DeChambeau struggles, JT wins the Players Championship

When: Mar 11–14, 2021

Where: TPC Sawgrass, Palm Valley, FL.

Course: Players Stadium Course

27-year-old Justin Thomas continues to rise on the Tour’s career money list, climbing inside the top 20 with his 14th career win. Thomas won the tournament with the biggest payday - The Players Championship - on Sunday at TPC Sawgrass. He takes home the top prize of $2.7 million after an impressive weekend with rounds of 8-under 64 on Saturday and 4-under 68 on Sunday.

Lee Westwood, the 54-hole leader for the second consecutive week, finished second at 13 under, with Brian Harman and Bryson DeChambeau T-3 at 12 under.

All eyes were on DeChambeau, but his slugger’s game quickly went awry on the sharpshooter course. After taking a drop, he nearly hit his shot off the course, the ball flying deep into trees. Turns out, he cracked his 4-iron with the mighty blow.

“Golf,” the big man said about what was going on out there. “I was hitting it pretty good for the most part. I don’t know what happened on 4. That’s the game.

“I’m OK with it. Still smiling after. I fought really hard. It just seemed like something wasn’t going my way today for some reason. I could feel it. It was weird. Just numerous putts that I hit, it was like, OK, that’s a really good putt, and it didn’t go in.”

After taking double on the fourth, he was four shots out of the lead but somehow put what happened on the hole in the rearview even though he said he had never done that before in his career in competition.

“I was trying to hit more of a low bullet and just kind of caught the heel, a little high on the thing. It wasn’t really a top, it was more like a thin ball that just had no spin on it and just knuckled,” he said. “But it’s one of those things that I just didn’t have it all today. I was proud of the way I fought, proud of the way I persevered, and there’s still more tournaments to be had.”

His 4-iron, normally a trusty club, failed him. “I couldn’t use it all day,” he said. “It sounded really weird and just came off horrifically, and I’m like, oh, and there’s a line in the bottom of the club. Things just didn’t pan out the way that I thought they should have, and I set myself behind the 8-ball quick, and I wasn’t able to recover fast enough.”

He made three birdies and an eagle on the 16th to finish with a 1-under-par 71 and in a tie for third at 12 under, two shots back of Players champion Justin Thomas.

“I can play on golf courses that don’t really suit me,” he said about his biggest takeaway of the week. “That’s a big lesson. I’d also say, no matter what happens, no matter if I pop a shot, no matter if I thin a shot, whatever it was, and make a really good double or could have been triple or quad, I’m still never out of it for the most part. I know my game is good enough in most facets to get it back and compete with the best of them.

“I’m going to go back and work really hard on my golf swing and figure out how to, again, be less sensitive. I was more sensitive last week and pulled out the victory. I got a little lucky. Just putts didn’t fall today.”

Check out how much money each player earned this week at the Players Championship.