Rory McIlroy's struggles continue in final round at Sawgrass as Northern Irishman fades after brilliant start… questions around his form are getting louder ahead of The Masters

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER overcame severe pain in his neck to successfully defend his title at The Players Championship on Sunday. For Rory McIlroy, finding a cure to his form is proving to be a far trickier business.

Indeed, at the point when Scheffler was celebrating a magnificent five-shot comeback on the final day, McIlroy was packing up after a week that only intensified the questions about the state of his game one month out from The Masters.

If there was any progress to report from his trip to Sawgrass, it is that he was able to sign off with a tie for 19th. Given his previous four starts yielded a high of 21st, that will have to do for now if he is minded to search the bottom of his bag for optimism.

Instead the UK charge was led by Matt Fitzpatrick – he had a superb week on the back of two missed cuts in his three previous tournaments. By taking fifth place, we can safely say he is in the groove and looking strong in all departments.

But the same cannot be said of McIlroy. Given the quality of his game, we know he is only ever a couple of good rounds from being a contender, and yet his problem here was that every show of strength was immediately balanced by a demonstration of frailty, either with his driver or his irons.

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland reacts to a missed putt on the first hole on Sunday

McIlroy hits from the pine straw on the first in the final round of The Players Championship

One statistic demonstrated the undulations more clearly than any other – across the four rounds he carded 26 birdies, which was the second most in field. And yet he accompanied them with so many mistakes that his nine-under-par total was a full 11 strokes behind Scheffler's winning mark on 20 under and seven shy of Fitzpatrick.

His sigh told its own story at the end of a closing 72 in which his five birdies were offset by five lost shots and he hit only four of 14 fairways. It was so very different to the opening 65 that raised his possibilities around this tournament.

'I think after the first round my expectations went sky high because I was like, 'Oh, I think I've figured it out',' he said. 'Then the last three days were a little bit more of a struggle.

'Golf is a very fickle game. It gives you one thing and then takes away something else from you.'

Across the four rounds, McIlroy carded 26 birdies, which was the second most in field

McIlroy, who will take a fortnight off prior to playing the PGA Tour event in San Antonio a week before The Masters, added: 'It's not all bad if these are the worst finishes that I'm going to have - 20ths. I feel like that's my floor and I haven't quite got to my ceiling.'

By contrast to McIlroy's fluctuations, Scheffler, the world No 1, is an image of consistency and resilience.

He required on-course treatment on his neck during the second round, but closed with a remarkable eight-under par 64 to win by one from Open champion Brian Harman, Xander Schauffele and Wyndham Clark. The latter had a putt to force a play-off at the last but it horse-shoed out of the cup.

That was brutal for him and enabled some history for Scheffler – he is the first golfer to retain this title and did so from five strokes back. He will surely head to The Masters as favourite and seemingly well beyond the putting issues that kept him from outright dominating the game across the past year.

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland plays a shot from a bunker on the eighth hole on Sunday 

Fitzpatrick closed on 16 under after a 69. Starting the final loop on the fringe of contention, he entered the fray with two straight birdies, but leaked three in the next 12 holes. A run of four straight birdies to finish put gloss on the numbers.

Off the course, golf's civil war enters an intriguing week with the six player directors of the PGA Tour meeting with the Saudi backers of the LIV circuit for the first time on Monday.

The six - Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, Cantlay, Adam Scott, Webb Simpson and Peter Malnati – will hold talks with the kingdom's Public Investment Fund chief Yasir Al-Rumayyan in an effort to kick-start the slow-moving merger discussions.

McIlroy, once so central to that effort until he resigned from the policy board last year, believes progress is possible, not least because he thinks the motivations of Al-Rumayyan and the behaviours of LIV ought to be viewed separately.

He said: 'I've said this before, that I have spent time with Yasir. The people that have represented him in LIV I think have done him a disservice - Greg Norman and those guys. I see the two entities, and I think there's a big disconnect between PIF and LIV. The closer we can get to Yasir and PIF and hopefully finalise that investment will be a really good thing.'