Rory McIlroy defeated J.J. Spaun in a playoff on Monday morning to win his second Players Championship. This is McIlroy’s 28th PGA Tour win and second this year, making him the only two-time winner of the season so far.
Heading into Sunday’s final round, Spaun sat at 12-under with a one-shot lead over Bud Cauley. He was hoping not to join the club of Players Championship golfers who haven’t converted a one-shot lead—since 2007, nine players have held a solo one-shot lead heading into the final round; none of them won.
But after two days of pleasant weather, conditions changed on the weekend, significantly impacting the tournament. On Saturday, the players had to deal with wind gusts between 20-25 mph. On Sunday, the horn blew at 1:15pm and play was suspended due to lightning and rain until 5:15pm.
Just before this point, McIlroy took a three-shot lead after making birdie at the 12th hole. He started his final round four shots behind Spaun but got off to a hot start making birdie and eagle on the first two holes, surging to just one back. When play resumed, McIlroy bogeyed hole 14 and parred the rest to be the clubhouse leader at 12-under.
Spaun wasn’t so easily defeated, though. He made birdies on holes 14 and 16 to tie McIlroy’s lead, leaving him just one birdie shy of the biggest win of his career. On the last hole, Spaun had a 30-foot putt to win the Players Championship and defeat McIlroy. His putt was tracking for the center of the hole but came up three inches short, leaving him with a tap-in par for a share of the lead.
The weather delay caused the playoff between Spaun and McIlroy to resume Monday morning, when they played holes 16 through 18. McIlroy birdied the first playoff hole to give him a one-shot advantage heading to the famous par-3 17th hole. McIlroy calmly hit his tee shot to the middle of the green while Spaun hit his tee shot over the green and into the water. Spaun would go on to make a triple bogey while McIlroy three putted for a bogey. Standing on the 18th tee, McIlroy had a three-shot lead over Spaun. Both players hit poor tee shots to the right and were forced to lay up short of the green for their third shots. McIlroy ended up defeating Spaun with a bogey, clinching his second Players Championship win.
With this win, McIlroy joins an exclusive list of players (including the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Scottie Scheffler) with both multiple major championships and Players Championships under their belts. He is also the first European to win multiple Players Championships and the third time in McIlroy’s career that he has won on St. Patrick’s Day, a major holiday in his home country of Northern Ireland.
Next week, the Florida portion of the PGA Tour schedule comes to an end in Palm Harbor. 23 of the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking will be competing at the Valspar Championship, where Peter Malnati will look to defend his title.
