The playoff was only three holes. Rory McIlroy needed only three swings. And yet his victory Monday over J.J. Spaun in The Players Championship revealed so much about the state of his game and the cruel nature of the notorious TPC Sawgrass.
McIlroy delivered an early knockout against J.J. Spaun with his best drive of the week that set up a simple birdie, followed by a three-quarter 9-iron into a cold, cackling wind that found land on the island green at the par-3 17th.
“By no means did I have my best stuff this week,” McIlroy said after becoming the eighth multiple winner of The Players. “But I was still able to win one of the biggest tournaments in the world. That’s a huge thing.”
It’s the first time in his career he has won twice going into the Masters, the major that for more than a decade has kept him from joining golf’s most elite group with the career Grand Slam.
Spaun thought he had the perfect answer until he saw his 8-iron sail over the island on the second playoff hole, ending his hopes of the biggest win of his career.
“Can I watch this?” Spaun said as he sat at a table, his eyes trained on a television in the back of the media center showing a replay of his tee shot on the 17th. It was his first time seeing where the ball landed — just beyond the wooden frame and into the water. He had only heard groans from the gallery.
And he still couldn’t believe it.
“I never thought it was long,” he said quietly. “I never thought it was long.”
So ended a memorable week at golf’s richest tournament, where thousands of spectators showed up in the cold and wind for 47 minutes of golf between McIlroy — among the most celebrated players who now has 39 worldwide wins — and Spaun, a 34-year-old with one PGA Tour title who until this week had never broken 70 on the TPC Sawgrass.
McIlroy said he woke up at 3 a.m. and couldn’t get back to sleep. Whether this was about trying to win or trying not to lose — he had a three-shot lead with five holes to play in the final round Sunday — didn’t matter.
He worked on his tee shot with the same helping wind off the right. To practice in the right wind for the 17th, McIlroy turned and hit balls from the range toward the third green.
McIlroy had been spotty off the tee all week, missing nearly half of his fairways. He set the tone with his best of the week, a 336-yard blast right down the middle that set up a pitching wedge from 176 yards into the par-5 16th for a two-putt birdie from 35 feet.
“I thought if I could get the ball in the fairway there, it sort of puts a little bit of pressure on J.J.,” he said. “To step up and make that swing was awesome.”
And then it effectively ended on the 17th.
“When my ball was in the air, I was telling it to get down,” McIlroy said.
Spaun hit his 8-iron with a higher trajectory into a hurting wind off the right, and his first instinct was to yell, “Get up.”
“It just looked like it was going to be short,” Spaun said. “I was stunned. I couldn’t believe it was long. I’m happy with the swing I put on it — I am. The wind must have just laid down just a little too much, and it just went through the wind. Wasn’t my time.”
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 4-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.”
Turns out he only needed three — the driver and wedge on No. 16, the 9-iron on No. 17 — to beat Spaun and claim the $4.5 million prize from the $25 million purse.
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.
Spaun wound up three-putting from 45 feet for triple bogey. McIlroy ran his 30-footer well past the hole for a bogey, giving him a three-shot lead. Both hit drives well right on the 18th. McIlroy took a safe bogey and Spaun didn’t bother putting the 10-footer he had left for bogey.
Any mention to The Players being the fifth major or even resembling one is not where McIlroy wants to go right now because he knows the real one — the big one — is a month away at Augusta National. The trick now is to keep his game in good stead. He also won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am last month. He plans to add one more start in Houston or San Antonio before the Masters.
“Everything feels like it’s in good working order at the minute,” he said. “Just keep practicing and doing the right things and practicing the right habits, and day after day, week after week, they all add up to days like today.”
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.
“A good consolation to the week,” Spaun said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.