Young snatches Players title from Fitzpatrick

The Players Championship, final leaderboard

-13 C Young (US); -12 M Fitzpatrick (Eng); -11 X Schauffele (US); -10 R MacIntyre (Sco)

Selected: -9 S Yellamaraju (Can), J Bridgeman (US), L Aberg (Swe); -8 T Fleetwood (Eng), J Thomas (US), S Straka (Aut); -6 B Koepka (US), J Rose (Eng), V Hovland (Nor); -5 S Scheffler (US); Level R McIlroy (NI)

Cameron Young snatched the prestigious Players Championship title from Matt Fitzpatrick’s grasp in a pulsating finish at TPC Sawgrass.

Fitzpatrick, looking to become the first Englishman to win the PGA Tour’s flagship event, led by one on the 17th tee but a par-bogey finish cost him as Young closed birdie-par to complete the biggest victory of his career by one stroke.

“The nerves kicked in over the eight-inch putt on the last, the hole looked really small,” said Young, who shot a four-under-par 68 to win his second PGA Tour title on 13 under.

“You just know all eyes are right there on you. There’s nowhere to hide, and I feel like I stepped up really well and hit a bunch of good shots those last couple holes, so I’m very proud of that.”

Fitzpatrick, the 2022 US Open champion, told BBC Sport prior to this week that given the Players’ standing in the game, it “would be right up there in terms of my career highlights” were he to win it.

And the Yorkshireman came mightily close to claiming the $4.5m (£3.4m) winner’s purse from the $25m (£18.9m) prize fund as he tussled with playing partner Young down the stretch, while Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre and 2024 Open champion Xander Schauffele also challenged.

MacIntyre’s hopes eventually ended in the water on the 16th as he signed for a 69 to finish fourth on 10 under, one shot behind playing partner Schauffele, who had three birdies in his final four holes to also shoot a 69 and climb to third on 11 under.

Young missed a 15-foot birdie putt to clinch the title, giving Fitzpatrick the chance to force a play-off but his eight-foot effort grazed the right edge of the hole and the American tapped in to win.

The pair, New York Golf club team-mates in Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s indoor TGL set-up, shared a warm embrace on the green.

“He’s a great guy,” said Young. “He is an excellent playing partner. He plays quick. He’s a very polite, and enjoyable to talk to when you get the odd moment to share a few words out there.

“It was a comfortable pairing for me.”

Ludvig Aberg held a three-shot overnight lead, but the Swede, who still led the field by three with nine to play, imploded; his hopes sunk in a couple of the course’s many lakes.

The European Ryder Cup star’s seemingly serene march to the title – he had one birdie, one bogey and eight pars in his opening 10 holes – was abruptly halted by visits to water on the 11th and 12th, costing him those three shots.

“The back nine was not good, but that’s the way it goes sometimes,” was Aberg’s philosophical take on his demise.

“It got away from me quickly. It was just poor swings. I tried to press a little bit on 12, hitting driver, but it was a really poor swing, and it stings a bit.”

Meanwhile, Fitzpatrick, who had missed makeable birdie chances from 15, 11, 11 and seven feet on four successive holes from the eighth, birdied the 12th and 13th to surge into the lead on 13 under.

But Young stuck with him, also picking up a shot on the short 13th to stay one back.

Up ahead, Schauffele set the clubhouse target at 11 under, while MacIntyre was left to rue an errant shot on the 16th.

He had started the final round six shots off the pace but after five birdies in his opening 11 holes lifted him to 11 under he thought he “was in with a shout”.

A three-putt bogey on the 14th was followed by a birde on the next, with the par-five 16th offering the chance of another birdie. However, after hitting his second shot into greenside rough, he could only hack his ball out and watch helplessly as it trundled across the green and into the water, leading to another bogey.

“It’s a sore one right now,” he said. “On 17 and 18 we played aggressive but smart. That was the caddie’s words. I was wanting to go straight at that pin on 17, just throw the dice at it.

Young was still one adrift on the notoriously tricky par-three 17th, with its green almost surrounded by water and the hole tucked towards the right edge.

But he found the putting surface and rolled in a 10ft birdie, while Fitzpatrick could only two-putt for par and the players marched to the 18th tee for a final-hole shootout locked on 13 under.

Fitzpatrick was welcomed by pantomime boos from the partisan fans who were predictably rooting for their man.

“The crowd was child’s play compared to Bethpage,” said the Yorkshireman, referring to the treatment handed out to Europe’s players at last September’s Ryder Cup in New York.

“If they think that that was anything, then they need to reassess. Get yourself up to New York.

“I knew it was coming. I find it hilarious.”

And while Young elicited cheers of “USA” after crushing the perfect drive 375 yards down the fairway, Fitzpatrick’s went straight and among trees, leaving him unable to reach the green in two.