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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — World No. 2 Rory McIlroy and overnight leader J.J. Spaun will take The Players Championship into a Monday playoff after they both ended a weather-delayed final round Sunday level at 12-under-par 276.

It is the ninth time the Players Championship has spilled over into a Monday finish, and the first since 2022 when Australian Cameron Smith claimed the title.

McIlroy and Spaun will play a three-hole aggregate playoff consisting of Nos. 16-18, set to begin at 9 a.m. local time. Sunny skies and windy conditions are forecast for Monday with peak gusts close to 30 mph.

Northern Irishman McIlroy, who had been three ahead with six holes to play at TPC Sawgrass, closed with a 4-under 68 while Spaun rebounded from a sketchy first 11 holes with a strong finish to return a 72.

McIlroy, in pursuit of his second Players Championship title, was boosted by a sizzling birdie-eagle start but he squandered good birdie opportunities on Nos. 15 and 16 that would have given him much-needed breathing room.

Spaun drew level with birdies of his own at Nos. 14 and 16, where he conjured a superb chip from just below the front of the green to within a foot of the cup.

“I felt like it got a little dark with a couple of holes to go,” said McIlroy, who is bidding for his 28th PGA Tour victory, and his second this season following his success at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in early February.

“I hit two great shots into 15. I didn’t convert. Hit a good putt. It looked like it was going to go left to right to me, and it didn’t. Then on 16, as well, same sort of thing, sort of struggled to read it. It was getting a little darker.”

McIlroy, winner at the TPC Sawgrass in 2019, missed a birdie putt from 8 feet at the 15th, and another from 14 feet at the 16th as the tension heightened.

Spaun, who earned his lone PGA Tour win at the 2022 Valero Texas Open after 147 career starts, came desperately close to sealing victory on the 18th green but his birdie putt from 30 feet came up 3 inches short.

Prior to that, he had rebounded from three bogeys and a lone birdie in his first 11 holes with superb golf over the closing stretch.

“I just tried to just fight back,” said the 34-year-old Californian, who had led by one shot after the third round of the PGA Tour’s flagship event. “I kind of went with the odds. I had nothing to lose. Now I’m trying to catch Rory, and I can’t really control what he does, but I can control what I do, and I just started committing to my shots and my swing and trusting it more.”

Tom Hoge mixed seven birdies with a lone bogey en route to a 66 to share third place at 10 under with Akshay Bhatia (70) and Lucas Glover (71).

Danny Walker (70), Bud Cauley (74) and Canada’s Corey Conners (71) were a further stroke back in a tie for sixth.

Final-round play was suspended for four hours at 1:15 p.m. ET as a storm system slowly tracked across the course from the southwest.

After play eventually resumed, McIlroy extended his lead to three shots by recording his fourth birdie of the day. He struck a superb approach at the par-4 12th to 14 feet and coolly drained the putt to get to 13 under.

However, McIlroy stumbled with a bogey at the par-4 14th where he missed the fairway to the right off the tee and ended up behind trees from where he was unable to reach the green in two. Thereafter, he was unable to make up any further ground as Spaun fought back to draw level.

“I’m happy to be in the position that I am, but also I feel like I had chances there on the back nine to close the door, and I didn’t quite do that,” said McIlroy. “A little bit of both. But I’m excited for the opportunity tomorrow.

“I’d like to think that I can fall back on my experience and maybe have a little bit more than J.J., but then at the same time, tomorrow is all just about execution and getting up there and, as I said, making five good swings.”

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler’s quest for an unprecedented third successive Players victory ended in disappointing fashion as he closed with a 73 for a 4-under total and a tie for 20th.

“The conditions were pretty tough with the wind and then we had the big delay there,” Scheffler said after signing off with a bogey at the par-4 18th. “I just didn’t do enough really today or this week.

“Today I just didn’t give myself enough opportunities and didn’t hole enough putts. I felt like I was putting from distance most of the day. Overall, I feel like I’m close, just a little bit off this week.”

–Mark Lamport-Stokes, Field Level Media