For the second time in his career, Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy has won The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Northern Florida. On Monday, McIlroy’s win came in the most dominant three hole playoff you will ever see. It just so happened that McIlroy had the luck of the Irish on his side, as his victory came on St. Patrick’s Day.
McIroy went head-to-head with American J.J. Spaun in the playoff and won due to the fact that Spaun had numerous errors in Monday’s action. He bogeyed the fifth hole, and then had a triple bogey on the par three 17th hole to go to +4 after only two holes. McIlroy was far from spectacular in the playoff himself, as he bogeyed the 17th and 18th holes. However, he made the fewest mistakes, and ended up winning the $4.5 million cheque.
In an interesting story, Spaun received the biggest cheque he has ever received. By finishing in second place, he won $2.275 million. That in fact was $727,000 more American dollars than he won when finishing first at the 2022 Valero Texas Open.
This was McIlroy’s second Players Championship title, as he previously won in 2019 by one stroke over Jim Furyk. This was McIlroy’s second win on the PGA Tour in 2025. His previous title came at Pebble Beach in February. In all, McIlroy has won 28 times on the PGA Tour, including four majors (the 2011 United States Open, the 2012 and 2014 PGA Championship and the 2014 British Open).
McIlroy also delivered an impressive comeback on the weekend. He was four strokes back of Spaun after round three. McIlroy posted scores of five-under-par in round one, four-under-par in round two, one-over-par in round three, and four-under-par in round four for a four round score of -12. McIlroy had one eagle during the tournament and that was on the par-five second hole on Sunday.
Six other golfers were in contention. Tied for third place were Americans Tom Hoge, Lucas Glover and Akshay Bhatia at -10. Tied for sixth place at -9 were Americans Danny Walker and Bud Cauley, and Canadian Corey Conners. Like McIlroy, Glover has been victorious at the United States Open, as he won in 2009.
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