PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- World No. 2 Rory McIlroy and overnight leader J.
J. Spaun will take The Players Championship into a Monday playoff after they both ended a weather-delayed final round Sunday level at 12-under-par 276. It is the ninth time The Players has spilled over into a Monday finish, and the first since 2022 when Australian Cameron Smith claimed the title.
McIlroy and Spaun will play a three-hole aggregate playoff consisting of Nos. 16-18, set to begin at 9 a.m.
local time. Northern Irishman McIlroy, who had been three ahead with six holes to play at TPC Sawgrass, closed with a 4-under 68 while Spaun rebounded from a sketchy first 11 holes with a strong finish to return a 72. McIlroy, in pursuit of his second Players Championship title, was boosted by a sizzling birdie-eagle start but he squandered good birdie opportunities on Nos.
15 and 16 that would have given him much-needed breathing room, and Spaun closed in with birdies of his own at Nos. 14 and 16. Spaun, who earned his first and only PGA Tour win at the 2022 Valero Texas Open after 147 career starts, came desperately close to sealing victory on the 18th green but his birdie putt from 30 feet came up three inches short.
Tom Hoge mixed seven birdies with a lone bogey en route to a 66 to share third place at 10 under with Akshay Bhatia (70) and Lucas Glover (71). Danny Walker (70), Bud Cauley (74) and Canada's Corey Conners (71) were a further stroke back in a tie for sixth. Final-round play was suspended .
