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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Lee Trevino returned to the Players Championship this week on the 45th anniversary of winning the title and proclaimed that it was time for golf’s proverbial “fifth major” to be given official status. The six-time major winner already was bumping his tally of majors to seven.
Trevino knows what it is all about to handle major championship pressure. Back in 1971 at the U.S. Open at Merion, Trevino was involved in a famous sudden-death playoff after he tied with Jack Nicklaus. Trevino had already won one of his majors but he pitted himself as the underdog, David against Goliath, and said he had nothing to lose.
On Sunday at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, J.J. Spaun adopted Trevino’s mantra after his 30-foot birdie putt for the win stopped a roll away from going in for the biggest title of his life. When PGA Tour Radio’s Fred Albers told him that he thought he had made it, Spaun answered, “So did I. It hit Velcro at the end.”
It set up a Monday three-hole playoff with world No. 2 Rory McIlroy, a four-time major winner and past champion of the Players in 2019.
McIlroy rallied from four strokes back with a birdie-eagle start to announce his presence in the trophy hunt. After birdies at No. 11, which he sank before play was suspended due to weather for four hours, and a birdie fresh out of the gates at No. 12, McIlroy built a three-stroke lead with six holes to go when Spaun, with just one victory to his credit, proceeded to take three putts at 12.
But McIlroy made bogey at 14 and Spaun followed with birdies at Nos. 14 and 16. McIlroy seemed to go into a prevent defense much as he had at the U.S. Open last June when he blew a late lead to Bryson DeChambeau. This time, McIlroy’s par putt from just inside 5 feet at the home hole snuck in and he shook his head as if to say that was too close.
And so we’ve got a mismatch of resumes for a three-hole playoff that will take place at 9 a.m. ET at “The Gauntlet,” three of the most exciting and water-laden finishing stretches in all of golf. All the pressure is on McIlroy, who is expected to win against an unlikely competitor in Spaun, who didn’t even know there was a three-hole playoff. It couldn’t be played in the fading light and so Spain has a chance to strategize and map out a game plan to sling a stone at the heavily-favored McIlroy.
How does Spaun like his chances?
“Everyone expects him to win. I don't think a lot of people expect me to win. I expect myself to win,” he said. “That's all I care about.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: J.J. Spaun says everyone expects Rory McIlroy to win Players playoff
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Trevino knows what it is all about to handle major championship pressure. Back in 1971 at the U.S. Open at Merion, Trevino was involved in a famous sudden-death playoff after he tied with Jack Nicklaus. Trevino had already won one of his majors but he pitted himself as the underdog, David against Goliath, and said he had nothing to lose.
On Sunday at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, J.J. Spaun adopted Trevino’s mantra after his 30-foot birdie putt for the win stopped a roll away from going in for the biggest title of his life. When PGA Tour Radio’s Fred Albers told him that he thought he had made it, Spaun answered, “So did I. It hit Velcro at the end.”
It set up a Monday three-hole playoff with world No. 2 Rory McIlroy, a four-time major winner and past champion of the Players in 2019.
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McIlroy rallied from four strokes back with a birdie-eagle start to announce his presence in the trophy hunt. After birdies at No. 11, which he sank before play was suspended due to weather for four hours, and a birdie fresh out of the gates at No. 12, McIlroy built a three-stroke lead with six holes to go when Spaun, with just one victory to his credit, proceeded to take three putts at 12.
But McIlroy made bogey at 14 and Spaun followed with birdies at Nos. 14 and 16. McIlroy seemed to go into a prevent defense much as he had at the U.S. Open last June when he blew a late lead to Bryson DeChambeau. This time, McIlroy’s par putt from just inside 5 feet at the home hole snuck in and he shook his head as if to say that was too close.
You must be registered for see images attach
And so we’ve got a mismatch of resumes for a three-hole playoff that will take place at 9 a.m. ET at “The Gauntlet,” three of the most exciting and water-laden finishing stretches in all of golf. All the pressure is on McIlroy, who is expected to win against an unlikely competitor in Spaun, who didn’t even know there was a three-hole playoff. It couldn’t be played in the fading light and so Spain has a chance to strategize and map out a game plan to sling a stone at the heavily-favored McIlroy.
How does Spaun like his chances?
“Everyone expects him to win. I don't think a lot of people expect me to win. I expect myself to win,” he said. “That's all I care about.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: J.J. Spaun says everyone expects Rory McIlroy to win Players playoff
Continue reading...
