Rory McIlroy set to duel J.J. Spaun in Players Championship playoff after blowing three-shot lead

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla.— And the winner of the 51st Players Championship is …Well, we’ll have to wait until Monday morning to find out.Rory McIlroy and J.J.

Spaun ended the 72 holes at TPC Sawgrass in a deadlock at 12-under and will duel is out beginning at 9 a.m.Monday in a three-hole aggregate playoff on holes 16, 17 and 18.It was a wild day at Sawgrass, where dangerous weather halted play for four hours at 1:15 p.m.

At the time, McIlroy held a one-shot lead, at 12-under, over Spaun, who took the 54-hole lead into the day.When the weather delay ended, it took just seven minutes for McIlroy to turn his one-shot lead into a three-shot bulge when he birdied the 13th hole and Spaun bogeyed 11.At that moment, McIlroy was 13-under par and trailed by Spaun, Danny Walker, Akshay Bhatia and Tom Hoge, all of whom were at 10-under par.From there, McIlroy, who won the Players in 2019, failed to put it away, leaving the door more than ajar for Spaun.McIlroy bogeyed No.14 after a poor drive, but 14 is the toughest hole on the course.

With a Spaun birdie on No.14 behind McIlroy, he shaved the deficit to one shot.McIlroy’s biggest mistake of the day was his failure to birdie the par-5 16th hole, the easiest hole on the golf course.

Spaun birdied 16 and tied the lead at 12-under.Both players parred 17 and 18 to send the tournament to its first Monday finish in 10 years, when Rickie Fowler won in a playoff in 2015.McIlroy, who began the day four shots behind Spaun and shot a 4-under-par 68 to Spaun’s even-par 72.“I’m standing here feeling I like I should have gone home with a trophy today,” McIlroy said afterward.“But hopefully I’ll come back and go home with a trophy tomorrow.

I hit a pretty bad tee shot on 14, then had two good chances on 15 and 16.Two good chances slipped by there.

Then, I hit a good shot on 17 that spun back on the collar to an awkward shot.”The 34-year-old Spaun, a journeyman who’s won once on the PGA Tour, looked shaky to start t...