Rory McIlroy, J.J. Spaun headed for Monday playoff at Players

Field Level Media|published: Sun 16th March, 19:43 2025

Rory McIlroy looks at his shot from the rough on the sixth hole during the final round of The Players Championship PGA golf tournment Sunday, March 16, 2025 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- World No. 2 Rory McIlroy and overnight leader J.J. Spaun will take The Players Championship into a Monday playoff after they both ended a weather-delayed final round Sunday level at 12-under-par 276.

It is the ninth time The Players has spilled over into a Monday finish, and the first since 2022 when Australian Cameron Smith claimed the title.

McIlroy and Spaun will play a three-hole aggregate playoff consisting of Nos. 16-18, set to begin at 9 a.m. local time.

Northern Irishman McIlroy, who had been three ahead with six holes to play at TPC Sawgrass, closed with a 4-under 68 while Spaun rebounded from a sketchy first 11 holes with a strong finish to return a 72.

McIlroy, in pursuit of his second Players Championship title, was boosted by a sizzling birdie-eagle start but he squandered good birdie opportunities on Nos. 15 and 16 that would have given him much-needed breathing room, and Spaun closed in with birdies of his own at Nos. 14 and 16.

Spaun, who earned his first and only PGA Tour win at the 2022 Valero Texas Open after 147 career starts, came desperately close to sealing victory on the 18th green but his birdie putt from 30 feet came up three 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.

Final-round play was suspended for four hours at 1:15 p.m. ET as a storm system slowly tracked across the course from the southwest. Sunny skies and windy conditions are forecast for Monday with peak gusts close to 30 mph.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler's quest for an unprecedented third successive Players victory ended in disappointing fashion as he closed with a 73 for a 4-under total and a tie for 20th.

"The conditions were pretty tough with the wind and then we had the big delay there," Scheffler said after signing off with a bogey at the par-4 18th. "I just didn't do enough really today or this week."

--Mark Lamport-Stokes, Field Level Media

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