Ponte Vedera Beach, Fla. – Rory McIlroy has good reason to think he will leave the player championship with a gold trophy and Sunday’s huge returns. After four hours of rain delay, he shot the first three shots at JJ Spaun, with rain in front of him.
Spaun refused to surrender easily.
He grabbed McIlroy with two great shots, keeping his nerves in one of the toughest closing events, and it ended in a draw when it was too dark to play the three-hole playoffs.
The battle between David and Golia will be decided until Monday morning before TPC Saw Grass.
McIlroy has been following Spaun in the group match ahead of him, and he needs to make two putts of 68 at 75 feet of 4 18 18. He then had to wait until Spaun (72) was within a 30-foot birdie putt to win.
“Everyone wants him to win,” Spaun said. “I think a lot of people want me to win. I hope I can win. That’s what I care about.”
McIlroy made the birdies before and after the delay, putting his lead in three shots. He played the last six holes in 1 game and his 4-foot par putt nearly slid from the hole.
“I stood here and felt like I should be home with the trophy today,” McIlroy said. “But that’s OK. I’ll reset and try to get the trophy tomorrow.”
They finished with a 276-12-shot score.
They performed well before sunset. The player scored three-hole total playoffs in the most memorable hole on TPC Sawgrass – 16 stroke 1, 17 stroke island green, and 18th hole required the most daring tee.
It will be the first Monday of the Player Championship since Cameron Smith won in 2022, its first playoff since Rickie Fowler won 10 years ago.
“You have to win five good volatility. That’s all,” said McIlroy, who is the four-time Grand Slam champion of 38 global champions. “So, try getting up, do five good swings tomorrow morning and get it done.”
Tom Hoge had to wait for a four-hole delay before facing a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th. He missed it, posted 66 and shot two shots in the back. Lucas Glover assembled 71 from the first 9 of roughness and joined Hoge and Akshay Bhatia (70). Each of them took a $1,325,000 lead from a $25 million wallet, the richest money in golf.
Bud Cauley believes his career has ended after being injured in a 2018 car accident in Ohio, and he has stepped back as soon as possible and stabilized 74 people. He tied for sixth, giving him enough points to fulfill his medical waiver for the rest of the year.
McIlroy faced a four-inning deficit in the final round and reached 10 feet with an 8-foot birdie putt and a beautiful long iron, roaring around 5-5. When Spaun put Bogey in the seventh hole, he gave Bogey the first lead in the seventh hole.
Spaun encountered a major breakthrough on the ninth hole when his second shot was in the deep collar. He relaxed a little from standing on the sprinkler’s head, and then his house dropped cleaner as his drips on the sprinkler’s head. He occupied the 6-foot bird.
Still, McIlroy seems to have started pulling away before and after the delays from a bunch of thunderstorms to North Florida.
He fished a 12-foot birdie putt on the 5-11-shot 11, reaching under 12. Spaun played in the group behind him, having trouble in a bunker with a green that was far low. Four hours later, McIlroy made a 15-foot birder on the 12th, while Spaun barely shot the cover on the green and shot a bogey with a three-shot of about 70 feet.
“Once bogey hit me, I just tried to fight back,” Spaun said. “I was a little bit hard. I had nothing to lose. Now, I was trying to grab Rory, I couldn’t really control his job, but I could control my job, and I just started to commit to shooting, swing, and trust it more.
“When I hunt, it’s easier to let go. While starting the round, I’m a little tentative, a little scared and stuff,” he said. “I think it puts me in a very comfortable place to end the game.”
McIlroy played well on the 14th, but couldn’t reach the green, resulting in a bogey. Even so, a quarter of an inch of rain softens the green. The 15 mph wind almost disappeared. Stadium classes are fragile.
However, McIlroy missed the birdie opportunity from 6 feet on the 15th, and did not judge the green speed of 5-16 on his chip, which was shorter than 12 feet. Another missed.
Behind him, Spaun shot the bird on the 14th time and grabbed a bird tightly in the 16th position and tied him up.
Both found the island’s land on the 17th – McIlroy against the collar, clumsyly stabbed in a 15-foot bird attempt. Spaun rolled within three feet of putter from 45 feet and he knocked it into par.
Two-time defending champion Scottie Scheffler has never participated. Between the third and fourth rounds, he had no birdies for 15 consecutive holes, only one birdie on Sunday, and ended the 20th place with a score of 73.
“It’s very special to be able to repeat here, I was going to do it for the third time,” Sffler said. “At the end of the day, I’m just something that wasn’t spent this week. The people on the rankings – there are a lot, so they obviously played better than I did.”
