Rory McIlroy will have to return to TPC Sawgrass on Monday morning to finish off the Players Championship after he and the unheralded J.J. Spaun finished tied at the top of the leaderboard, with a four-hour weather delay forcing their play-off into a fifth day.
McIlroy closed with a four-under 68 on the infamous Stadium Course to finish at 12-under-par which was enough to tie Spaun, who had a chance to win it on the 72nd hole but left his long birdie putt agonisingly inches short of the hole having hit it on a perfect line.
That means, thanks to the afternoon delay due to the threat of electrical activity, the pair will have to return to Sawgrass to finish off the tournament a day late when they will play the 16th, 17th and 18th holes once more each to determine the champion.
Monday’s play-off is due to get under way shortly after 1pm Northern Irish time.
World No.2 McIlroy, who started the day four shots back and playing in the penultimate group, had roared into the lead with a fantastic front nine display, going out in 33 strokes thanks to two birdies and an eagle, as Spaun fell back to the pack with a one-over opening nine.
However, the threat of electrical activity forced the players off the course just as the final groups made the turn, despite the PGA Tour moving tee times forward to try and avoid the oncoming storm, for a delay that lasted almost exactly four hours.
That failed to stall McIlroy’s momentum as he returned to the course and immediately birdied his first hole, the 12th, although a bogey at the par-four 14th would bring him back to the field and he would be caught at 12-under by Spaun, who took advantage of the short par-five 16th with a birdie.
With the light fading, tournament organisers confirmed that the event would go into a fifth day were there to be a play-off and so it proved, McIlroy nearly lipping out for his par on 18 but fortunately seeing it drop in, while Spaun was left on his haunches after hitting the perfect putt in every way but pace for birdie, seeing it finish just shy.
Were he to win it would be McIlroy’s second triumph at the PGA Tour’s flagship event having also won it in 2019 and would also be the perfect confidence booster ahead of next month’s opening Major of the year, The Masters at Augusta National, the only Major that McIlroy is yet to win.
More to follow…