LAST UPDATE | 12 Mar 2023
AMERICAN SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER returned to number one in the world rankings on Sunday after winning The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass by five strokes.
Scheffler ran away with the US PGA Tour showdown at Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, after making five straight birdies between the eighth and 12th holes while his top rival fell away.
The defending Masters champion will replace Spain’s Jon Rahm atop the rankings on Monday. Rahm withdrew from the event due to illness.
Scheffler began the day with a two-stroke lead over Australian Min Woo Lee, who immediately reduced the deficit with a birdie on the opening hole.
When Scheffler bogeyed the third, the pair were in a tie for the lead but it was soon to change dramatically when Lee had a nightmare on the fourth hole, where he made a triple bogey.
A double bogey on the 11th saw Lee fall totally out of contention and by then Scheffler was in his groove and moving away from the field.
It was a victory procession for Scheffler over the final holes but he crowned his victory with a superb 21-foot putt on the 18th before soaking up the applause.
England’s Tyrrell Hatton finished second after a sensational close with five straight birdies to complete the back nine in 29, the lowest score on the back section in a final round.
Hatton ended on 12-under par after his 65 with Norway’s Viktor Hovland and American Tom Hoge tied for third, a further two strokes back.
Shane Lowry finished with a final round of two-under 70 at the PGA Tour’s flagship event in Florida, rounding off a tournament that had began with a struggling opening round of 77.
Lowry turned his form around with a 69 to make the cut, carded four-under 68 yesterday and today’s round saw him finish at four-under for the tournament.
Lowry’s round today featured five birdies and three bogeys, one of those dropped shots arrived on the last, just after he had birdied at the signature 17th hole.
He also grabbed birdies at the 1st, 7th, 9th and 12th holes, with bogeys arriving on the 3rd and 8th holes, both par threes.
Tough blow to lose so many important players. Molony and Penny were two of the stars of the 6 Nations while Byrne and Hackshaw were key playmakers at 10 and 12 with Hacksahw being the captain. I’d fancy Allison to come into the backrow instead of Molony without too much drop off in quality as he might have started if he’d been fit for the 6 Nations. Replacing Penny is nigh on impossible but Healy and French/Moore will do a fine job coming in at 10 and 12. The issue will be the lack of depth now we’re down some big players and guys having so many big games in such a short period of time.
Its concerning the amount of serious injuries in a young squad like that already
One “IQ” player is that a good return should there be more
@Exiled Dub: why should there be more?
also Iwan Hughes is a IQ rugby product who is with Ulster now.
I wonder how the other home countries are getting on, say England next week ?? Do we have the worst list ???)
@Martin Quinn: A few injuries and also the unavailability of #10 Marcus Smith because he’s playing for England development XV vs the Barbarians ! A disappointing priority for the rest of the squad, I imagine.
See https://www.englandrugby.com/news/england-men-u20s-squad-update/
@Martin Quinn: No mention of Australian injuries here:
https://www.rugby.com.au/news/2019/05/07/world-u20-championships-junior-wallabies-squad
They beat NZ 24-0 in a final recently !
@Martin Quinn: Italy had to omit 3 injured players who were “more or less important”. See:
https://www.federugby.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=112&Itemid=427
So my guess is that our missing 5, 6, 7, 10 and 12 represent the greatest omissions in our group.
Ah well, cometh the hour, cometh the man …
@Martin Quinn: https://u20rugby.wordpress.com if you’re interested keep an eye on this
@Glenbower:
Thanks for that :: Glen
@Eddie Hekenui:
Thanks for that :: EDDIE