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Hardworking Rory McIlroy asserts dominance with playoff win at The Players
For more than a decade, Rory McIlroy has been considered one of the best players in the world. On Monday, he reinforced he still belongs in the conversation with a big win at The Players. Adam Stanley has more.
When Rory McIlroy removes his hat these days, you can see the signs of aging. He’s a father of a runaround-aged toddler and has much more salt than pepper in his hair.
But the reason he keeps removing his hat and giving us a look at his this-is-jarring age is because he keeps winning. For more than a decade, McIlroy has been part of the conversation about those who are the best in the world. A stunning body of work in a game that doesn’t owe its participants anything.
Monday morning in a stiff Floridian breeze was the latest example as McIlroy captured The Players Championship — his second win at the PGA Tour’s crown jewel, after 2019 — in a three-hole playoff against J.J. Spaun.
It marked McIlroy’s second win of the season, after he captured the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February. This was his fourth PGA Tour start of 2025 and he hasn’t yet finished outside the top 17. He’s second this season in strokes gained: total and is the best driver of the golf ball on Tour. This week at TPC Sawgrass he was also wielding a nice wand, sitting 10th in strokes gained: putting.
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“You put the work in, and you do the right things, you’re able to do some pretty cool stuff,” McIlroy said.
It’s something to be 18 years into your career and still be so very dedicated to your craft — despite being the best player of your generation.
A perfect example: McIlroy’s warm-up Monday morning featured him hitting balls down the line of the driving range, according to the PGA Tour’s editorial lead Sean Martin, instead of banging balls down the range itself. McIlroy’s back was to the practice area, so then he could see how the wind would impact shots from different directions. He changed the lines of his tee shots to try to mimic those he would hit on Nos. 16 and 18, repositioning his TrackMan (a launch monitor product used by the best golfers in the world to dial in their distance numbers) each time.
“I’ve went down to the back end of the range sometimes (through the week) and been hitting the ball like in a left-to-right wind. It’s hard to obviously get both winds when you’re warming up,” McIlroy said. “Seeing there was no one around this morning, it was nice to be able to just turn around and hit those shots in the wind I felt like there was going to be on 17.”
The preparatory effort worked out just fine for McIlroy, who now has 28 wins on the PGA Tour, as he bombed driver 336 yards on the first playoff hole, the par-5 16th en route to making birdie. He then hit a tidy, flighted iron on the par-3 17th which found dry land. When Spaun flew his tee shot into the water, playing No. 18 was merely a formality. McIlroy’s drive on the par-4 18th avoided the water up the left and Spaun hit his into the trees, forcing a punch out.
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It was an honourable week for Spaun, who was looking for his biggest career PGA Tour title. He knew everyone expected McIlroy to win and win he did. But Spaun has been a model of consistency in 2025, with this marking his third top-3 finish in just eight events.
“It’s hard to not feel discouraged a little bit, but nothing but positives in putting myself in contention and giving myself a chance to win in a playoff. If someone told me that would happen to start the week, I would totally take it,” Spaun said. “Nothing but positives to take from it, and hopefully I can just learn from this and get it done next time.”
Alas, for Spaun to pick off a big one — or anyone on the PGA Tour these days, it seems — they’ll have to top McIlroy. And Scottie Scheffler. And Xander Schauffele. And more of the game’s top best, who all seem to be finding form at the same time.
But this week belonged to McIlroy, who won for the third time in his career on St. Patrick’s Day. It took an extra day, but trophies are still trophies — even on Mondays.
“It feels strange to win a golf tournament at 10 in the morning and I feel like I can’t have a drink yet. It is St. Patrick’s Day, though,” McIlroy said with a smile. “Watching Scottie (win) two in a row (at The Players) last year was unbelievably impressive, and I think the only multiple major champions and multiple Players champions are Jack, Tiger, Scottie and myself, so it’s a pretty nice group to be a part of.
“I feel like I’m a better player now than I ever have been, and it’s nice to see the fruits of my labour paying off.”
