Rory McIlroy will have to do it the hard way if he’s to add the 2025 Players Championship crown to his 2019 title after a third-round 73 in testing conditions at TPC Sawgrass.
The world number two began day three two shots in arrears of Min Woo Lee and Akshay Bhatia, and one behind partner for the day, J.J. Spaun. The light breeze that had accompanied the field in what is the PGA Tour’s Flagship event for the first 36 holes had already been ratcheted up a couple of notches and steadily grew throughout the day, meaning, by the time the final few groups were on their way, the Pete Dye course in Ponte Vedra was a different beast altogether.
McIlroy started brightly, birdieing the par-5 second after a deft chip from the right-hand rough, navigated the opening four with no real drama and was sizing up a good birdie chance on the fifth. But he got overly aggressive with his 13-footer and missed the four-footer back. On a day where mistakes were inevitable, this was a cheap shot to give away, but an excellent approach from the fairway bunker on the next lead to a bounce-back birdie.
His next mistake came on the par-5 ninth, but, having found the water off the tee, he managed to save par from the greenside bunker and made the turn at -1, two behind Spaun who’d covered the same stretch in one stroke less.
But a series of uncharacteristic short game errors would prove costly for McIlroy on the back, starting with an under-hit pitch to the par-5 11th and a missed birdie opportunity, then making a mess of the par-4 12th to card his second bogey and drop back to level-par for the day.
His struggles continued on the next where he again made bogey, then missed a golden opportunity on the par-5 16th when he was pin high but just off the green in two and again was clumsy with the wedge. A three-putt bogey from the front of the green on 17 left him five back playing the last, but there was still time for a grandstand finish.
He’d birdied the 18th hole in each of the opening two rounds, and after two beautifully flighted iron shots, left himself a nine-footer that he duly dispatched, clawing the deficit back to four and giving himself a chance going into the final round.
“Yeah, I feel like I played better than I scored. All the bogeys I made were really soft,” he said afterwards. “They slowed the greens down today for obvious reasons, and I feel like I didn’t adjust very well to that. Then some of the chip shots around the greens, when you start to get downwind, I got a little tentative with some of those, as well.
“Yeah, most of the dropped shots were from around-the-green mistakes rather than tee to green. I felt like I hit the ball pretty well, controlled my flight. It was nice to make a birdie on 18 at least and see one putt go in.
“Not out of it by any means. The wind is supposed to still be blowing tomorrow, so yeah, it was nice to birdie that just to get one closer to J.J. on the last.”
With rain forecast to accompany the heavy gusts on Sunday, tournament organisers have opted to move final-round teetimes forward a little and revert to three-balls, meaning McIlroy will be in the penultimate grouping alongside Corey Conners, who he shares fifth place with on -8, and Alex Smalley who’s one better on -9.
This leaves Spaun, Lucas Glover and Bud Cauley in the final group. Spaun’s 70, that included a 25-foot par save on the last, sees him take a one-stoke lead over Cauley who made big strides up the leaderboard with a joint-best-of-the-day 66, while Glover is two further adrift in a share of third.
Shane Lowry, having made the cut on the number, had covered the first 17 holes in level-par before a pulled tee shot on the last found the water and cost him a double bogey. He still climbed 14 places on the leaderboard, however, and goes into the final round in a share of 51st at +1.
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