Rory McIlroy had 73 feet of green in front of him, and he needed to get down in two putts. Playing the par-4 18th at TPC Sawgrass’ Stadium Course, McIlroy was deadlocked at 12 under with J.J. Spaun, who was in the group behind him.
It was a near certainty one of these two players was going to win the Players Championship, the PGA Tour’s marquee event, and take home the $4.5 million winner’s check.
But first, McIlroy had to two-putt from 73 feet. Otherwise, it was Spaun’s to lose. The lag putt left him 4 feet to clean up for par — and nothing from this distance is guaranteed, we have learned — but when McIlroy knocked in the 4-footer, all the pressure was on the man behind him.
Spaun found the pine straw off the tee, the green on his approach and had 31 feet to win. No dice. He came up three rotations short.
After 72 holes, a Monday playoff is set to decide the winner of the 2025 Players Championship. McIlroy and Spaun will return to TPC Sawgrass for a 9 a.m. ET tee time on Monday for a three-hole aggregate playoff.
One of them is going to win.
On one side is Spaun, 34, who is after his second PGA Tour win in his 228th career start. On the other is McIlroy, who is looking for his second in three starts — and 28th overall.
McIlroy (68) and Spaun (72) finished at 12 under, with three others behind them at 10 under.
The playoff would have started on Sunday night, but the final round was delayed four hours due to early afternoon thunderstorms.
Spaun, a self-proclaimed journeyman, entered the day with the 54-hole lead at 12 under. Bud Cauley was one back at 11 under, Lucas Glover and Alex Smalley at nine under, and three others — including McIlroy — at eight under.
Of those seven players, Glover had won a U.S. Open, and McIlroy, of course, has his Hall-of-Fame resume (27 PGA Tour wins and four majors), but the other five had combined for just five career Tour victories, and four of those were from Akshay Bhatia and Corey Conners (two each).
Surely it was McIlroy’s tournament to lose, right? Or perhaps to win?
He played like it out of the gate. Analyst Brad Faxon, who works with McIlroy, said his range warmup Sunday was one of the best he’s seen from him. McIlroy then promptly birdied the 1st and eagled the 2nd.
Of course everyone in the field noticed — the most dangerous player in contention made a lethal move a mere 30 minutes into the tournament. McIlroy bogeyed the 7th but got it back with a birdie on 8.
Through nine holes, McIlroy and Spaun were tied at 11 under, leading Bhatia by one and Hoge, Walker and Cauley by two. A large group was at seven under, but it appeared the winner would be one of the aforementioned six.
