Tag: Wyndham Clark

Scottie Scheffler continues dominant run with 2024 RBC Heritage win

The world No. 1 has now won in four of his last five starts.

Scottie Scheffler spent an extra night in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, which typically wouldn’t be such a drag if not for his wife Meredith being pregnant back home in Dallas and awaiting the couple’s first child later this month.

But Mother Nature had other plans, forcing Scheffler to return to Harbour Town Golf Links on Monday morning to play his final three holes of the 2024 RBC Heritage and wrap up his fourth PGA Tour title in his past five starts.

One week and one day after Scheffler slipped into the famed Green Jacket awarded to the Masters champ for the second time in three years, the 27-year-old Texan added another colorful jacket – this time in trademark Tartan – to his closet and became the first reigning Masters champion to win the RBC Heritage since Bernhard Langer in 1985.

Scheffler, who was 4-under through 15 holes in the final round and 20-under overall when play was suspended due to darkness on Sunday, made two pars and a finishing bogey and signed for a 3-under 68 on Monday, three shots better than Sahith Theegala (68) and four better than reigning U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark (65) and past FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay (68). Scheffler banked another $3.6 million to surpass $18 million in earnings this season – and it’s still April.

“I didn’t show up here just to have some sort of ceremony and have people tell me congratulations,” said Scheffler of avoiding a post-Masters victory hangover. “I came here with a purpose.”

CBS Sports roving reporter Colt Knost, who grew up with Scheffler following him around Dallas’s Royal Oaks Golf Club, already has one of the best nicknames in golf: The Big Gravy. But he may have earned another one – Knost-radamus – for a prediction seemingly as accurate as those of the 16th century French astrologer Nostradamus. In February 2022, when Scheffler won his first Tour title at the WM Phoenix Open, Knost proclaimed him to be “a worldbeater,” and added, “Now that he’s got that first one, I think the floodgates are going to open for him.”

Scheffler’s latest triumph is his 10th career title, the first player to win that many times (or more) in three seasons since Dustin Johnson did so between 2015-16 and 2017-18. There’s no indication that this flood of success for the world No. 1 will stop any time soon. Did Knost imagine Scheffler would dominate on the PGA Tour? “I really did,” he said. “He never plays badly and he’s one of the most competitive people I’ve ever met. He will never just go through the motions.”

Theegala, who recalled playing against Scheffler for the first time in the Starburst Junior Golf Classic at Waco, Texas, didn’t remember ever beating Scheffler, who is a year older than him, in a single junior tournament. Competing with Scheffler, who leads the Tour in 30 statistical categories this season, hasn’t gotten any easier lately. “It’s pretty epic,” Theegala said of Scheffler, who has shot even par or better in all 40 rounds this season and became the first player to win four times in five starts since Tiger Woods in 2007-08. “I was talking to Carl, my caddie, walking to 15 tee box. I was like, I grew up watching the end of Tiger, got to see Rory, DJ, Jordan, like all these guys kind of dominate for a period of time, and I was like, we could be in the midst of something really, really special.”

Some observers suggested that Scheffler would skip the RBC Heritage but Scheffler said he never wavered in his commitment to the tournament. After winning the Masters, Scheffler flew home to Dallas to be with Meredith and didn’t show up to Hilton Head until Tuesday. He played only a nine-hole practice round on Wednesday and spotted much of the field a head start, shanking a bunker shot at his third hole in the first round, making double bogey and needing two late birdies to post 69. He trailed by six and complained of fatigue. But after recharging his batteries, he didn’t make a single bogey or worse until the 72nd hole of the tournament, and even in that case Scheffler said he was counting that one as a par as he played the smart shots with a comfortable lead. He stormed back with a 65 on Friday and was lurking three back before reminding everyone who is boss with a bogey-free 63 to claim a one-stroke lead.

In the final round, Scheffler laid down the hammer early, chipping in at the par-5 second hole from 53 feet for eagle. His bump-and-run, executed to perfection, marked his 11th hole-out of the season. He tacked on a birdie at the par-5 fifth and strung together six consecutive pars before the horn blew. When play resumed he wedged to 6 feet for another birdie at 13. When he made his lone blunder, pull-hooking a 4-iron into the water due to mud on his ball at the par-5 15th, he took a penalty drop and carved a beautiful shot to 11 feet. Darkness had fallen and he could’ve wait until Monday to strike the par putt but he opted to play on and sank it for good measure. While that snapped a streak of 53 consecutive holes without recording a score of more than a four on his card, dating to the 15th hole in his first round, he pumped his fist with glee for keeping a clean card (to that point).

“I felt like I was due for one to drop,” said Scheffler, whose closing bogey gave him a winning total 19-under 265. “So I figured might as well hit it now.”

Clark mounted an early charge, making an eagle and six birdies in his first 11 holes to inch within a stroke of the lead. But his effort to run down Scheffler was spoiled at the 12th hole when Clark tried to punch between trees. His ball struck one of them squarely and ricocheted out of bounds. He made double bogey.

“It was kind of fun for a little bit,” said Clark, who improved to a career-best ranking of No. 3 in the world. “Seemed like maybe we had a chance to do something crazy.”

Only Mother Nature could prolong Scheffler’s victory another day. Play was suspended due to inclement weather at 4:28 p.m. ET, for two hours and 32 minutes. The delay meant they ran out of daylight.

But on Monday, Scheffler capped off winning for the fourth time this year, all of them Signature events. He finished tied for second in the only tournament he did not win during his scorching run. For the week, he topped the field of 69 in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, SG: Tee to Green, SG: Approach the Green and scrambling.

“We’re watching greatness right now,” CBS’s Jim Nantz said. “It doesn’t happen all the time, but it sure is fun when you find yourself witnessing something like this.

Nantz’s NFL broadcast partner, former Dallas Cowboys QB Tony Romo, who played in the Invited Celebrity Classic on PGA Tour Champions last week, estimated he’s played around 500 rounds with Scheffler and said he’s never failed to break 70.

“Which is insane,” said Romo who played with him the week before the Masters at Brook Hollow, a Dallas club. “I have not seen a guy hit a golf ball like this since Tiger back in the 2000s when I played with him, the way he was striking the ball, the compression, the trajectory, the spin rate. It was impressive, and I was like, ‘He ain’t losing that tournament.’ ”

No one stopped him at the RBC Heritage either. Could Scheffler be on his way to a season for the record books? That may depend whether history repeats itself — all 10 of his wins have come in the months of February, March and April. So, time will tell if Scheffler can continue to dominate when the calendar flips to May – just don’t bet against the floodgates closing any time soon.

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Rory McIlroy, Wyndham Clark and more highlight deep field for 2024 Zurich Classic

Davis Riley and Nick Hardy are the defending champions.

It’s time for the PGA Tour’s lone team event of the year, the 2024 Zurich Classic at TPC Louisiana in Avondale, outside of New Orleans.

And the field is deep. It features four golfers in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking and seven of the top 17. At the top of the list is Rory McIlroy, playing for the fourth straight week and teaming up with Shane Lowry. Also back are past champions Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay as well as Wyndham Clark and Beau Hossler.

There will also be multiple brothers teaming up, as the Fitzpatricks (Matt and Alex), the Hojgaards (Nicolai and Rasmus) and the Coodys (Parker and Pierceson) are all competing.

Davis Riley and Nick Hardy are the defending champions. The purse is $8.9 million with $1,286,050 being awarded to the winning team. The winners will also receive 400 FedEx Cup points.

Here’s a look at the full field for the 2024 Zurich Classic:

Scottie Scheffler’s dominance is forcing Max Homa, Wyndham Clark to get better. But can they close the gap?

Homa called Scheffler, “one of the best players I think we’ll ever see.”

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – In the lead up to the 88th Masters last week, ESPN commentators were asked how they thought Scottie Scheffler would do if he putted adequately. When host Scott Van Pelt weighed in on the chances of the world No. 1, he didn’t hesitate to say that Scheffler should be the pick.

“There’s a reason why his odds are in Tiger territory. They’re as low as anyone’s we’ve seen since Tiger. That’s because the answer to your question, if he putts adequately, he wins,” Van Pelt said. “Sometimes you don’t have to try so hard. You don’t have to squint so hard to see the answer. It’s just a big bold type in front of your face, Scottie Scheffler. Scottie Scheffler is going to play well at Augusta, the end. When he does on Sunday and he’s right there with a chance, you’ll go, of course. If he putts well, then he’ll win. It’s really that simple, isn’t it?”

Two-time U.S. Open winner Andy North seconded the notion as only he can. “It’s like that hot doughnut sign about 1 in the morning,” he added.

“We all know that one,” Van Pelt said.

Scheffler, 27, may be at the start of a historic run. He shot a final-round 68 at Augusta National to win the green jacket for the second time, and claimed his third victory in his last four starts.

“He’s just been annoying everyone for the last three months, hasn’t he?” Matt Fitzpatrick, the 2022 U.S. Open champion, said.

Max Homa, who finished tied for third at the Masters, called Scheffler, “one of the best players I think we’ll ever see.”

The predominant belief among the players is that the gap between Scheffler and everyone may not be the size of the Grand Canyon but it’s wider than Rae’s Creek.

Wyndham Clark, the reigning U.S. Open champion, has run into the Scheffler buzzsaw on multiple occasions this season, finishing second to him at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship. (Clark missed the cut at his first Masters.)

“The thing that I really am impressed by him is just the consistency that he’s always in contention, and either he wins or he finishes kind of top 5. I do think there’s a little gap right now, and I’m hoping as I progress as a player mentally and physically and everything that maybe by the end of the year or sometime next year maybe I’ve closed that gap a little bit,” he said.

Clark is motivated to get better for future battles and is confident his best is good enough to beat Scheffler even when’s he’s playing well. But the pursuit of better is what drives him.

2024 Masters
Wyndham Clark walks off the No. 2 green during the first round of the 2024 Masters Tournament. (Photo: Adam Cairns-USA TODAY Network)

“It just brings the overall quality of play up significantly when someone is playing that good all the time. I think everyone looks at themselves in the mirror and goes, what do I need to get better at because you feel like you’re playing good golf and you’re not beating him,” Clark said. “I think it would be great if we could have multiple guys that are kind of battling it out all the time. I don’t know if that’s me or could be someone else, but I would love for it to be me, and I’m working as hard as I can to be that person.”

Homa played alongside Scheffler last year at the U.S. Open in Los Angeles and came away starstruck by Scheffler’s brilliance.

“I just kept thinking to myself, man, must be nice, that’s just incredible, and then he’s done it for a year. Those are like great weeks that you like harken back to. He does this every week,” Homa said. “It’s definitely unique what he’s doing.”

Homa was asked if he found trying to catch Scheffler to be more daunting or challenging?

2023 U.S. Open
Max Homa and Scottie Scheffler walk up the seventh hole during the first round of the 2024 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club. (Photo: Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports)

“More challenging, I would say. I think it’s inspiring. It makes you look at your game even more closely to figure out what you would do to get on his level,” Homa said. “I think because of the Tiger era when he was just running through golf tournament after golf tournament and just annihilating everybody, it was probably more daunting because we had never seen anything like that.”

Scheffler, for one, expressed concern that playing at Harbour Town Golf Links this week could be more challenging for him than the Masters as he battles fatigue, but he never considered withdrawing and staying home in Dallas with wife Meredith, who is awaiting the birth of their first child later this month.

“I think playing in contention at majors and especially winning takes a lot out of you. There’s a lot of stuff that goes on after the Masters on Sunday, and you get home very late, and emotionally I think I’m a bit drained,” Scheffler said.

But if the remaining 68 players in the field think this means that he’s grown complacent, think again. Scheffler made it clear he’s going to rest up and recover and aiming to bring home his fourth title in his last five starts.

“I’m not showing up here just to walk around and play a little golf,” he said. “I left my pregnant wife at home to come here and play in a golf tournament. I am here to play and hopefully play well. I’m not here just for fun.”

The birth of the Scheffler’s first child may be the only thing that can slow him down. Homa, for one, was asked if he’d be in favor of a mandatory three-month paternity leave?

“No, I want to beat his ass pretty bad at some point,” he said. “I’d be lying if I wasn’t thinking a little bit about last week if Meredith did go into labor. The beauty of this is you want to beat the best when they’re at their best.”

Wyndham Clark has support of Dan Lanning and the Ducks ahead of Masters debut

We know who Dan Lanning is pulling for this year at The Masters.

Growing up, every golfer’s dream is to make it to the PGA Tour, and eventually have a chance to drove down Magnolia Lane in Augusta, Georgia, gearing up for The Masters Championship. It is among the most legendary tournaments in all of golf, and awards arguably the most prestigious trophy in all of sports — the green jacket.

That’s a trophy that former Oregon Duck Wyndham Clark will be competing for later this week down in Augusta, making his Masters debut. While Clark has been finding success on the PGA Tour for a few years now, it was his win in the U.S. Open a year ago that got him qualifying status for the first major of 2024.

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While Clark has a large group of fans rooting him on from across the country in Eugene, the most notable may be Oregon Ducks head football coach Dan Lanning.

“I’m going to try and catch as much as I can,” Lanning said when asked about The Masters on Tuesday. “We’ll be busy with practice on Thursday and Saturday, but I hope Wyndham goes out there and takes care of business.”

Clark has three career wins on the PGA Tour, one of which came earlier this year at Pebble Beach. He is playing alongside Viktor Hovland and Cameron Smith, teeing off at 7:54 a.m. PT on Thursday morning, and 11 a.m. PT on Friday morning.

At the moment, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, Clark has +4000 odds to win the tournament, which is tied for the 12th best in the field.

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How Wyndham Clark cleared the mystique of Augusta National before first Masters appearance

Clark has the highest ranking for a Masters rookie in history.

AUGUSTA, Ga. — There aren’t many golfers – just two in fact – who have accomplished what Wyndham Clark is about to do this week at the Masters Tournament.

In the 87 previous Masters, almost every reigning U.S. Open champion had played in April’s Masters before their U.S. Open win the previous June.

The first to break the barrier was little-known Jack Fleck, who won the 1955 U.S. Open, taking down Ben Hogan in an 18-hole playoff at the Olympic Club in San Francisco to qualify for the 1956 Masters.

The other was Orville Moody, who made his Masters debut in 1970, a whopping 54 years ago. Moody had won the 1969 U.S. Open at Champions Golf Club in Houston.

Being a Masters rookie with a U.S. Open title under his belt just shows how far Clark has come in the last past 11 months, when he’s won three times and skyrocketed up the World Golf Ranking.

Less than three months before the 2023 Masters, Clark was ranked 159th in the world. He’s now No. 4. That’s the highest ranking for a Masters rookie in history.

He’s expected to finish higher than Fleck or Moody did in their Masters debut. Fleck tied for 43rd in the 1956 Masters and Moody tied for 18th in 1970.

In fact, Clark, who was a middle-of-the-pack player for his first five years on the PGA Tour, has improved so much in the past year that his name is being thrown around as a possible winner in his Masters debut. Only three players have done that, the last being Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979.

Clark thinks it’s only a matter of time for another rookie to break through so why not him? Or of the 19 other first-timers, which includes Ludvig Aberg.

“No one thought I could win the U.S. Open being the first time in contention, so I think things are meant, you know, records or curses or whatever they are, are meant to be broken, and if it’s not me this week it could be Ludvig or someone else that does it,” Clark said. “I think the guys that are playing professional golf now have gotten so good, and I don’t think we really listen and think of those things, we just see the golf ball and put it where we want to put it and wherever, you know, the ball ends up, we go and hit it again and try to win a golf tournament regardless of where we’re at.”

Clark said winning this week “would be an amazing accomplishment. And I like my chances. I really like myself on this golf course. I feel good on a lot of tee shots and approaches, and there’s so much creativity. So I feel good coming into the week.”

Fellow Masters participant Luke List also likes Clark’s chances.

“His game is perfect for Augusta National,” List said. “Long and straight and a good putter. That’s what you’ve got to do out here.”

List calls Clark “a phenomenal talent. That’s kind of the future of the game, is the guys that are going to hit it far and be good putters. Wyndham is a great player, really nice guy, and, again, has a great career ahead of him.”

Clark has purposely cleared the deck of most of the mystique of playing in the Masters. In two pre-Masters trips, he played 36 holes on each visit. He has now played multiple practice rounds this week.

“The good thing is I came and did a couple visits here, and I wanted to try to get the awe of Augusta National kind of out of the way so that, when I showed up this week, it’s all business and I can just focus on the golf at hand,” he said. “And I’ve done that well in this last year. And so I know I’m going to have the first tee jitters when I step up on 1 and put the ball on the peg and have to hit it. But I’m really hoping that, when we get to No. 2 or 3 or 4, I’m pretty relaxed and I just get about my business and do my job.”

Masters: For Tiger Woods, the mission hasn’t changed when he competes in the Masters

As much as he knows the Masters is “golf at the end of the day” he’s discovered the magnitude of the year’s first major championship.

“I definitely think the lead-up, before I even got here, it’s amazing how just friends and family and random people I see back home in Scottsdale (Ariz.) people just saying, man, good luck at the Masters, and bringing up the Masters, where when I’m going into a regular PGA Tour event, they’re not necessarily saying that. So that’s probably the first thing.”

It took hard work, both physically and mentally, for Clark to ascend to the elite level in today’s professional golf.

He has embraced the notoriety, which included a news conference in the Augusta National’s Press Building on Tuesday.

“Peers of mine and friends of mine would be doing the pressers on Tuesdays and Wednesdays of tournaments and being talked about and all the interviews, and I’m on the range grinding all day and no one knows my name and really cares to know my name,” Clark said. “So for me it’s exciting. I like doing this stuff because it’s something I’ve worked really hard to get here to do.”

Clark is one of those Masters participants who had such high hopes of one day playing in the Masters that they vowed not to play Augusta National until they were in the tournament. As a qualifier for the 2024 Masters, Clark could play the course any time he wished after the course opened for the 2023-24 season in mid-October. His first trip came during the second week of March.

“It was a really cool trip because I went with my dad and brother,” he said. “They have never been and so we went and had an awesome kind of Clark boys trip and it was very memorable. It’s something we’ll remember for the rest of our lives.

“That’s a place I always dreamed of playing at and then to do it with my dad and brother was awesome. We were walking the first couple of holes and we were just looking at each other and saying this is so cool.”

There are 20 first-timers at 2024 Masters, including last week’s winner and the 2023 U.S. Open champ

The 20 first-timers this year is six off the record set in 2020.

AUGUSTA, Ga. —  Some veterans have a few tips of advice for 11th-hour Masters Tournament participant Akshay Bhatia and the other 19 golfers making their debut at Augusta National Golf Club this week.

Bhatia won a playoff in the Valeron Texas Open on Sunday night, making him the final entrant in the 88th Masters, which begins on Thursday. The starting field has 89 players.

It’s been such a whirlwind that Bhatia said on Tuesday afternoon that he “really can’t” remember much of what had happened in the previous 24 hours.

Bhatia flew into Augusta after his victory in San Antonio, arriving at 1:30 a.m. He made it to Augusta National by 2 p.m., did a news conference at 4 p.m. and then decided to “take it easy. This is seven weeks in a row for me, so it’s a lot of golf, but I also have a ton of adrenaline so it kind of balances out.”

Because of a recurrent shoulder problem that he fought through to win Sunday, Bhatia doesn’t know how much practice he’ll get in on Tuesday. He said he wants to play in the Par 3 Contest on Wednesday.

Keegan Bradley, who is playing in his eighth Masters, hopes the rookies take in the whole experience as much as they can. He wishes he had in during his 2012 debut.

“I was a nervous wreck,” he said. “You can miss the accomplishment in your career to get out here. I think you got to take a second is and enjoy being here. I wish I took a little more time to look around and see where I was and how far I had come in my career to be teeing it up in the Masters. I would really take the time to really enjoy and look around. It’s such a stressful week, especially the first one.”

Augusta resident Luke List is playing in his third Masters. His first, in 2005, was as an amateur. When he returned as a pro in 2020, he followed the same strategy he had on first Masters: Stick to your game plan.

“There will be some bad stuff happening out there and you try not to be too aggressive when that happens,” List said. “Just plod along. And there is some opportunities out here, but also a lot of the holes that will jump up and get you. For me, just trying to stay in my routine and my game plan I guess.”

2024 Masters Tournament
Flags fly on the scoreboard during a practice round for the 2024 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. (Photo: Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Network)

The 20 first-timers this year is six off the record set in 2020. Heading up this year’s group is current U.S. Open champion Wyndam Clark. He played in September’s Ryder Cup for the U.S. Also in that event were Masters rookies Ludvig Aberg and Nicolai Hojgaard.

Nine of the rookies punched their ticket with PGA Tour victories, with Lee Hodges, in the 3M Open in last July, being the lone entry from the 2023 Masters in April to the end of the year.

After that, they came fast and furious early in 2024 and then in the runup to the Masters. There were three winners in January, two in February, two in March and one in April.

In fact, the last three tournaments have seen the winner earn a Masters invitation – Peter Malnati at Valspar, Stephan Jaeger in the Houston Open and Bhatia.

“Just to be standing here, it’s amazing, and just having the opportunity, the members giving us the opportunity to play their golf course is certainly special, and I can’t wait to be on that first tee on Thursday,” Bhatia said.

In addition to Bhatia, Clark, Aberg, Hojgaard, Malnati and Jaeger, the other Masters rookies are pros Eric Cole, Nick Dunlap, Austin Eckroat, Ryo Hisatsune, Lee Hodges, Jake Knapp, Denny McCarthy, Grayson Murray, Matthieu Pavon and Adam Schenk.

There are also five amateurs competing in this year’s event.

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Scores at the Texas Children’s Houston Open could be lower than ever. Here’s why

The Texas Children’s Houston Open is different this year. And that’s not a bad thing.

HOUSTON — Fans tuning in to the Houston Open this week are in for plenty of changes since the last time the tournament was held.

First, there’s a new title sponsor: Texas Children’s Hospital. Previous sponsors include Shell, Vivint, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Cadence Bank, but this is the first of a five-year partnership for Texas Children’s and the Houston Open. There will also be increased purses for the duration of the contract.

Then, it’s being played at a new time of year for the first time at Memorial Park Golf Club, site of the tournament since 2020. For three years, it was part of the fall schedule. After having no tournament in 2023, it moved to the slot WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play used to occupy in the new PGA Tour schedule.

Although the venue is the same, the golf course is completely different.

Houston Open: Odds, picks to win | Photos

“Back in the fall it was playing quite fast, the ball was running, the
greens were firm,” defending champion Tony Finau said. “I don’t think that’s going to be the case as much this week.”

In the past, the Houston Open at Memorial Park rewarded accuracy off the tee because of thick rough. This year, there’s not as big of a premium for finding the fairway because the course was overseeded with ryegrass. Then there are the greens, which as Finau alluded to, can be challenging if the course speeds up.

2024 Texas Children's Houston Open
Signage near the 16th green during a practice round prior to the Texas Children’s Houston Open at Memorial Park Golf Course on March 27, 2024, in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Raj Mehta/Getty Images)

This week, however, someone who is strong with their iron game is likely to rise to the top.

“It used to be some holes where it was really, really important to hit
the fairway, especially with the Bermuda rough,” World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler said. “Now there’s not as much of a premium placed on that. You’ll see a lot more drivers, people hitting it really far and it will be much
more of I’d say a second shot golf course this time around.”

In 2022, Finau set the tournament scoring record at Memorial Park, shooting 16-under 264 for the week. Players think there’s a good chance that is broken this week.

“I would say it’s going to play a little bit easier,” World No. 4 Wyndham Clark said. “In the fall it was very tough because you would hit it in the rough and it was so hard to judge lies. And then around the greens was, you would have into the grain, dormant Bermuda so you could get some squirrely shots. So I predict that scores will be lower than what they normally are in the fall.”

Numerous golfers in the field are using this week as final preparations for Augusta National and the Masters, which is in two weeks.

Scheffler, who donned the green jacket in 2022, said he was surprised with a lack of rough and said they’re probably trying to make it like Augusta National, which he doesn’t mind for his prep.

The 17th hole was also changed, and when the tee is moved up, it makes the green more enticing for players to go for it in two.

Last week’s champion, Peter Malnati, had high praise for the municipal course, saying it looks more like a high-end country club and not a course the public can play any day, any time.

“It’s a completely different course,” Malnati said of the fall-to-spring change. “I think I’d probably possibly be in the minority of Tour players who would say this, but I kind of love the fact that it did have a bit of a muni feel. It felt like a course that any Houstonian could just come out and play, and that’s not something we really get on Tour a lot. We tend to play perfectly manicured, you know, country club-type feeling courses that are just in immaculate condition.

“That’s not how this course has been when we played it in the fall. It’s been a little rough around the edges. This year it looks much more like what we’re used to on the PGA Tour. It’s immaculate, no blade of grass out of place and that’s obviously a really good thing. Huge compliment to the staff here for the job they’ve done to get this that way.”

The Texas Children’s Houston Open is different this year. And that’s not a bad thing.

“It’s aesthetically a lot prettier because normally it’s a little more dormant when we play it,” Clark said. “They’ve done an awesome job, the course is in amazing shape, it looks amazing.”

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Wyndham Clark nursing back injury ahead of 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open

“So just in a short time I’ve improved a ton, and I think I’ll be ready for tomorrow.”

HOUSTON — If it weren’t for Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark may have three victories in as many months to begin the 2024 PGA Tour season.

The World No. 4 won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am thanks to his third round 12-under 60, a new course record at the famed links. In his previous two starts, Clark has finished runner-up to the World No. 1 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship.

At TPC Sawgrass, he nearly holed a putt on the final hole to force a playoff between him and Scheffler.

This week, arguably the two hottest players in the world will again tee it up at the Texas Children’s Houston Open at Memorial Park Golf Course, their final tune-up before the Masters in two weeks.

Houston Open: Thursday tee times | Odds, picks to win

However, there was a time this week when Clark thought he wouldn’t play. During a workout Monday in Scottsdale, Arizona, Clark tweaked his back. He flew to Houston early Tuesday but could only putt and chip. He didn’t take any full swings until Wednesday, and even then he had to work through soreness.

“I threw it out,” Clark said. “I was in pretty bad shape yesterday, but fortunately I have a great team that has gotten me to be able to swing and hit. I did a bunch of rehab, and I was able to hit balls today. So just in a short time I’ve improved a ton, and I think I’ll be ready for tomorrow.”

Clark said he got caught in an awkward spot doing a lift, and his back gave out. He said it’s not something that happens regularly, but he’s trending in the right direction.

He even thought he may have to withdraw.

“I wanted to give it my best effort,” Clark said. “I had a dinner last night that I wanted to be a part of and I knew I was playing with kids today that were battling after heart transplants and cancer, so I wanted to make sure I could be here for that.

“I’m going to give it my best effort tomorrow and hopefully I can play and compete. If not, I’ve got to get ready for tournaments to come after this.”

Clark tees off at 1:53 p.m. ET Thursday playing alongside defending champion Tony Finau and Si Woo Kim.

Wyndham Clark’s brutal lip out at 2024 Players Championship cost him as much as $2.5 million

At best Clark only lost $743,333. At worst, he lost out on $2,518,333.

Wyndham Clark’s reaction to his brutal lip out on the 72nd hole of the 2024 Players Championship was the same as all of us who were watching at home: “I don’t know how that putt doesn’t go in.”

Scottie Scheffler was in the clubhouse lead at 20 under when Clark, in the final group with Xander Schauffele, had a birdie putt on the par-4 18th at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, to tie the world No. 1 and force a playoff. Clark’s 16-footer for birdie was tracking towards the hole the entire way but caught the edge and failed to drop, leaving him T-2 at 19 under alongside Schauffele and Brian Harman.

“It was kind of right center with like a foot to go, and I knew it was going to keep breaking, but it had speed and I thought it was going to go inside left, and even when it kind of lipped, I thought it would lip in,” Clark explained. “I’m pretty gutted it didn’t go in.”

“I hit it perfect,” he said of his putt. “It rolled end over end and had the speed to go in.”

The runners-up trio each took home $1,981,667 for their efforts, which isn’t a bad consolation prize.

But what if the putt would’ve dropped for Clark? The 2023 U.S. Open champion would’ve then been in a playoff with Scheffler, who took home a whopping $4.5 million for his win. Had Clark bested Scheffler in the three-hole aggregate playoff over Nos. 16-18 at TPC Sawgrass, that $4.5 million would be his. If he would’ve lost, Clark would’ve earned $2.725 million. At best he only lost $743,333. At worst, he’s out $2,518,333.

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Scottie Scheffler makes PGA Tour history with 2024 Players Championship win, title defense

“He found a way, which is what the great players do.”

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Scottie Scheffler refused to relinquish the Players Championship trophy.

It didn’t matter if he suffered from neck pain, or if he fell as many as nine strokes off the pace in the third round, Scheffler made no excuses. He persevered until his neck improved on Sunday and fired a final-round 8-under 64 at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass to edge Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman and Xander Schauffele, three of the top-10 players in the world, and become the first player to repeat as champion in the 50-year history of the Players.

“It’s tough enough to win one Players,” said Scheffler, whose final-round 64 tied for the lowest for a Players champion, joining Fred Couples in 1996 and Davis Love III in 2003, and he tied Justin Leonard in 1998 with his five-shot comeback. “So to have it back-to-back is extremely special.”

The final round played out under glorious sunshine at the Pete Dye-designed masterpiece and turned into great theater on Sunday. Schauffele, the reigning Olympics champion, entered the final round with a one-stroke lead and remained in front with six holes to go thanks to a splendid short game. But he made back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 14 and 15 to drop two back. He bounced back with a birdie at 16 but missed a golden opportunity from 7 feet at 17. When his second shot at 18 flew 62 feet past the hole to the back ridge of the green, he placed his hands on his knees in disappointment as if he knew he’d let the title get away. Schauffele, who closed in 70, is winless the last six times he’s been in the final pairing.

“When I went to bed last night, it’s not exactly how I envisioned walking off the 18th green,” Schauffele said.

Harman, the reigning British Open champion, rallied from an opening-round 72, and made four birdies in a five-hole stretch starting at No. 7 to join the fray. He closed to within one with a birdie at 15 but managed just pars on the closing three holes. His 17-foot birdie putt to force a playoff at 18 never had a chance and he closed in 68.

“I had my chances,” he said, “just didn’t cash in.”

Clark, the reigning U.S. Open champion, made bogey at 14 and fell to 17 under, but he added a birdie at 16 and stuffed his approach to 4 feet at 17 for another one. His 17-foot birdie putt at 18 was the last-ditch effort to force overtime and it caught the left lip and cruelly spun out the right side. Clark covered his mouth with his right hand in disbelief.

“I don’t know how that putt doesn’t go in,” said Clark, who shot 69. “It was kind of right center with like a foot to go, and I knew it was going to keep breaking, but it had speed and I thought it was going to go inside left, and even when it kind of lipped, I thought it would lip in. I’m pretty gutted it didn’t go in.”

Scheffler, who was warming up on the range in case of a playoff, heard a collective groan from the gallery that said it all. He won for the second straight week but this one was a pain in the neck – literally. On his second hole of his second round, he strained his neck while hitting a long iron that required two separate mid-round sessions with his personal physical therapist to continue and shot 69.

“I told my wife Friday night, I don’t see him playing this weekend,” said Scheffler’s caddie, Ted Scott. “His mobility was maybe 10 degrees.”

The 27-year-old Scheffler received treatment on his injury after the round, which also radiated pain to his right shoulder, and woke up the next day feeling a touch better. It hurt to finish his swing and he took one more club on most shots. As he put it, he “slapped it around,” somehow closing with four birdies in his final five holes on Saturday to stay in the trophy hunt.

“He found a way, which is what the great players do,” Scott said.

Scheffler said he felt “close to normal” on Sunday, though Scott isn’t buying it. On the range before the final round, Scheffler, who wore two strips of KP tape on the left side of his neck, asked Scott to check his alignment.

“When he opened up to hit the shot and looked at the shot, his hips opened up 20 degrees. He couldn’t turn his head (left),” Scott said. “I didn’t know how today would go. Adrenaline is a crazy thing.”

The juices were flowing when Scheffler holed out from 92 yards for eagle at the fourth hole. Scheffler clenched his fist, then slapped hands with Scott who flashed six fingers to Scheffler, noting it’s his sixth hole out of the season. Scheffler followed with an 18-foot birdie putt on 5. He caught fire around the turn making four birdies in a five-hole span beginning at No. 8.

“Maybe this could be our day,” Scott recalled thinking.

It didn’t hurt that Scheffler played bogey-free over his last 31 holes. At No. 11, Clark eyed the leaderboard for the first time all day and there was confirmation that Scheffler, who’d beaten him the week before too at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, had made his move. He chuckled and said, “Of course.”

Schauffele noticed the charge in front of him, too. “Just another week,” he said.

“He’s the best player in the world, and this is a championship golf course,” Harman said.

Indeed, Scheffler is going to be a pain in the neck to beat for some time. Scheffler splashed out of a pot bunker to a foot at 16 to set up his final birdie and reach 20 under, the lowest winning score at the Players since Greg Norman’s record 24 under aggregate in the 1994 Players.

Scheffler became the seventh man to win the Players multiple times, joining Jack Nicklaus, Hal Sutton, Davis Love III, Fred Couples, Steve Elkington and Tiger Woods. It marked Scheffler’s eighth wins in 26 months, and he’s got an iron-clad hold on world No. 1. But Scheffler isn’t the type to let any of it go to his head. He recalled that just last month he hit a tee shot at the Genesis Invitational and a fan yelled out, “Congrats on being No. 1 Scottie. Eleven more years to go.”

That’s all it will take to match Woods’s reign at the top of the mountain of men’s professional golf. He did note that he already matched Woods with two wins at the Players. After the trophy ceremony, Scheffler was prepping to take photos with his family and gripped the golden trophy loosely with one hand. His sister, Callie, offered to help him, but Scottie would hear none of it. “I’ve got it, I’ve got it,” he said.

He most definitely does – and for a second straight year.

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