Rory McIlroy won his 28th PGA Tour event of his illustrious career on Monday morning. McIlroy defeated JJ Spaun in a three-hole, aggregate-scoring playoff to win The PLAYERS Championship. It is his second win at TPC Sawgrass, having previously done so in 2019. Coincidentally, both times he hoisted the trophy on St. Patrick’s Day!
But this time, it did not come easy.
McIlroy found himself trailing by four strokes entering the final round on Sunday. He came out on fire, starting birdie-eagle to cut into the deficit. Following a four-hour rain delay, the four-time major champion picked up where he left off.
He drained a couple more birdie putts and did some excellent scrambling work around the greens. That led to McIlroy building a three-shot lead as he stood on the 14th tee.
The most difficult hole at TPC Sawgrass proved to be just that, as McIlroy gave one back.
Meanwhile, Spaun birdied 14 and 16 to pull even with the future Hall of Famer. That culminated in both players entering the clubhouse at 12-under par, setting the stage for Monday.
One might think that the Northern Irishman would be the cool, calm, collected one between him and Spaun. Spaun was playing in the first playoff of his career. He had one career win on Tour and not very much overall success.
Yet, after the conclusion of the tournament, it was McIlroy who admitted to some nerves.
“I would say I was a little disappointed last night, but I also was mindful that I couldn’t feel that way, that I needed to reset,” said McIlroy.
“Once I got back to the hotel, I just tried to sort of forget about it and had some room service, watched a little bit of Devil Wears Prada, and went to bed. That was basically it. Then when I woke up this morning — I woke up at 3:00 this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I was — I was as nervous as I can remember.”
The nerves were not on display though on the course.
McIlroy birdied the par-5 16th to take a one-shot lead as the players headed to the famous Stadium Course island green.
Maybe, that is when nerves kicked in for his opponent. Spaun’s tee shot air-mailed the green into the lake. He then hit a poor chip shot from the penalty area, carding a triple-bogey 6.
It didn’t matter that Rory bogeyed the hole. He had an insurmountable three-shot lead entering 18 that he would not relinquish.
With the win, McIlroy surpassed $100 million in career prize money earnings. He also became the first European player to win multiple Players Championship titles.
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