par and Clark quickly drew stage with him as he made birdie. It left each gamers at 19-under forward of the ultimate gap of the event.
Schauffele although was going through a tricky activity with a 61-foot putt to convey up the playoff and whereas he had the gap the road was off.
Clark, in the meantime, had his shot at birdie lip out in devastating trend, costing him $1.775 million ($A2.7m) within the course of.
“It was coming with some velocity, too,” Clark stated.
“I don’t understand how that putt doesn’t go in. It was form of proper middle with like a foot to go, and I knew it was going to maintain breaking, but it surely had velocity and I believed it was going to good inside left, and even when it form of lipped, I believed it will lip in.
“I’m fairly gutted it didn’t go in.”
Whereas a heartbreaking end result, Monday’s end capped off two spectacular weeks for Clark, who additionally completed second on the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
It doesn’t make what occurred any simpler to take although.
“You already know, clearly there’s positives in it,” Clark added.
“You end second, you get a bunch of factors and cash and all that stuff, but it surely simply sucks. I’ve at all times needed and dreamt about making a putt that basically mattered to both power a playoff or win a event, and I’ve but to do it in my skilled profession, so I used to be fairly bummed that I didn’t have a kind of actually superior moments.
“I don’t know, I’m nonetheless a little bit beside myself. I’m nonetheless shocked that putt didn’t go in.”
Earlier, Harman missed a 17-foot putt for birdie to go 20-under and maintain his hopes of victory at TPC Sawgrass alive, as an alternative settling for par and developing simply in need of Scheffler.
The most important spotlight of the day from Scheffler got here within the type of an unimaginable 92-yard eagle on the par-4 fourth gap and that was simply the beginning of the American’s beautiful surge as he went on to additionally report birdies on the fifth, eighth and ninth holes.
Elsewhere, Rory McIlroy entered the ultimate day’s motion needing a miracle after a one-over 73 and third-round 69 left him tied for twelfth at 9 under-par.
McIlroy began the day effectively with an early birdie on the par-five second which was agonisingly in need of being an eagle.
However needing to take dangers to maneuver up the leaderboard, McIlroy gambled and misplaced as his tee shot on the fourth landed within the water, leaving the Irishman to accept a bogey.
McIlroy made birdie on the sixth however later recorded one other bogey, this time on the par-three eighth, to go away himself with numerous work to do within the again 9.
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Two straight birdies had been precisely what McIlroy wanted however as soon as extra McIlroy adopted them up with a bogey to lose all momentum. After all, McIlroy then responded with one other birdie on the 14th.
Summing up McIlroy’s weekend was an unlucky bounce on the 18th gap that noticed his tee shot fall into the water as he ended the day with a bogey.
It noticed McIlroy report a closing spherical of 72 with 5 birdies and simply as many bogeys.
As Sky Sports activities’ Jamie Weir identified it was a irritating weekend questioning what may have been for McIlroy, who broke the report for many birdies (26) at The Gamers Championship however had his good work undone by bogeys and doubles.
“Woo-hoo,” McIlroy stated, laughing, when knowledgeable of the report.
“I did the identical factor on the again finish of 2020 I bear in mind, the again finish of the COVID 12 months I used to be making a ton of birdies and making a ton of errors, as effectively, and it was only a matter of making an attempt to determine a solution to maintain the bogeys off the cardboard and nonetheless make the birdies,” McIlroy added.
“It’s not all unhealthy. It could possibly be so much worse, I assume. If these are the more serious finishes that I’m going to have 20ths, you understand, I really feel like that’s my ground and I haven’t fairly obtained to the golf that I’ve needed to play to get to my ceiling.
“Hopefully, over the subsequent few weeks I can work at it and get nearer to that stage of golf.”
McIlroy went on to clarify he thinks the problem was “swing associated”.
“My misses final week had been predominantly to the left. So I actually tried to eradicate that this week, and for essentially the most half with the irons I did, however began to get a left miss off the tee,” he stated.
“Golf is a really fickle recreation. It provides you one factor after which takes away one thing else from you. It’s simply, once more, like, I really feel like I’ve obtained all of the elements there, however simply making an attempt to place all of them collectively on a given week. That’s the difficult half on the minute.”
As for the Australian contingent, Jason Day was having a powerful closing spherical however completed it off with a triple bogey to drop down the leaderboard and end T35 at six-under total.
Adam Scott, in the meantime, completed four-under in a tie for forty seventh whereas Min Woo Lee was not a lot additional again, coming in tied for 54th at two-under.