Scheffler back at No. 1 with Players win

Scottie Scheffler is back at world No. 1 – and matched Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus – with his five-shot victory at the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.

The American shot a three-under 69 to finish on 17 under, holing five consecutive birdies midway through his final round. England’s Tyrrell Hatton finished second on 12 under after birdieing his final five holes, with Viktor Hovland tied third with Tom Hoge.

It’s Scheffler’s sixth PGA Tour title in the last 13 months and he has now overtaken Jon Rahm at the top of the rankings after the Spaniard pulled out of the tournament because of illness.

Rory McIlroy could have re-taken the rankings top spot but missed the cut, saying: “I wish I could use my driver from last year.”

Joining legends

Scheffler’s win saw him become just the third player to hold the Players and Masters titles at the same time, matching Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus.

The 26-year-old earned $4.5m from a record $25m purse. Last year’s Players winner Cameron Smith – absent this year due to joining LIV Golf – earned $3.6m, while McIlroy took home $2.25m from a $12.5m purse in 2019.

Hatton earned $2.725m for finishing second, almost half a million dollars more than McIlroy’s winning cheque from four years previous.

Scheffler will now take a week off ahead of his title defence at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin, Texas from March 22-26.

He then heads to Augusta National for the opening major of the year where he could become the first back-to-back winner of the Masters since Woods in 2002.

What’s in the bag?

Here’s the equipment used by Scheffler while winning The Players.

Driver

TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus (8 degrees)

Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X

3-wood

TaylorMade Stealth 2 (15 degrees)

Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 8 X

Irons

Srixon ZU85 (3-4), TaylorMade P7TW (5-PW)

Shafts: Nippon N.S. Pro Modus 3 Hybrid Prototype 10 X (3), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Wedges

Titleist Vokey Design SM8 (50, 56), Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks Proto (60)

Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Putter

Scotty Cameron Special Select Timeless Tourtype GSS tour prototype

Ball

Titleist Pro V1