Scottie Scheffler becomes first to ever defend Players Championship after Wyndham Clark’s crucial putt lips out

Wyndham Clark thought his ball was in. TPC Sawgrass thought it was in. As it rolled around the cup, some of it actually was in.

Wyndham Clark thought his ball was in. TPC Sawgrass thought it was in. As it rolled around the cup, some of it actually was in. Yet somehow, someway, the birdie putt the American star needed to force world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler into a playoff lipped out, crowning his compatriot as the first ever back-to-back winner of The Players Championship. Scheffler mounted a stunning Sunday charge to overturn a five stroke deficit and defend his crown by the slimmest of margins in Florida, tearing around the Stadium Course with a closing eight-under 64 – tied for the lowest round of the tournament – to win by one stroke at 20-under par overall. Triumph at the 50th edition of the PGA Tour’s flagship event secured the 25-year-old a $4.5 million winner’s cut of a $25 million prize purse. His eighth victory on the PGA Tour and second in a matter of days after a dominant win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week, Scheffler’s place as the dominant force in the men’s game is further cemented by an unprecedented defense of golf’s ‘fifth major’. “That’s something you never really get the opportunity to do very often,” he told reporters.