PONTE VEDORA BEACH, Fla. — Lori McIlroy had every reason to think of the Player Championship leaving Sunday in the Gold Trophy and a big reward. He had a rainy course in front of him in three shots ahead of JJ Span after a four-hour delay.
Spaun refused to succumb to easily.
He caught McIlroy with two great shots, keeping his nerves in one of his most difficult closing stretches, and ended up in a draw that was too dark for the three-hole overall playoffs.
This battle between David and Goliath will not be decided at TPC Sawgrass until Monday (9am ET).
McIlroy turned to Spaun while playing in his previous group, requiring two putts from 75 feet, 4 under 68, par 4, 18th place. He then had to wait until he made a 30-foot birdie putt to win a 30-foot birdie putt.
“Everyone expects him to win,” said Spaun, who has one PGA Tour title and has never reached the tour championship. “I don’t think a lot of people expect me to win. I expect me to win. That’s all I care about.”
McIlroy made birdies before and after the delay, building the lead on three shots. He played the final six holes in one, almost sliding down the 4-foot putt on the 18th.
“I’m standing here feeling like I should go home with my trophy today,” McIlroy said. “But that’s fine. I’m going to reset and try and get home tomorrow with the trophy.”
They finished with a 12 under 276.
They did well to finish the restrictions before sunset. The player has a collective playoff of three holes in the most memorable hole in TPC Sawgrass. The par 5 16th, par 3 17th Island Green and the boldest tee shot at the 18th hole.
It was Cameron Smith’s first Monday finish in the Player Championship since he won in 2022, and the first playoff since Ricky Fowler won 10 years ago.
“You have to make five good swings. That’s it,” said McIlroy, a four-time major champion with 38 titles from around the world. “So get up there and do five good swings tomorrow morning and get this done.”
Tom Hoge had to wait for a four-hole delay before facing a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th. He missed, posted 66 and rolled up two shots. Lucas Glover gathered from a rough front nine of the 71 and joined Hoge and Akshay Batia (70). They each make $1,325,000 in a third tier from golf’s wealthiest $25 million wallet.
After being injured in a 2018 car accident in Ohio, Bud Corey thought his career was over, but he retreated early and stabilized at the age of 74.
McIlroy faced a four-shot deficit that entered the final round, competing for the Eagle in par 5 seconds with an 8-foot birdie putt and a beautiful long 10-foot iron. He first took the lead when Spawn made a bogey at Seventh Hall.
Spawn took a big break in the ninth hole when the second shot was on the deep raffe’s collar. He stood on the sprinkler’s head and then felt relieved, then when his drop was on the sprinkler’s head, it led to a more secure and clean lie. He was missing 6 feet for birdies.
Still, it appeared that McIlroy began to be pulled away just before and after the four-hour delay from the band of thunderstorms moving across North Florida.
He reached 12 under, piercing a 12-foot birdie putt in par 5 11th place. Spahn, playing in the group behind him, was troubled by a bunker that was far shorter than green. Four hours later, McIlroy made a 15-foot birdie on the 12th, but Spaun barely got a bunker shot in the green and made a bogey with about 70 feet and 3 putts.
“If that bogey hit me, I just tried to fight back,” Spawn said. “I went to the odds a bit, there was nothing to lose. Now I’m trying to catch Rory. I can’t really control what he’s doing, but I can control my work.
“When I hunt, it’s easy to let go of it. On the other hand, starting the round, I was a bit tentative and a bit scary,” he said. “I think it put me in a pretty comfortable place to finish the round.”
McIlroy hit a drive to the right on the 14th, but was unable to reach the green, leading to a bogey. Still, a quarter of the rain softened the greenery. All the 15 mph winds have disappeared. The stadium course was vulnerable.
However, McIlroy missed a birdie chance from within 6 feet on the 15th and didn’t judge the green speed on the 16th on par 5, making it 12 feet shorter. Another mistake.
Behind him, Spawn hit a one-foot shot on the 14th for birdies and tightly clinched him on the 16th for birdies that tied him for the lead.
Both found land on the island on the 17th – McIlroy against the collar due to a nasty stab wound in his 15-foot birdie attempt. Spahn’s putt from 45 feet rolled within 3 feet, and he made it the norm.
Two-time defending champion Scottie Scheffler was never in the mix. He went to 15 straight holes without birdies between the third and fourth rounds and made only one birdie on Sunday.
“It was very special to be able to repeat here. I would have liked to have it three times,” Schaeffler said. “At the end of the day, I didn’t have anything that took this week. The people in front of me on the leaderboard, there are a lot of them, so they obviously played better than me.”