Anyone else would need a historic performance to take home the Tour’s largest prize, a $4.5 million purse.

The largest comeback at TPC Sawgrass is five shots by Justin Leonard in 1998 and Henrik Stenson in 2009 — the latter when the tournament was amid a 12-year stretch of being held in May.

Asked what it will take to win, Scheffler said, “Shoot very low.”

After a pair of 65s to open the tournament, Clark appeared to be uncatchable and poised to turn the Players into a second straight Sunday stroll. Scheffler’s 5-shot win in 2023 was the first Players decided by more than a shot since it moved back to March in 2019.

Given the nature of tournament golf, Clark wasn’t surprised by Saturday’s result.

“Everyone kind of has one round where they have to really grind it out and make those par putts and bogey putts,” he said. “I felt like that was today.”

The role of chaser suits Schauffele. During four of his seven wins on Tour he trailed by at least four shots after 36 holes, including his maiden victory in 2017 at Greenbrier where he trailed by five.

Paired again for the closing round with Clark, the roles will be reversed, but the game plan will be the same during what should be a chaotic and boisterous final day.

“At times in the past I’ll get a bit ahead of myself and lose a little bit of confidence when I shouldn’t,” Schauffele said. “Today I tried to stay in my own little box there. I heard roars all around the property and I really just kind of stayed in my lane.”

©2024 Orlando Sentinel. Visit orlandosentinel.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.