Drama at THE PLAYERS Championship is nothing new. Just last year, we saw Scottie Scheffler storm back to become the first back-to-back winner after trailing by five shots on the weekend. This year, though, the PGA Tour will have perhaps an even more dramatic finish with a Monday playoff set to go down at TPC Sawgrass to declare a winner of the biggest purse on Tour.
It wasn't supposed to be a Monday playoff at THE PLAYERS Championship, of course. A weather delay with thunderstorms in the area took hold of the tournament during Sunday's final round after play was suspended for four hours. However, that delay and the restart led to somewhat of a sea change in terms of momentum and, thus, the leaderboard.
With that, there were only two players left standing.
Who is in The Players Championship playoff on Monday?
It'll be Rory McIlroy and J.J. Spaun battling in Monday's playoff at THE PLAYERS Championship.
Spaun entered Sunday's final round as the 54-hole leader but got off to quite an inauspicious start to his round. He bogeyed two of his first eight holes without any birdies before he then got one back on the Par-5 ninth hole. Right after the long rain delay, though, Spaun gave that back with a bogey on the Par-5 11th. That was a blip on the radar after the restart as he played pristine golf down the stretch with birdies on No. 14 and 16 before coming up just a hair short on what would've been a tournament-winning birdie on the 18th to set up the playoff.
As for McIlroy, he began the day four strokes behind Spaun but quickly closed that gap with a birdie on the first hole and an eagle on the second. Unlike Spaun, though, the restart wasn't particularly kind to him. While Rory birdied the 12th after the restart, he stumbled on the 14th and very much seemed to be trying to hold it together with some errant shots down the stretch. He posted at 12-under, which put the pressure on Spaun and the 54-hole leader obviously was up to the task.
The Players Championship playoff format
THE PLAYERS Championship has a different playoff format than a standard PGA Tour event in that it is a three-hole aggregate as opposed to the sudden-death format that we often see. McIlroy and Spaun will play Holes No. 16, 17 and 18, the iconic finishing stretch at TPC Sawgrass, with an aggregate score over those three holes to determine the winner. If the two players are still tied after that three-hole playoff, it will then switch to sudden-death with the competitors going back to the island green at No. 17, followed by No. 18, then the No. 16-18 format until a player wins a hole and, thus, the tournament.
The Players Championship playoff start time and TV channel
Monday's playoff on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, will begin at 9 a.m. ET at TPC Sawgrass. Lucky for golf fans, there will also be coverage as Golf Channel will have a broadcast as McIlroy and Spaun duke it out to determine the winner of the biggest prize on the PGA Tour schedule. Fans can also stream the playoff action through Peacock with a paid subscription to NBC's streaming service.