World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler knows his way around TPC Sawgrass and disclosed what it takes to succeed at The Players.
Scottie Scheffler arrives in Northeast Florida in rarefied air: he is the first player in PGA Tour history to have a chance to win The Players Championship on three straight occasions.
He also became the first player to defend his title at TPC Sawgrass last year, shooting an 8-under 64 on Sunday to storm from behind and eclipse Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman, and Xander Schauffele by one.
The year before, Scheffler won by five.
He knows how to win on this golf course, and has done so under two completely different circumstances. He explained the secrets behind his success at TPC Sawgrass, and how a player should attack it ahead of this week’s Players Championship.
“You can’t fake it around this place,” Scheffler said.
“I think there’s a lot of genius in the way the golf course is designed. There is some volatility in terms of the hazards. That provides a lot of volatility for how the golf course can play, especially in high winds.”
Scheffler then discussed how the golf course forces the player to move the ball in both directions.
“There’s a lot of genius in the golf course. Like you look at a hole like No. 1, to fade off the tee is a draw into the green. You look at No. 2, it’s a draw off the tee. No. 4 is a fade off the tee. No. 5 is a fade. No. 6 is a draw. No. 7 is a draw. It calls for different shots on each hole,” Scheffler said.
“You have to play shots. If there’s no conditions, you can play a little bit of robot golf, but at the end of the day, I think you’ve got to show up, play shots, do things differently.”
Yet, TPC Sawgrass can change from year to year, based on the conditions.
“If it’s soft and windy, you got to really control your golf ball, hit a lot of chippy shots, control your spin around the greens, and then if it’s firm and windy, you also got control your spin but a different way at a different height,” Scheffler explained.
“And then if it’s not windy and firm, you know you got to work the ball into the pins because the greens are firm. The golf course can just challenge you in a variety of ways, and I think that’s what makes it a great test.”
Schauffele more or less agreed with this sentiment.
“Someone who has got the whole package is going to play well here,” Schauffele said.
“You’re hitting a lot of fairways, you can shape the ball off the tee, short game’s wicked, you can get a little bit of relief on the greens. It’s not like you need to putt the lights out of it to play really well at Sawgrass; if you can strike it around the property, you can give yourself a little bit of relief.”
Good ball-striking and accuracy off the tee will always help at TPC Sawgrass. But at the end of the day, the player who is having the best week overall and has every shot in their bag will emerge victorious.
“It doesn’t suit one type of player,” Scheffler added.
“I think some of the results you see here over time for guys where it’s not a horses-for-courses-type place, it’s just the guys who are playing the best are going to be on the leaderboard on Sunday. That’s plain and simple.”
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.
