Well, you can’t blame the PGA Tour for taking precautions. There was a lot of furore when the timings were changed for the last day of play at the PLAYERS Championship. Fans were eager to blast the Tour for their malfeasance in changing the format and the tee times, but the weather forecast turned out to be true. With more than a quarter of play left in the last round, the PGA Tour had to suspend play due to inclement weather.
Rory McIlroy was leading the pack and heading toward his second PGA Tour victory this year, when storms and thunder caused major disruption at the TPC Sawgrass. Spectators were instructed to leave the course for their safety. A reset for all ends of purposes. It worked for some, it did not work for a few.
JJ Spaun recollected himself after the break
Spaun was a solo third at the beginning of the day with a total score of 10 under par. However, he had a tumultuous start to the day, scoring two bogeys and allowing Rory McIlroy to leapfrog him and inherit the solo lead. While his position improved, McIlroy had the momentum, before the play was suspended due to the break. Spaun utilised the break to the fullest extent.
The pause in the play worked in Spaun’s favour, as he was able to recalibrate a bit and work on the mental side of the game. “Yeah, sure. I definitely had a little reset, got some food, kind of collected myself. But it did feel like I was going through, like, the night before today again, where you’re just anxious, you’re like, Oh, my God, let’s go, when are we going to play.”
Bonus golf!
J.J. Spaun will face Rory McIlroy in a three-hole aggregate playoff starting Monday morning at 9 a.m. ET. pic.twitter.com/Bu5isJcit5
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 16, 2025
However, the uncertainty behind the weather disruption also posed a few questions to the American golfer who is looking for his first win in the Tour since the 2022 Valero Texas Open. “That’s the other thing, you don’t know when you’re going to play. Are we going to play today, are we going to play tomorrow, are we going to play Tuesday? I don’t know,” Spaun remarked, indicating that the lack of clarity posed a different kind of challenge.
“There was a lot of uncertainty, but that doesn’t help the anxiety, but it definitely felt like a mini kind of night before, you know, the final round, leading the round, or leading going into the final round,” Spaun added. Despite the anxiety before the resumption of the round, Spaun did well, carding two crucial birdies in the 14th and 16th holes to tie with Rory McIlroy for the title and setting up a deciding playoff on Monday. Unlike Spaun, McIlroy’s luck changed for the worse after the break.
Rory McIlroy thwarted by lack of visibility
The Northern Irish golfer was at one point 2 strokes ahead of the rest of the field. However, the bogey on the 14th hole put him back in dangerous waters. He tried to increase his advantage at the remaining holes, but fell short consistently in the putting department, after hitting good shots off the tee and on the approach. “I felt like it got a little dark with a couple of holes to go. I hit two great shots into 15. I didn’t convert. Hit a good putt. It looked like it was going to go left to right to me, and it didn’t.” McIlroy explained the bizarre nature of his performance after the break.
The visibility turned out to be a huge factor in this case. As the day got darker, the putting got more difficult. “Then on 16, as well, same sort of thing, sort of struggled to read it. It was getting a little darker,” McIlroy added.
For McIlroy, a lot is at stake. The 27-time PGA Tour winner is looking to make it two PLAYERS Championship titles, after winning one in 2019. He has already won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am this season and a victory would be the first time the Northern Irish golfer records two wins before the Masters Tournament in a season. This will give him good momentum heading towards Augusta National Golf Course, which is the only major he is yet to win.
McIlroy will be lamenting the missed opportunity, but Monday will pit his experience and winning mentality against the unpolished JJ Spaun. It is as much a mental game as it is about technique. “But played the last couple of holes well. Made three good swings, didn’t quite get it up the tier on 18, but a good two-putt, and I feel like I had a chance to go home with the trophy tonight,” rued a disappointed McIlroy.
The playoffs are going to be a very interesting battle between two extremes. The seasoned and proven winner McIlroy against a wanting-to-prove-himself maverick in JJ Spaun. Who do you have winning the coveted PLAYERS Championship title?
The post As Regret Eats Away at Rory McIlroy, Rival J.J. Spaun to Enter Playoff at TPC Sawgrass With New Mindset appeared first on EssentiallySports.