PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA | Even as the wind was blowing whitecaps on the water alongside the 18th fairway at TPC Sawgrass’ Stadium Course and Rory McIlroy was posing for photographs after winning his second Players Championship – this time in an anticlimactic three-hole Monday playoff with J.J. Spaun – the inevitable and unavoidable question hung in the chilly spring air.
Is this the year McIlroy finally wins the Masters and completes the career Grand Slam?
It’s putting an abrupt forward spin on what is a career-defining achievement for many golfers – the Players Championship feels increasingly important as the years go by – but in McIlroy’s case the Masters storyline is rarely far away, especially now that springtime is beginning to pop.
Not that anyone needs reminding but it has been more than a decade since McIlroy won the last of his four major championships and the Masters is just three weeks away.
It’s difficult to imagine that McIlroy won’t win more majors because it seems as if he’s at the height of his powers. At age 35, it’s reasonable to assume he could be consistently competitive for another decade.
Winning the next one, however, feels as if it’s becoming McIlroy’s white whale. The image of McIlroy missing a 2-footer on the 16th green on Sunday at Pinehurst last June is burned into fans’ minds. Until McIlroy wins another major, it will be difficult to fully bury what got away that afternoon.
That’s why this Players Championship feels exponentially bigger for McIlroy. Not only did the Northern Irishman win on St. Patrick’s Day, he got there by holing a nervy 4-foot par putt on the 72nd green Sunday, the kind of putt that had minds racing back to Pinehurst.
It also earned McIlroy his second win in this PGA Tour season, the first time he has headed to Augusta with more than one title in his pocket.
For all of McIlroy’s popularity, he is not immune to the noise coming from fans who feel a compulsion to be heard.
McIlroy is a blessing for the game, both for how he plays and who he is. Some have pushed back against him, pointing to his outspoken role in golf’s ongoing battle between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf but he is willing to share his thoughts, a trait that can be increasingly hard to find in this age of social-media retribution.
After he hooked a tee shot into the water on the 18th hole during a Tuesday practice round last week, a University of Texas golfer barked out a reference to McIlroy’s final-round flameout at the 2011 Masters. McIlroy responded by taking his teammate’s phone (which was eventually returned) and security escorted the pair from the premises.
It would be nice to say that was an isolated incident but it wasn’t.
Though the four-hour Sunday weather delay dampened the Stadium Course and the atmosphere, giving the restart the sluggish feeling of waking from an afternoon nap, the bravery beers kicked in around sundown for some.
As McIlroy walked off the 17th green late Sunday afternoon, the championship hanging in the balance, another fan loudly referenced what happened at Augusta 14 years ago and he too was escorted away.
On the 18th green as darkness was settling in the final round, a man in the gallery said, “2024 U.S. Open, Rory” loud enough to be called down by marshals nearby and given the side eye by fans standing nearby.
On Monday morning, McIlroy let his golf speak for itself.
Early Sunday afternoon, when the top of the leaderboard looked as if it had been built by lottery balls more than career credentials, McIlroy arrived at the right moment.
The game’s most theatrical player, McIlroy had a Sunday start fashioned by a screenwriter, making a birdie at the first then supercharging the threatening day with an eagle at the par-5 second. With six swings, McIlroy had carved three strokes off the four-stroke deficit he faced stepping onto the first tee.
All that was missing was the superhero cape.
Sunday – and ultimately Monday morning – had found its star to drive the story.
As a character study, the playoff was rich in contrasts. McIlroy is arguably the best player of his generation and the closest thing golf has to a Taylor Swift-level celebrity.
On the course, he’s magnetic and often magnificent but not always. When McIlroy led the Players by three strokes on the final nine holes Sunday, the tournament was there for him to win and he couldn’t close it out, leaving himself a Sunday night to sleep on the possibilities.
It was easy to look back at McIlroy’s flat Saturday when he made four “soft” bogeys and consider what a difference saving par on those holes would have meant down the line.
Meanwhile, there was Spaun, who has spent his career chasing a week like he had. Spaun plays efficient golf, built around elite-level iron play, but he has been a blue-collar player.
Winning the Players Championship would have been career-changing for Spaun. For McIlroy, it was a reaffirmation of his rare brilliance and another bold-print line on his résumé.
Monday morning, with the wind blowing a biting chill across the treacherous Stadium Course, Spaun’s nervousness showed and McIlroy needed only to avoid the big mistake to win. McIlroy was particularly proud of the 9-iron he floated into the 17th green, surrounded as it is by heartbreak.
Spaun was not so fortunate.
“I’ve worked really hard. I feel like I’m a way more complete player than I was a few years ago even in conditions like this,” McIlroy said.
“I feel like I can play in all conditions and anything that comes my way. Really happy that I was able to get it done today.”
And Augusta beckons.
E-MAIL RON
Top: All eyes were on Rory McIlroy as he walked to No. 16 to begin Monday's playoff.
RICHARD HEATHCOTE, GETTY IMAGES
