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J.J. Spaun stared at the video rolling across the screen, the replay of the tee shot that had cost him the chance at the greatest triumph of his 13 years in professional golf.
Spaun didn't mind seeing it again, requested it, in fact. He recounted, digested every detail. The apex. The trajectory, about 7 feet left of the flagstick on the menacing Island Green of The Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. The 8-iron was the club. Maybe, the wrong club.
"Look how high it is. It's floating," he said, watching the video from across the TPC Sawgrass media center. "I almost wanted to say 'Get up!' because it just looked like it was going to be short. Anyways, I was stunned.
"I couldn't believe it was long."
Splash.
Yes, it was long. Too long.
That long shot, and the ensuing splash at the north edge of the most intimidating of greens at the PGA Tour's flagship event, meant that Rory McIlroy, and not Spaun, was celebrating a St. Patrick's Day victory at The Players Championship.
McIlroy, and not Spaun, atop the final leaderboard in Monday morning's three-hole aggregate playoff, only the second since The Players adopted the format in 2015.
McIlroy, and not Spaun, taking home the $4.5 million winner's check, and the 750 FedEx Cup points, and the three-year exemption for golf's major tournaments.
"It just wasn't my luck of the gust, I guess," Spaun said.
Moments earlier, among the 30 mph headwinds off the tee at the daunting 17th, he had watched McIlroy brave the gusts with 9-iron to approach within 29 feet.
Spaun, already down one stroke in the playoff after his par at 16 compared to McIlroy's birdie, thought he had done his homework perfectly.
"I was never thinking anything other than 8-iron," he said. "We were warming up on the TrackMan this morning in a similar direction and getting kind of dialed in with what kind of shot I'd have to hit to fight the wind and carry the number that we were needing. It was just kind of like a nice chip 8-iron.
"Pulled an 8-iron, and even after Rory hit 9, he's easily a club longer than me."
The howling gusts softened closer to whisper. The golf ball sailed. Spaun thought it was stopping short. The blue waters around the Island Green told a different story.
"I didn't know what to tell it, like sit, go. If anything I was leaning more towards go," he said. "But it was a great shot. It was probably six, seven feet left of the pin, just perfect if it was the right distance."
If only…
"The window I hit it at especially, it was a lot higher than actually the window I was trying to hit it so that's what made me think it was floating and staying in the air and possibly short," Spaun said. "From the angle I was on, it looked like it was going to land just right on that little spine and spin back to a foot, honestly."
For Spaun, the overhit shot at 17 brought a double dose of disbelief, for the second time in 14 hours.
Dead even with McIlroy for the lead on Sunday evening, Spaun stepped up to a potential championship-winning birdie putt on the 18th. The distance read 30 feet, 7 inches.
Right on line, Spaun's ball rolled and rolled and rolled, past 27 and 28 and 29 feet, to 30 feet, then ran out of gas at 30 feet, 4 inches.
Three inches short of a $4.5 million payday.
Spaun couldn't believe his eyes. It wasn't the last time.
"I really thought I made it," Spaun said. "Reading it and doing my routine, I was telling myself, this is going in. Even when you watch the replay, it just looks like it's going in, going in, and just dies.
"Yeah, it's hard to go from you think you won to, OK, now you've got to go against one of the best players in the world in a three-hole stretch on a really tough finish in a completely opposite wind that we've had all week."
Spaun, who had battled back Sunday from a three-stroke deficit to force the playoff, still had plenty to celebrate.
For the 35-year-old from San Dimas, Calif., one of professional golf's grinders with one victory (the 2022 Valero Texas Open) in 227 starts on the PGA Tour entering the week, the momentum is growing. Until last year, he had never qualified for the weekend at The Players, tying for 64th in 2024.
Standing 57th in the World Golf Ranking entering the week, he's expected to vault upward more than 20 positions once next week's numbers come out. His 400 FedEx Cup points jump him from 15th in the standings to fifth. He collects a second-place check worth $2,725,000, boosting his season winnings to $4,581,472.
He's now a runner-up for the second time in a month, following a tie for second at the Cognizant Classic. He also came in third this season at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
And he's on course to compete at The Masters next month. He's competed there once before, in 2022. The chance to play Augusta National again, he said, is a "good consolation to the week."
"To go from where I was a year ago today or to start the week, yeah, I'm pretty proud of where I've been able to dig deep and kind of get some self-belief and get some confidence to play some good golf," Spaun said. "Yeah, a year ago [The Players] was the first cut I made all season. Now I lost in a playoff.
"Kind of a big flip there."
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Players Championship 2025: JJ Spaun playoff, TPC Sawgrass
Continue reading...
Spaun didn't mind seeing it again, requested it, in fact. He recounted, digested every detail. The apex. The trajectory, about 7 feet left of the flagstick on the menacing Island Green of The Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. The 8-iron was the club. Maybe, the wrong club.
"Look how high it is. It's floating," he said, watching the video from across the TPC Sawgrass media center. "I almost wanted to say 'Get up!' because it just looked like it was going to be short. Anyways, I was stunned.
"I couldn't believe it was long."
Splash.
Yes, it was long. Too long.
That long shot, and the ensuing splash at the north edge of the most intimidating of greens at the PGA Tour's flagship event, meant that Rory McIlroy, and not Spaun, was celebrating a St. Patrick's Day victory at The Players Championship.
McIlroy, and not Spaun, atop the final leaderboard in Monday morning's three-hole aggregate playoff, only the second since The Players adopted the format in 2015.
McIlroy, and not Spaun, taking home the $4.5 million winner's check, and the 750 FedEx Cup points, and the three-year exemption for golf's major tournaments.
"It just wasn't my luck of the gust, I guess," Spaun said.
SPAUN'S PLAN ON 17
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Moments earlier, among the 30 mph headwinds off the tee at the daunting 17th, he had watched McIlroy brave the gusts with 9-iron to approach within 29 feet.
Spaun, already down one stroke in the playoff after his par at 16 compared to McIlroy's birdie, thought he had done his homework perfectly.
"I was never thinking anything other than 8-iron," he said. "We were warming up on the TrackMan this morning in a similar direction and getting kind of dialed in with what kind of shot I'd have to hit to fight the wind and carry the number that we were needing. It was just kind of like a nice chip 8-iron.
"Pulled an 8-iron, and even after Rory hit 9, he's easily a club longer than me."
The howling gusts softened closer to whisper. The golf ball sailed. Spaun thought it was stopping short. The blue waters around the Island Green told a different story.
"I didn't know what to tell it, like sit, go. If anything I was leaning more towards go," he said. "But it was a great shot. It was probably six, seven feet left of the pin, just perfect if it was the right distance."
If only…
"The window I hit it at especially, it was a lot higher than actually the window I was trying to hit it so that's what made me think it was floating and staying in the air and possibly short," Spaun said. "From the angle I was on, it looked like it was going to land just right on that little spine and spin back to a foot, honestly."
DOUBLE DOSE OF DISBELIEF
For Spaun, the overhit shot at 17 brought a double dose of disbelief, for the second time in 14 hours.
Dead even with McIlroy for the lead on Sunday evening, Spaun stepped up to a potential championship-winning birdie putt on the 18th. The distance read 30 feet, 7 inches.
Right on line, Spaun's ball rolled and rolled and rolled, past 27 and 28 and 29 feet, to 30 feet, then ran out of gas at 30 feet, 4 inches.
Three inches short of a $4.5 million payday.
Spaun couldn't believe his eyes. It wasn't the last time.
"I really thought I made it," Spaun said. "Reading it and doing my routine, I was telling myself, this is going in. Even when you watch the replay, it just looks like it's going in, going in, and just dies.
"Yeah, it's hard to go from you think you won to, OK, now you've got to go against one of the best players in the world in a three-hole stretch on a really tough finish in a completely opposite wind that we've had all week."
SPAUN TURNS THE CORNER?
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Spaun, who had battled back Sunday from a three-stroke deficit to force the playoff, still had plenty to celebrate.
For the 35-year-old from San Dimas, Calif., one of professional golf's grinders with one victory (the 2022 Valero Texas Open) in 227 starts on the PGA Tour entering the week, the momentum is growing. Until last year, he had never qualified for the weekend at The Players, tying for 64th in 2024.
Standing 57th in the World Golf Ranking entering the week, he's expected to vault upward more than 20 positions once next week's numbers come out. His 400 FedEx Cup points jump him from 15th in the standings to fifth. He collects a second-place check worth $2,725,000, boosting his season winnings to $4,581,472.
He's now a runner-up for the second time in a month, following a tie for second at the Cognizant Classic. He also came in third this season at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
And he's on course to compete at The Masters next month. He's competed there once before, in 2022. The chance to play Augusta National again, he said, is a "good consolation to the week."
"To go from where I was a year ago today or to start the week, yeah, I'm pretty proud of where I've been able to dig deep and kind of get some self-belief and get some confidence to play some good golf," Spaun said. "Yeah, a year ago [The Players] was the first cut I made all season. Now I lost in a playoff.
"Kind of a big flip there."
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Players Championship 2025: JJ Spaun playoff, TPC Sawgrass
Continue reading...
