Best of the Players Championship: The 25 Most Dominant Performances
By Bill Felber
Webb Simpson won the 2018 Players so comfortably that he was not even pressed. Carrying a seven-shot lead into the final round, he never allowed anybody to draw closer than four strokes, and only a double bogey on the 72nd hole cemented the final margin under six strokes.
Despite a belated Sunday charge by Tiger Woods – who began that day 11 strokes off the pace and at one point closed within four before finishing seven back – the tournament really belonged to Simpson from the start. His Thursday 66 gave him one-sixth of the first round lead, and he followed with a course-record-tying 63 on Friday to jump five strokes in front.
A third round 68 moved him seven strokes ahead of runner-up Danny Lee, Dustin Johnson being the only other player within 10 strokes of him.
That turned Sunday into a formality made interesting only by Woods’ abortive charge, which collapsed on the final five holes. Playing steady, even par golf through 11 holes and leading at that point by five, Simpson added one more stroke to his lead with a birdie at 16 before that final, meaningless double-bogey.
The win was the first in four seasons for the former U.S. Open champion, who denied the drought had impacted his self-confidence. “But at the same time, that’s a long time,” he acknowledged.