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McIlroy a favourite to beat Spaun in playoff, add second Players Championship to resume
Published
They say Rory McIlroy can’t win the big one anymore.
I say just you watch.
Monday morning, McIlroy will look to add a second Players Championship to his trophy case in a three-hole playoff against 34-year-old American, J.J. Spaun.
This year's Players Championship winner will be crowned in a playoff for the first time since Rickie Fowler beat Kevin Kisner and Sergio Garcia in 2015.
You can watch the playoff LIVE on TSN4 at 9 am ET / 6 am PT and stream it on the TSN App, and TSN.ca
A win on Monday would be a historic second Players Championship for McIlroy as it would make him just the eighth player to achieve the mark.
Jack Nicklaus (1974, 1976, 1978)
Fred Couples (1984, 1996)
Steve Elkington (1991, 1997)
Hal Sutton (1983, 2000)
Davis Love III (1992, 2003)
Tiger Woods (2001, 2013)
Scottie Scheffler (2023, 2024)
A second Players Championship would give McIlroy would add to a resume that ranks among the best golf has ever seen with four majors, two Tour Championships and three DP World Tour Championships.
The Northern Irishman is -165 to beat Spaun on Monday morning, a number with an implied probability of 62.3 percent.
“You’ve got to make five good swings. That’s all it is,” McIlroy told reporters after his round. “So try to get up there, make five good swings tomorrow morning and get this thing done.”
In his career, McIlroy is 3-2 in events on the PGA Tour decided in a playoff, and also won the 2019 WGC-HSBC Champions in a playoff over Xander Schauffele on the DP World Tour.
Meanwhile, Spaun is a +130 underdog, looking for his second PGA Tour win.
Spaun has found the winner's circle once since joining the PGA Tour in 2017, the 2022 Valero Texas Open.
Since then, Spaun’s best finish has been a tie for second at the Cognizant Classic two weeks ago and a tie for third at the 2025 Sony Open is one of the four-best finishes of his career.
“Everyone expects him to win,” Spaun said after his round. “I don’t think a lot of people expect me to win. I expect myself to win. That’s all I care about.”
Spaun is 0-1 in his professional golf playoff career, losing a three-man playoff to Ollie Schniederjans in 2016, which featured a young Collin Morikawa, at the Air Capital Classic on the Web.com Tour.