Players Championship 2021 R4
March 11-14
TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
$15,000,000
Round 1, Round 2, Round 3

Justin Thomas started his round three shots behind leader Lee Westwood and closed with a 4-under 68 to finish 14-under and win The Players Championship by one shot.

"I fought so hard today," said Thomas. "It's probably one of the best rounds of my life tee-to-green. I've seen some crazy stuff happen on TV in the past, and I'm glad to be on this side of it."

He started his round uneventfully with pars on the first seven holes and closed his front nine with bogey at the 8th and birdie at the 9th. His back nine started birdie-eagle-birdie, he then bogeyed the 14th and birdied the 16th with a 50-foot putt before another 50-footer for par on the 17th secured his lead. His approach on the 18th settled on the fringe, his first missed green of the day, and he two-putted for par and his fourteenth PGA victory.

Westwood's front nine was more dramatic featuring three bogeys after finding the water and clipping trees and two birdies to turn in 37, still in the lead. He lost it to Thomas' opening three holes on the back nine and regained a share with a birdie at the 14th but closed his round bogey-birdie for a 72 and finished runner-up for the second week running.

“The week has been great. I didn't play my best golf today by any stretch of the imagination, but I battled it out. I was proud of myself for that,” said Westwood. “People question whether I can hole putts under pressure, and I rolled in a lot of must-make putts all day, really, whether it be for par or the great birdie on 14."

“I felt like I put maximum effort in today. I didn't really have the strike. I didn't really have much direction. I was on the edge all the time, it felt like. I wasn't as good as I played the first three days, but you have days like that, where you just have to grind it out. It's a battle sometimes. That's championship golf. If you don't like it, you're in the wrong job.”

Playing partner Bryson DeChambeau's front nine was also frought with difficulty. His double bogey at the 4th started when his tee shot with his hybrid flew 143 yards and found the water.

“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,” said DeChambeau.

“Just one of those things I tried to squeeze and hit it too hard, got on top of it and hit it thin. Caught the grass below it and just never got any height.”

He took a penalty drop, hit his next shot hard right and landed in the trees.

“My 4-iron cracked. I looked at the bottom of the thing. I couldn't use it all day. 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.”

He closed with a 71 after shooting two more bogeys, three birdies and an eagle at the 16th and tied for third alongside Brian Harman (69).

“I fought really hard," said DeChambeau. " It just seemed like something wasn't going my way today for some reason. Just I could feel it. It was weird. (But) I can play on golf courses that don't really suit me. That's a big lesson. I'd also say, no matter what happens, no matter if I top a shot, 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.”