The PGA Tour’s flagship event has once again gone to the golfer playing the best over the early portion of the PGA Tour season. Rory McIlroy needed an extra hour and three additional holes to confirm his spot in the winner’s circle at the 2025 Players Championship when he won an aggregate playoff over J.J. Spaun in a three-hole aggregate playoff in chilly and windy conditions Monday morning at TPC Sawgrass.

McIlroy started Sunday’s final round four-shots back of Spaun, the 54-hole leader. He fired a 68 to erase his deficit — the largest he had overcome in his career — though McIlroy actually had a three-stroke lead on the back nine before dropping a spot and watching as Spaun caught up to his 12 under score.

On Monday, McIlroy carded scores of birdie, bogey, bogey across Nos. 16-18 in the playoff to defeat Spaun by two strokes. This after Spaun scored par on the first and found the water on the infamous par-3 17th to card a triple bogey on the island green.

McIlroy’s career playoff record improves to 4-2 with four straight victories in such scenarios, and he has now picked up the third-most PGA Tour wins since 1995 despite trailing when entering the final round

With the win, McIlroy becomes the eighth player to win multiple Players Championships and the first European to accomplish that feat. He is now the fourth golfer to hold multiple Players titles and multiple major championships; the other three are Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Scottie Scheffler.

Monday’s the triumph represents the 28th of McIlroy PGA Tour’s career and pulls him inside the top 20 of the all-time wins list.

When coupled with his victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am earlier in 2025, McIlroy has won twice before the calendar flips to April for the first time in his career making his arrival at next month’s Masters even more anticipated than usual.