Rory McIlroy probably would have had mixed feelings about the prospect of a playoff after Sunday at the Players Championship.
On the one hand, Rory McIlroy got himself in position to win the Players Championship at something of a canter. The 35-year-old led by three at one stage on the back nine during the final round at TPC Sawgrass.
However, J.J. Spaun then came agonisingly close to making the birdie on the final hole which would have won him the tournament. So it seemed to be far from a foregone conclusion that McIlroy would clinch his second Players Championship title.
Unfortunately for Spaun, he never really turned up over the three holes played on Monday. And when he found the water on the 17th tee, it appeared that the writing was on the wall.
Rory McIlroy shocked by what happened to J.J. Spaun in the Players Championship playoff
McIlroy had already found the heart of the green while boasting a one-shot lead. So Spaun going long put paid to his hopes of fighting back.
Spaun looked baffled. And it seems that he was not the only one, with McIlroy sharing in his press conference that he was extremely surprised to see his ball fly the green and allow the Northern Irishman to put one hand on the trophy.
“Yeah, so again, I practiced this shot on the range. I just turned around and basically hit balls towards the 3rd green just to sort of replicate the wind I was going to get on 17,” he said.
“I had the TrackMan out, and I have this little three-quarter three-quarter shot, and my 9-iron goes 147 with that shot. But with the wind it was going right around that 130 number, which was the number I really wanted to hit it on 17. So I knew even before I got up there, I knew that was the shot I was going to hit.
“But I felt like it was a little more sheltered by the green than it was on the tee. When my ball was in the air, I was telling it to get down, and obviously J.J. hit his up in the air, I couldn’t believe that it went straight through the wind like that.
“Yeah, it was tricky to judge, but I sort of had that shot in my head, that little three-quarter, three-quarter 9-iron, and made a good swing at it.”
How J.J. Spaun had played 17 at TPC Sawgrass across the tournament
Spaun had done a really good job of negotiating the penultimate hole across the week, particularly on Sunday when the pressure really was on.
Of course, he would have loved to have gone close and made the birdie which would have put him in front. However, it took real character to find the green off the tee and then hit a fantastic birdie putt which set up a comfortable par. He would play the hole in even par across the week.
Perhaps the adrenaline got to Spaun on Monday. He knew that anything worse than a par would all but end his hopes of catching McIlroy.
Certainly, if there is a moment Spaun could have chosen to shake McIlroy’s hand and call it a day before the playoff concluded, it was surely after that uncharacteristic tee shot on 17.
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