Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland celebrated St. Patrick’s Day by winning a three-hole aggregate playoff against J.J. Spaun to capture his second title at The Players Championship on Monday morning at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
McIlroy took a one-shot lead when he birdied the par-5 16th hole, and the task of protecting that advantage became much easier when Spaun hit his tee shot at the par-3 17th over the famed island green and into the water.
Spaun struggled his way to a triple-bogey 6 and dropped to 3 over, trailing by three after McIlroy made a three-putt bogey. Both players missed to the right of the fairway at the par-4 18th, and the tournament was all McIlroy’s once Spaun’s third shot narrowly missed the green.
McIlroy finished up with a bogey and won the playoff at 1 over.
“I feel like I’m a way more complete player than I was a few years ago,” McIlroy said on the Golf Channel broadcast. “Even in conditions like this. That little 9-iron into 17, the little 8-iron into the last there, I said to (caddie Harry Diamond) there, that little shot will take us a long way.
“I feel like I can play in all conditions and anything that comes my way. Really happy that I was able to get it done today.”
McIlroy, 35, picked up the 28th victory of his PGA Tour career and his second of the year, following the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. His first Players Championship title came in 2019, and he is the eighth player to win the prestigious event multiple times.
His 2019 victory also happened to occur on St. Patrick’s Day.
“It’s been a good luck charm for me,” McIlroy said.
Spaun, 34, is stuck on just one victory in 228 tournaments in his PGA Tour career. But he continued a stellar start to the season this week by notching his third top-three finish, following a T3 at the Sony Open and a T2 at the Cognizant Classic.
“This is probably the best golf I’ve played maybe in my career consistently,” Spaun said. “I had a chance to win at Sony, had a pretty good chance to win at Cognizant, had a chance to win this week. But to go from where I was a year ago today or to start the week, yeah, I’m pretty proud of where I’ve been able to dig deep and kind of get some self-belief and get some confidence to play some good golf.”
Spaun and McIlroy both noted the windy conditions at TPC Sawgrass, which had wreaked havoc on the golfers as early as Saturday.
“It was just a tough morning to play golf in general,” Spaun said. “It would probably be one of the harder days that we’d have if it was this wind direction.
“Yeah, committed to every shot I hit. The one on 17 was exactly what I was trying to do, just didn’t work out. A lot of positives this week to take from and proud to give myself a chance today, and maybe next time it’ll go in my favor.”
Playing with a one-shot edge, McIlroy landed his tee shot at the par-3 29 feet from the hole with a 9-iron before Spaun played his shot.
“I feel bad for J.J.; he hit a really good shot on 17 and it just went straight through the wind,” McIlroy said.
On Sunday, Spaun shot a 72 after holding the overnight lead and McIlroy posted a 68 to get to 12-under 276. Spaun had a 30-foot birdie putt to win on No. 18 and left it 3 inches short.
Tom Hoge mixed seven birdies with a lone bogey en route to a 66 to share third place at 10 under with Akshay Bhatia (70) and Lucas Glover (71).
Danny Walker (70), Bud Cauley (74) and Canada’s Corey Conners (71) were a further stroke back in a tie for sixth.
–Field Level Media
