The inevitability of Scottie Scheffler on Players Championship Sunday

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — As Scottie Scheffler stood over his ball lying awkwardly in the rough above a greenside bunker on the eighth hole at the Stadium Course on Sunday, the men trying to chase him in the final round of the Players Championship were self-imploding.

Australia's Min Woo Lee started the round in second place, 2 strokes behind Scheffler, but had already carded a triple-bogey 7 on the par-4 fourth hole. After another wayward approach shot, Lee's ball was sitting in the sand on No. 8. It led to another bogey. It wouldn't be his last.

Japan's Hideki Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion, tried to make a late run with four birdies on the front and three straight on the back. But then he had a double bogey on the par-4 14th and his tee shot on the 18th had settled in pine straw, resulting in another bogey.

Max Homa, who has played about as well as anyone on tour not named Scheffler, Rory McIlroy or Jon Rahm this season, also was suddenly within striking distance. After making just one birdie on the front, Homa went a combined 4 under on the first three holes on the back. Then Homa caught a terrible break when his tee shot hit the sunbaked green of the iconic par-3 17th and bounced off the back and into the water. A double-bogey 5 knocked him out of contention.

With chaos happening all around him, Scheffler did what he seemingly always does. He calmly pulled out a wedge, chipped his ball a few feet left of the hole and then watched it roll in for his first birdie of the round. Just like that, Scheffler had a 3-shot lead and for all intents and purposes, the Players was over. If there was any doubt left, he birdied the next four holes to open up a 6-shot lead.

Scheffler, 26, ended up winning by 5 strokes over