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Players Championship 2023: Instant Reactions to Scottie Scheffler, Final Leaderboard
March 12, 2023
The Scottie Scheffler Era is upon us.
The streaking golfer claimed the Players Championship on Sunday, shooting a 3-under 69 in the final round to finish 17-under for the tournament, a cool five strokes ahead of Tyrrell Hatton in second place.
He earned nearly a million dollars for every stroke he won by.
Viktor Hovland (-10), Tom Hoge (-10) and Hideki Matsuyama (-9) rounded out the top five.
Below, we'll break down the top instant reactions from Sunday's final round.
Scheffler Enters Rarefied Air
Here's a fun stat for the Scheffler stans out there:
Any time you find yourself in a stat that includes Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus, you have impressed. Scheffler is on another level at the moment.
Just Another Dominant Performance From Scheffler
We continue the love fest, because Scheffler shot 10 strokes under par over the weekend to take this one home. He absolutely smoked a field of top PGA performers, and honestly, nobody was particularly shocked to see it.
Ryan Whitney @ryanwhitney6Scheffler is a machine. Just an incredible player. Seems to come from a great family. His dad told him "be a better person than a golfer". Awesome stuff. Having said all that, he is so boring. Does nothing for me. If he runs away with the masters again and ruins Sunday I'll snap
Jason Sobel @JasonSobelTANSix wins in his last 27 starts, but it's not just the quantity of wins for Scottie Scheffler. It's the variety. Victories at TPC Scottsdale (twice), Bay Hill, Austin CC, Augusta National and TPC Sawgrass. Five completely different golf courses. That's so ridiculously impressive.
Justin Ray @JustinRayGolfScottie Scheffler: +17.17 strokes gained tee to green this week, most by a tournament winner at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ThePlayers?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ThePlayers</a> since tracking began<br><br>He's the first Players winner ever to lead the field in both driving distance and greens in regulation.
Coming into this tournament, the hottest player in the world was Jon Rahm, who of course had to withdraw because of a stomach illness. But Scheffler bumped him out of that distinction on Sunday.
It's Scheffler's world, and we're all just struggling to hit par in it.
Min Woo Lee's Magic Ran Out
Lee was one of the final golfers to even qualify, but after shooting 12-under over the first three rounds, he found himself in the final pairing with Scheffler.
"Tomorrow could be the biggest day of my life," he told reporters Saturday. "I just crept into this tournament, and I'm making the most of it. I'm soaking it all in."
Alas, it wasn't to be—while Scheffler continued his ascent into stardom, Lee struggled on Sunday, shooting a 76 that dropped him into a tie for sixth place.
Still, it was a far better result than he would have expected coming into the tournament. Stars like Rory McIlroy didn't even make the cut, but Lee found himself in the final pairing. Not too shabby.