J.J. Spaun leads Players Championship as winds whip field Saturday at TPC Sawgrass
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — J.J. Spaun watched his 25-foot putt swirl 360 degrees around the cup and drop for par, a fitting end to a wild, windy, round-wrecking Saturday at The Players Championship that gave him a one-shot lead going into the final round of the richest tournament in golf.
The par gave Spaun a 2-under 70, the lowest score among the final 10 groups that teed off in a strong, steady wind with gusts up to 30 mph on a course that can be intimidating even when the conditions are calm.
Bud Cauley teed off two hours earlier and still faced a bulk of the wind. He finished with three birdies on his last four holes for a 66 to be in the final group.
For so many others — even those very much in the mix — it was a matter of hanging on for dear life. Lucas Glover had a 71 and finished with a double bogey on the 15th, an eagle by chipping in on the par-5 16th, and a double bogey with a tee shot that didn’t reach the island on the notorious par-3 17th.
“It’s pretty razor thin around here anyway,” Glover said. “And then you add in 25, 30 miles an hour with some gusts, it shrinks things even more. I did a good job where I was missing for the majority of the day, and there was a couple holes where you just can’t miss.”
Spaun was at 12-under 204, a stroke ahead of Cauley and three ahead of Glover and Alex Smalley.
There was plenty of heartache, not including the five rounds in the 80s.
Will Zalatoris was briefly tied for the lead when he stepped on the 14th tee. He played the final five holes in 9 over par — a quadruple bogey on the 14th, a double bogey on the 15th, a ball in the water on the 17th for double bogey and a bogey at the last. It added to a 78.
He went from tied for the lead to 10 shots behind in the span of about an hour.
Rory McIlroy made birdie on the final hole to salvage a 73 and perhaps his chances, leaving him only four shots behind.
“Most of the dropped shots were from around-the-green mistakes rather than tee-to-green,” McIlroy said. “I felt like I hit the ball pretty well, controlled my flight. 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.”
Two-time defending champion Scottie Scheffler wasn’t so fortunate. He was hanging around and poised to get closer until he went from the pine straw left of the par-5 16th fairway to a bunker, then another bunker under a large tree and wound up with a bogey.
He three-putted from long range for bogey on the 17th, tossing his ball into the water. He hit what he thought was a perfect wedge on the 18th only to see it roll off the back of the green. He had a 72.
A year ago, Scheffler birdied his last three holes to get within five shots and wound up winning with a 64. This time he played bogeyed two of the last three and was seven behind.
Is that too much?
“I’m not really thinking about it too much right now,” he said. “I’m just a bit frustrated with the finish but hoping to come out of the gates a little bit better tomorrow and turn things around.”
Golf Channel StaffThe forecast was for more wind and enough rain that the PGA Tour moved up the tee times to send players off in threesomes from both sides Sunday morning.
Akshay Bhatia put up a good fight after a miserable start, going from a birdie on the opening hole to a bogey-bogey-double bogey stretch that sent him spiraling down the leaderboard. He still wound up with a chance.
Collin Morikawa had more of a slow bleed with eight bogeys that sent him to 77, leaving him eight shots behind.
The group at 7-under 209 included Patrick Cantlay and Danny Walker, who left Friday evening after a three-putt that looked as though it would cost him the cut. But he made it on the number, teed off first before the wind arrived and posted a 66.
Walker didn’t get into the tournament until Jason Day withdrew Thursday morning. Now he’s in the mix with so many others, chasing the $4.5 million prize from a $25 million purse that includes a five-year exemption on the PGA Tour.
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