A long day at the Players Championship on Sunday was extended into Monday when J.J. Spaun’s 30-foot birdie bid for victory at the 72nd hole stopped two rolls short, setting up a three-hole aggregate playoff with world No.2 Rory McIlroy.
In celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Players Championship, it’s interesting to note that the tournament has needed extra holes to decide a champion just five times. And it hasn’t happened since 2015.
The putt didn’t have much in it, at least we thought. Turns out, it had a hair of right to left movement. Homa found this out in the most painful way imaginable:
Duncan wound up playing nine of the best holes of his life, shooting a four-under 31 that included birdies on the 17th and 18th holes, the latter of which came from 24 feet.
A solo second-place finish at the tournament was worth $US828,000, but because you had to add the prizemoney for the third, fourth, fifth and sixth places, then divide the aggregate among the five players, the amount was diluted.
For the first time on the European Tour since 2003, there were six starters in a sudden-death – and ultimately floodlit – playoff for the Turkish Airlines Open title.
Australian Golf Digest
