JJ Spaun is the unknown American who can ruin Rory McIlroy’s $4.5m dream at the Players Championship

By DANIEL MATTHEWS IN FLORIDA

JJ Spaun took a seat inside TPC Sawgrass on Saturday night and tried to claim he wasn’t built for this. ‘I wasn’t raised or groomed to be a professional golfer,’ the 34-year-old said.

There hasn’t been much to challenge that thesis over the past 12 years. The American has played in 227 PGA Tour events. He has won only once; he is currently ranked No 57 in the world.

And yet, over the past four days in Florida, he has shown a level of guts and guile and grit that suggests he is exactly where he belongs.

And so, on Monday morning, Spaun will return to this iconic course for a three-hole , $4.5million shootout with Rory McIlroy. It is the least he deserves after a superb showing at The Players Championship.

He led after day one. He was third after day two and he topped the leaderboard heading into this final round. 

On Sunday night, he was 3ins from securing a remarkable victory. His 30ft putt came up agonizingly short and he finished in a tie with McIlroy on 12-under-par.

JJ Spaun faces a three-hole playoff against Rory McIlroy at The Players Championship

The little-known American came within inches of securing victory and the $4.5million prize

Spaun and world No 2 McIlroy are tied on 12-under-par after the final round at TPC Sawgrass

Even as the wind and the rain and the thunder and the lightning arrived over the weekend, Spaun refused to yield.

It seemed his race might be run when he went two-over-par through the first eight holes on Sunday. But, in his words, the four-hour rain delay allowed him to regroup and reset.

As McIlroy had a late wobble, Spaun made fine birdies and 14 at 16 to reel in the Northern Irishman. He nearly followed it up at 18, too.

Sandwiched in between was a gutsy par at the treacherous 17th. Throughout it all, he barely showed a flicker of emotion.   

To think McIlroy has won 27 PGA Tour titles to Spaun’s one. To think that before this, the American’s record at The Players read: missed cut, missed cut, tied 64th.

‘I didn’t have the pedigree of a junior golfer growing up. I wasn’t raised or groomed to be a professional golfer,’ Spaun said on Saturday.

‘I guess I blossomed as I took on this journey… I didn’t know what my ceiling was. I still guess I don’t know what it is.’

The biggest barrier for Spaun, he said, has been a lack of self-belief. This week should do wonders for that. No matter what happens.

Spaun has played with McIlroy before and he is happy to cede the spotlight. ‘It’s easy to get intimidated and know he’s a really good player, but everyone is putting their money on him, not me. 

‘I’m out there just free-wheeling it.’

:
JJ Spaun is the unknown American who can ruin Rory McIlroy’s $4.5m dream at the Players Championship

***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk