Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. – Well, obviously, this is over.
In seven minutes on Sunday at the Players Championship, JJ Spaun returned from one shot to three back after Rory McIlroy flipped first by Bogie Bydi.
It was a great run for Spaun. A 34-year-old journeyman type who has made it to the biggest part of his career. He claimed a 54-hole lead. Fans impressed with his grit and games, his positive attitude, his friendly daily struggle, his positive attitude. But that story, his story, ended as expected – after a delay of four hours of weather, he confused the par 5 11th place, looking far away with too few holes left to catch the second player in the world.
“I went for a bit of an odds,” Spawn said. “I had nothing to lose.”
And Spaun began to commit to his shots. Trust his swing. Many times in his career he has admitted that he lacks the confidence and belief needed to challenge the biggest title of the game.
“I was just in the spotlight and was scared that I was under the pressure and worried about failing,” he said.
This was also acknowledged by recent PGA Tour winner Thomas Detley. He was so afraid of him coming into the lead and failing that he decided that he would not even be in the place at all. Detry proved himself at WM Phoenix Open last month, winning four birdies in a row, and really understood how flawed the logic was.
Spaun is beginning to understand that too.
On the 14th of the par 4, the hardest hole on the course – in the previous group, McIlroy sailed the drive to the right, robbing the bogey – Span began to fight back, having a dead aim and knocked his approach to his leg for a kick-in-birdie.
One back.
Rory McIlroy and JJ Spaun square the three-hole total playoffs on Monday morning at TPC Sawgrass.
At 16 – the same hole in the previous group where McIlroy settled on par after a decent chip – Spaun hit the perfect drive around the corner, missed it in the right place on the green left and threw it on his leg.
Now he’s tied up.
Near the darkness, two consecutive pars closing down helped propel the spoon into unlikely places. Three-hole consolidated playoff with McIlroy. Overtime period starting at 9am on the Golf Channel covers three of the most difficult holes in golf, 16-18 on the stadium course, 16-18, Spaun has proven he is on the challenge.
“I showed myself that I didn’t have to move away from that moment,” he said.
After that, McIlroy seemed to wonder if he even found himself in the playoffs from the start.
No, he didn’t play stretches entirely – his drive of 14 was miles and miles, and he was twice misled by the last hour of decaying sunlight. However, he also did not get many breaks. There was more foot left, and at 13 his tee shot could have easily caught the ridge and leaked towards the cup. His tee shot par 5 on the 16th day, barely found the right rough. His wedge of 17 hit the collar and made a nasty 13 footer climbing the hill.
After taking a three-shot lead, he played the remaining six holes one more.
McIlroy hopes to reset players and win in the playoffs
Rory McIlroy explains whether he was paying attention to the final stretch of JJ Spaun’s fourth round after finishing tied at the top of the player championship leaderboard.
“I feel like I had the opportunity to go home with my trophy tonight,” he said. “But I’ll reset about my good sleep and win tomorrow.”
It’s just five perfect swings, and McIlroy should have all the advantages that can be thought of.
His strong draw should have McIlroy sling over 30 yards on the reachable par 5 on the 16th, with fewer clubs from the tee on the 18th. He’s gotten quite tight this week with his approach play. He has a 5-0 advantage in the number of tour playoffs. He has more than a decade of matchplay experiences to embrace his opponents. Fans appearing in the Monday morning reboot will almost certainly cheer on one of the game’s most popular players.
“Everyone expects him to win, and I don’t think a lot of people expect me to win,” Spawn said. “But I expect myself to win. That’s all I care about.”
