After Scottie Scheffler's historic completion of back-to-back titles at The Players Championship, Sky Sports Golf's pundits look back on his achievement and assess what it means for the world No 1 heading into the rest of 2024
Monday 18 March 2024 16:20, UK
Scottie Scheffler made history on Sunday as he became the first player in the 50-year history of The Players Championship to retain the trophy.
The 27-year-old's victory by one shot from Brian Harman, Wyndham Clark and Xander Schaufele came despite him being hampered by a neck injury which needed treatment during the second round.
Even without that, it was an impressive performance from world No 1 Scheffler as he followed up victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational the previous week with another triumph in golf's unofficial fifth major.
Here is what Sky Sports Golf's experts made of Scheffler's showing at TPC Sawgrass, and what is in store for him for the rest of 2024…
Following his victory at The Players Championship being confirmed when Clark saw his putt on the 18th to force a play-off horseshoe out of the hole, Scheffler spoke about how he was determined to play through the pain barrier after suffering a neck injury.
That persistence was rewarded by Scheffler carding rounds of 69, 68 and 64 for a 20 under-par total, having opened the tournament with a 67, and former Team Europe Ryder Cup player and captain Paul McGinley hailed the fortitude he showed.
"The fact he battled against an injury which restricted him quite a lot and still shot the scores he did to still remain somewhere in the rear-view mirror of the leaders to give himself that opportunity, a lot of credit to him," McGinley said.
"We talked at the start of the week about his quiet, competitive spirit which you don't really appreciate because he's not 'ra-ra' and fist-pumping like you would normally associate with someone who has got a competitive spirit.
"He's got a heart on fire. He loves the grind of golf, he loves the relentlessness of golf, he loves the battle of golf, and, boy, can he play it well.
"We talked at the start of the week, one of the keys to winning was not just going forward, it was the ability when out of position to get it up and down. The lowest bogey count of the week at four underpinned everything he did in this tournament."
There have naturally been comparisons between Scheffler and Tiger Woods, with the current world No 1 again speaking about his admiration for the 15-time major champion in his post-tournament press conference.
While Scheffler acknowledged he still has a long way to go before he gets close to matching Woods' achievements, former PGA Championship winner Rich Beem saw one area where he believes there is a difference.
"I don't know how you can go week in, week out and play with such little fanfare, and yet produce the quality swings, quality putts and quality play time and time again," Beem said.
"Not even Tiger Woods was ever relaxed when he played this well. Scottie looks like he almost falls out of bed, 'here's a 65, thank you very much', and it's not that big a deal to him.
"He's just one of these most dynamic players that knows exactly what he's doing, how he's going to go and do it, and isn't bothered with it.
"The funny thing is, when was the last time you heard him talk to his golf ball? Why should he - it's going where he knows it should!"
Scheffler's overall performance at TPC Sawgrass saw him beat the best score by a defending champion by 10 strokes, and the most consecutive holes without a bogey to win at 31.
Part of that success was down to the improvement he has made in his putting, with Beem believing that will lead to him being at the top end of leaderboards on a far more regular basis.
"When you look at Scottie Scheffler, we talk about the ball striking, how good it is, the iron play, and we always single out the putting being his weakness, but we don't put enough emphasis on how good he is around the greens," Beem said.
"Now that he feels comfortable with that putter and looks phenomenal, I think he's going to get a little bit better. I don't think he's going to get better by leaps and bounds, but his off weeks...we're not going to see anymore.
"I think we're going to see someone who is consistent a lot more on a weekly basis. You thought he was a top-five machine beforehand? Get ready to see his name every single week."
Becoming the first player to win The Players the week after triumphing in another PGA Tournament since 2001 and the first since 2007 to defend any PGA Tour title the week after a victory - both of which were last done by Woods - has come at just the right time for Scheffler.
The Masters, which he won in 2022, is just around the corner, and four-time women's major champion Dame Laura Davies does not think Scheffler completing a clean sweep of all four men's titles this year is beyond the realms of possibility.
"He's on a different level and as soon as he started holing those putts at Bay Hill [when winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational] the rest of the field thought 'Oh, we're in a bit of trouble here' because they know, statistically, every category you want to say he's No 1," Davies said.
"The one thing that was letting him down was putting - he putted so well and looked so relaxed over his putts.
"The others have got their hands full now and, going forward, I don't think it's a long shot to say he's going win at least two of the majors. Maybe three, maybe even talking Grand Slam here - I really think it's possible."
The PGA Tour season stays in Florida for the Valspar Championship, with early action live on Thursday from 11.30am on Sky Sports Golf and full coverage beginning at 6pm. The men's major season begins with The Masters from April 11-14, also exclusively live. Stream the PGA Tour and more with NOW.
