Written by Sean Martin
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – To dull the ache of a missed opportunity, Rory McIlroy ordered room service Sunday evening and streamed “The Devil Wears Prada.” He still had a chance to make amends the next morning, after all, so he could not linger long on what could have been. He needed to prepare for a playoff unlike any other.
When McIlroy awoke at 3 a.m. Monday morning, though, he could not fall back asleep.
“I was as nervous as I can remember,” he said.
McIlroy was hours from a scheduled three-hole playoff with J.J. Spaun to decide THE PLAYERS, their showdown pushed to the following day by inclement weather. In a crowded sports landscape where it takes a spectacle to break away from the pack, this was an unplanned one, a fortuitous meeting of weather forecast, famous setting and unexpected finishes. This was David vs. Goliath on a Monday morning, a mano-a-mano showdown for one of golf’s biggest prizes on arguably its most famous trio of holes.
THE PLAYERS had come down to a truncated match between arguably the greatest player of his generation and a former collegiate walk-on who less than a year earlier thought his career may be coming to an end. McIlroy was Duke in this March matchup, with Spaun reprising the role of Murray State. McIlroy’s favored status – he owned 27 PGA TOUR titles to Spaun’s single one – did not exempt him from anxiety, though.
“I didn’t get it done last night and I really wanted to,” he said, “I’m expected to win, as well. That brings its own pressure in some way.
“But I felt like I handled everything and handled those nerves really well.”
Rory McIlroy taps in to secure second win at THE PLAYERS
Despite his sleepless morning, McIlroy emerged victorious to win his 28th PGA TOUR title and become just the eighth man to win multiple PLAYERS Championships. It also was his second victory of the season, marking the first time McIlroy has won multiple PGA TOUR titles before April.
He started the playoff with the sort of drive that has defined his career, exerting his biggest advantage over Spaun, then displayed the increased touch that McIlroy cites as proof that he’s a more complete player than ever. McIlroy went driver-wedge into the first hole of the playoff, the par-5 16th to take a one-stroke lead over Spaun, and it was over after Spaun’s misfortune on No. 17.
Spaun said he hit his tee shot as intended, but his ball pierced the wind and flew over the green. Spaun now joins the likes of Sean O’Hair, Paul Goydos and Len Mattiace as underdogs whose dreams were dashed by the island green. Spaun’s triple-bogey made the playoff’s final hole a formality.
J.J. Spaun makes triple bogey at the Island Green at THE PLAYERS
The victory also exempted McIlroy from further heartbreak after a spate of difficult losses that defined his 2024. It was the shadow of those losses that added to the weight McIlroy felt Monday, for this whole thing could have been avoided. Late Sunday evening, McIlroy held a three-shot lead with six holes remaining. He bogeyed TPC Sawgrass’ 14th after a wild drive, missed a 5-foot birdie putt on the next hole and failed to get up-and-down for birdie on the reachable 16th.
“I was disappointed that I needed to come back this morning, but … I couldn’t let that mind frame linger for too long,” McIlroy said. “I had to reset and try to get a good night’s sleep and come out this morning committed to get the job done.”
While McIlroy could rue how he’d played Sunday’s final holes, Spaun felt inspired by his performance over that same stretch, proving to himself that he could hold up to the pressure by executing a series of steely shots. He had knocked his approach stiff at the 14th hole and birdied No. 16 to tie McIlroy. It set up just the second three-hole playoff in PLAYERS history, a format the TOUR had instituted more than a decade ago.
The first such playoff resulted in arguably the greatest finish in PLAYERS history, Rickie Fowler’s dramatic win in 2015 where he birdied No. 17 three times in a single day. The unique schedule of Monday’s finish – only the playoff remained, as regulation play had been wrapped up Sunday – promised another memorable conclusion.
McIlroy went through his usual routine Monday morning, arriving nearly three hours ahead of the playoff’s scheduled 9 a.m. start. The practice facilities were reserved for just two men, as the other 142 players’ results in the 51st edition of this championship were already set in ink. Only McIlroy and Spaun had business remaining in the 2025 PLAYERS.
The absence of their peers gave McIlroy the freedom to get creative in his pre-round preparations. He turned his back to the driving range as he lofted short-iron shots down the tee line and toward TPC Sawgrass’ third green. If this were any other day, he would have been endangering his fellow TOUR players with the golf balls he sent into flight. But because of Monday’s unique setting, McIlroy could get a preview of the 17th hole, hitting short irons in the same wind direction that he’d face on the actual hole.
He hit what he called a “three-quarter three-quarter” 9-iron, a shot that he has developed this year as he continues his pursuit of a more complete game. It’s the sort of shot he’s long felt comfortable hitting with his wedges, but he now uses with his irons, as well, thanks in part to a switch earlier this season to a ball that spins more. It flies lower to give McIlroy more control in the wind, and it was the shot he used to find land on the island 17th.
“I said to Harry (Diamond, McIlroy’s caddie) there, that shot is going to take us a long way,” McIlroy said after the win. “I’ve become really comfortable with that shot, so even in conditions like this, I feel like I’ve got everything pretty much under control, which is a really nice feeling.”
Rory McIlroy’s interview after winning in a playoff at THE PLAYERS
The third round of this year’s PLAYERS was hit by gusts up to 30 mph, and the strong winds were back again Monday morning. He had to overcome similar conditions in his win at this year’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Those victories are testaments to his widening skill set, one that allows him to succeed at a wider variety of courses and conditions.
McIlroy spoke earlier this year about his desire to emulate Scottie Scheffler, both in more conservative play and an improved short game. He talked after his win at Pebble Beach about curbing some of the “impulses” on the golf course that can lead to costly mistakes. This week, that helped him avoid calamity on a penal course even though he wasn’t comfortable with his swing.
“I’m just trying to get the ball in play any way I can, but then also I feel like this week, because there’s so much trouble, just picking really conservative targets, especially with iron shots,” he said. Even on the first hole of the playoff, despite having a wedge in his hand, McIlroy said he aimed 30 feet left of the flag.
He hit less than half his fairways during regulation (28 of 58), relying on a controlled fade off the tee that curtailed his distance but avoided trouble. He also was in the bottom half of the field in Greens in Regulation (47 of 75), including two rounds where he hit just 10 greens apiece. But he finished 12th in Scrambling, getting up-and-down more than two-thirds of the time.
“By no means did I have my best stuff this week,” he said, “but I was still able to win one of the biggest tournaments in the world. That’s a huge thing.”
