Turns out Rory McIlroy needed only three good swings to win The Players Championship on Monday in a playoff over J.J. Spaun.
McIlroy blasted his opening tee shot and hit a pitching wedge to the par-5 16th to set up birdie, and then he found the island green at the par-3 17th with a 9-iron into a cold, crackling wind that effectively gave him a second title at golf’s richest event at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
Spaun posed over his 8-iron until he heard the groans of the spectators lined up behind the 17th green. His ball cut through the wind and sailed clear over the green into the water, leading to triple bogey that ended his hopes.
“It was a great shot … perfect if it was the right distance,” he said. “I just couldn’t believe it was long. Just not my luck of the gust.”
McIlroy became the eighth multiple winner of The Players Championship, having also won in 2019. And it was the first time in his career that he won twice heading into the Masters. He won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am last month.
The first three-hole playoff in 10 years at The Players was caused by a four-hour rain delay on Sunday. McIlroy had to make a four-foot par putt on the 72nd hole. Spaun had a 30-foot birdie putt for the win that stopped inches short.
McIlroy, disappointed and having lost a three-shot lead on the back nine, looked ahead to the playoff by saying, “Make five good swings tomorrow morning and get this thing done.”
The 336-yard drive on the 16th. The pitching wedge to just inside 35 feet. The 9-iron that found dry land. That’s all he needed to beat Spaun and claim the $4.5 million U.S. prize from the $25 million purse.
“Those three swings were basically what decided the championship,” McIlroy said. “I feel for J.J. He’s had a great week. To have it end that way for him was hard to see.”
It was reminiscent of a 2008 playoff between Sergio Garcia and Paul Goydos, back when the 17th was used in sudden death. Garcia hit the green. Goydos came up short and into the water, and there is no lonelier walk than to the drop zone knowing it’s over.
McIlroy now has 39 wins worldwide, and plenty of momentum on his side with the Masters a month away. A green jacket is all that’s keeping McIlroy from the career Grand Slam, the most exclusive club in golf. He hasn’t won a major since 2014.
The Players Championship is reputed to be the next best thing to a major, and McIlroy managed Sawgrass despite missing slightly more than half of the fairways this week.
“I feel like I’m a better player now than I ever have been, and it’s nice to see the fruits of my labor paying off,” McIlroy said.
Spaun won $2,725,000 for his runner-up finish and moved to No. 25 in the world ranking, high enough that he is assured a spot in the Masters.