Players Championship: Long par putt by J.J. Spaun preserves a one-shot lead over Bud Cauley

J.J. Spaun drained a 25-foot par putt at the 18th hole of the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on Saturday to hold onto a one-shot lead through 54 holes of The Players Championship.

Spaun (70), a Los Angeles native who has won only once on the PGA Tour, finished at 12-under-par 204 and leads former Jacksonville resident Bud Cauley (66) by one shot. Lucas Glover (71) and Alex Smalley (72) are tied at 9-under and 36-hole co-leader Akshay Bhatia (75), Corey Conners (66) and Rory McIlroy (73) are tied at 8-under.

The final round tee times have been moved to 8-10:01 a.m., with players going in threesomes, off the first and 10th tees because of a prediction of adverse weather conditions. A line of thunderstorms is predicted to hit the Ponte Vedra Beach around 3 p.m.

TV coverage will begin on Golf Channel at 10 a.m. and on NBC/Peacock at Noon.

J.J. Spaun walks on the first fairway during the third round of The Players Championship PGA golf tournment Saturday, March 15, 2025 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]

The third round, with wind gusting as high as 30 miles per hour, created carnage throughout the weekend field. It produced disasters such as Saith Theegala's quadruple-bogey 9 at the par-5 second hole, Will Zalatoris' quad-8 at the par-4 14th hole, two double bogeys among his last three holes that cost Lucas Glover a chance to lead and double bogeys at the par-4 fifth hole that effectively knocked Bhatia and co-leader Min Woo Lee (78) out of contention.

Lee dropped into a tie for 16th.

The third-round scoring average of 74.027 was the highest for a Saturday since 2016, when the field averaged 75.592. It was the highest average for any round since the second round in 2022 (74.457).

Four players failed to break 80, including 2015 Players champion Rickie Fowler, and 25 shot 76 or higher.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Players: J.J. Spaun leads Bud Cauley by one in wind-ravaged third round

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