The young Australians teed off in Sunday’s final round with aspirations of a life-altering victory but went down swinging in trying to reel in the now No.1 player in the world, Scottie Scheffler.

Two back on the first tee and alongside Scheffler in the final group, Lee made an early statement with a birdie at the first to narrow the margin to just one.

A Scheffler bogey on three saw Lee move to the fourth tee – the 58th hole of the championship – tied for the lead but it would prove short-lived.

A missed fairway that nestled into the deep rough and an approach shot that spun back off the green into the water led to a triple bogey at the fourth hole and all but end Lee’s championship hopes.

As Scheffler made five straight birdies around the turn, Lee made bogey on eight and double bogey at the par-5 11th. He enhanced his finishing position with birdies at both 16 and 17 before making bogey on the 18th hole for the fourth day straight and a round of four-over 76.

Needing to finish outright fourth to earn Special Temporary Membership of the PGA TOUR, the 24-year-old West Australian remained philosophical about his week in the spotlight at the PGA TOUR’s flagship event.

“I’ve been in final groups quite a lot lately, and to be on the PGA TOUR in one of the biggest PGA TOUR tournaments, it’s awesome,” said Lee, who had not previously finished top-25 in a solely PGA TOUR-sanctioned event.

“If I just keep putting myself in those positions, hopefully I can get a Sunday done. I’m really proud.  Sundays are just tough.

“It’s one of those things where it’s Sunday and you just make a couple bad decisions and it all kind of falls down. But I hung in there pretty well.

“I didn’t have it all today. It’s funny how yesterday I felt like I had the best swing in the world, and then today I just felt like nothing could go right.

“I’m pretty proud of the result and I think it will take me a long way. It could have been a lot worse, that’s for sure.

“It wasn’t easy.”

It was an equally significant result for Davis.

The 28-year-old’s season has been disrupted by illness to date but he proved that when he is physically fit that he is now among the best players on tour.

“I’ve had a bit of a rough stretch over the last five, six tournaments, so it’s a very welcome change to see some good golf this week,” said Davis, who dropped from a share of third with a double bogey on 17.

“A lot of the structure I took into this week will definitely help me going forward.

“A lot of very positive steps and very happy to see the trend going back the right direction again.”

A tie for 19th is likely to have secured Jason Day a return to The Masters next month as Kiwi Ryan Fox delivered a sneaky good TPC Sawgrass debut, going under par in each of the final three rounds to finish tied for 27th.

While the golf world’s eyes were squarely fixated on THE PLAYERS Championship, South Australian Wade Ormsby claimed his fourth victory on the Asian Tour.

Ormsby missed a 15-footer on the 72nd hole to win the International Series Thailand in regulation but needed just one trip down the 18th to take the playoff against Thai youngster Chonlatit Chuenboonngam.

Results
PGA TOUR
The Players Championship
TPC Sawgrass (The Players Stadium Course), Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
1             Scottie Scheffler 68-69-65-69—271            $US4.5m
T6           Cam Davis           69-70-67-74—280            $736,607.12
T6           Min Woo Lee     68-70-66-76—280            $736,607.12
T19        Jason Day            70-70-70-72—282            $275,000
T27        Ryan Fox (NZ)     74-68-70-71—283            $167,656.25
71           Adam Scott         72-73-77-71—293            $50,750
72           Aaron Baddeley 73-72-74-76—295            $50,250
MC         Harrison Endycott             70-77—147
MC         Lucas Herbert     82-85—167

Asian Tour
International Series Thailand
Black Mountain Golf Club, Hin Lek Fai, Thailand
1             Wade Ormsby    68-68-67-65—268            $US360,000
5             Kevin Yuan          67-67-69-67—270            $82,000
T12        Zach Murray       67-66-68-71—272            $30,566.6
T22        Andrew Dodt      66-69-69-70—274            $20,600
T27        John Lyras           72-64-67-72—275            $17,114.29
T58        Jack Thompson   68-70-71-70—279            $6,600
T63        Scott Hend          72-67-72-69—280            $5,900
T63        Terry Pilkadaris  69-70-71-70—280            $5,900
T65        Travis Smyth       68-71-71-71—281            $5,400
T68        Doug Klein           68-69-71-74—282            $4,800
MC         Todd Sinnott       69-72—141
MC         Marcus Fraser    71-70—141
MC         Nick Voke            69-73—142
MC         Tom Power Horan            73-71—144
MC         Harrison Gilbert 74-71—145
MC         Jack Murdoch     71-74—145
MC         Ben Campbell (NZ)           69-77—146

Ladies European Tour
Investec South African Women’s Open
Steenberg Golf Club, Cape Town, South Africa
1             Ashleigh Buhai   64-65-69-68—266            €48,000
MC         Momoka Kobori (NZ)       72-73—145
MC         Wenyung Keh (NZ)           74-71—145
MC         Kirsten Rudgeley               78-68—146

DP World Tour
Magical Kenya Open Presented by Absa
Muthaiga Golf Club, Nairobi, Kenya
1             Jorge Campillo    69-68-63-66—266            €321,247.98
MC         Blake Windred    72-71—143

PGA TOUR Canada
Qualifying Tournament USA East 3
RTJ Golf Trail – Highland Oaks, Dothan, Alabama
1             Stephen Franken              66-73-66-64—269
T60        Max Charles (a) 73-78-72-69—292
T119      Henry Spring (NZ)             78-81-86-77—322