Lucky 13 on St Patrick’s Day for Rory McIlroy: the world number two put together a sequence of birdie-bogey-bogey, 13 shots in the aggregate three-hole play-off, to defeat JJ Spaun in The Players at TPC Sawgrass and claim a 28th PGA Tour career win.
It will be another confidence booster ahead of next month’s return to Augusta National in his quest to complete his career Grand Slam at the Masters.
In cool, windy conditions, McIlroy took jig-time on his return to the course to complete unfinished business from Sunday’s final round which left the two men tied atop the leader board.
Before the play-off, McIlroy and caddie Harry Diamond had spent time on the range practising what shot he would hit to the Par 3 17th, the famed island green. He’d identified that short hole across water into a cool, stiff wind as being the critical play and he was proved correct, as Spaun’s tee-shot airmailed the green and found a watery grave as the American ultimately ran up a triple-bogey six to McIlroy’s bogey.
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“I was warming up with the TrackMan this morning and tried to hit a few shots with the same wind direction on the range. I knew it was the same distance (as Sunday), and I just sort of had that little three-quarter 9-iron dialled in. Once we got up there, I knew what to do, and made a good swing,” recounted McIlroy.
Spaun had taken a glance into McIlroy’s bag on the 17th tee to see what club was absent. When it was his turn to play, his 8-iron proved too long.
Having started the play-off with a birdie four on the Par 5 16th to Spaun’s par, it meant McIlroy had a three-shot cushion playing the 18th where he took water out of play by hitting his driver down the right, behind trees, chipping out to the fairway and then hitting another three-quarter punched shot, this time with 8-iron, and two-putting for a bogey that meant Spaun didn’t even need to finish the hole. The title was McIlroy’s, adding further to his golfing legacy and a second Players title having previously won in 2019.
“I think the only multiple Major champions and multiple Players champions are Jack (Nicklaus), Tiger (Woods), Scottie (Scheffler) and myself, so it’s a pretty nice group to be a part of,” said McIlroy, who will head to the Masters with multiple wins on the PGA Tour already in the bag for the first time in his career.
McIlroy’s rich vein of form continuing from last year into this season has come on the back of a lot of work on his game over the winter, including using a simulator, and his decision to switch golf balls back to the TaylorMade TP5: “I’ve worked really hard. I feel like I’m a way more complete player than I was a few years ago. Even in conditions like this, that little 9-iron into 17, the little 8-iron into the last there. I said to Harry there, ‘that little shot will take us a long way’ ... I feel like I’ve got everything pretty much under control, which is a really nice feeling.
“I’m a better putter. I’m better around the greens. I can flight my ball better in the wind. My ability to shape shots both ways. Yeah, I’d say those are the things ... by no means did I have my best stuff this week, but I was still able to win one of the biggest tournaments in the world. That’s a huge thing!”
Rather than stick to his original plan to take a three-week break ahead of the Masters, McIlroy will add one more event on to this itinerary – either the Houston Open (March 27th-30th) or the following week’s Valero Texas Open (April 3rd-6th).
For those three weeks before returning to Augusta in the bid to slot the missing piece of the Grand Slam jigsaw into place, McIlroy said it was important to “double down” on what he has been doing in playing consistently well. His last 10 starts worldwide have seen him go 2-2-25-3-1-4-1-17-15-1.
“I think just double down on what I’m doing. Double down on the work that I’ve been doing at home. Double down on the conversations I’ve been having with Bob Rotella, all that sort of stuff. It’s just continuing to do the same things.
“I’m feeling really comfortable, as I said, with how I’m flighting my ball in the wind. I feel like I’m always trying to refine what I have. I’m certainly a proponent of if it’s not broken don’t try to fix it. Everything feels like it’s in good working order at the minute. Just keep practising and doing the right things and practising the right habits, and day after day, week after week, they all add up to days like today.”
