A blustery, brutal day at TPC Sawgrass saw stars fall out of the sky and relatively unacclaimed names rise to the occasion. With the golf course playing just about two strokes over par on average, it was J.J. Spaun who stood tall in the face of adversity and took control of the 2025 Players Championship. Spaun sits at 12 under after a solid third-round 70, one stroke clear of Bud Cauley.
Spaun’s 70 was the lowest round among those players who teed off in the final 10 pairings of the third round. Only Sepp Straka and Lucas Glover were able to join him in shooting among the red figures as the last 20 competitors took the golf course.
Min Woo Lee and Akshay Bhatia, who co-led after 36 holes, endured a brutal beginning to their third rounds, and while Lee exited stage left, Bhatia battled tough to a 75. The lengthy left hander remains in the thick of it at 8 under alongside Rory McIlroy and Corey Conners.
Lee was far from the only big name to trip up at TPC Sawgrass. Two-time major champion Collin Morikawa carded eight bogeys en route to a 77, dropping to 4 under for the tournament. Tommy Fleetwood signed for a 75, and Will Zalatoris went from a share of the lead to full-on ejection.
The wiry right hander played his first 13 holes in 3 under to reach 11 under for the championship. He played his final five holes in 9 over low lighted by a quadruple-bogey 8 on the par-4 14th that did not include a single penalty stroke or lost ball. Zalatoris added two more double bogeys to his card coming home.
Meanwhile, Spaun’s playing partner, McIlroy, was middling for most of the day. However, Rory made his move on the par-4 18th. The 2019 champion arrived at the finisher at 2 over for the afternoon thanks to three bogeys in his last six holes but threw his approach in tight to enter the final round just four behind Spaun at 8 under.
Let’s take a look at all the action that took place on a wild Saturday at TPC Sawgrass.
2025 Players Champoinship leaderboard, Round 3
1. J.J. Spaun (-12): The finish cannot go overlooked. After making a bogey on the par-4 15th, Spaun was loose across his final three holes and still managed to play them in even par. He rolled in a birdie look from off the green on the par-5 16th, found the surface and three putted on No. 17 and then made a 28-foot par putt on the last to secure the solo lead. It has given him not only some breathing room over the immediate chasing pack but also those who loom large a bit further back.
2. Bud Cauley (-11): A late addition to the field, Cauley is making the most of his opportunity, especially when one considers he is still playing on a major medical after a 2018 car accident. Cauley made just four pars in his final 13 holes thanks to a closing string of birdies on Nos. 15-17 that shot his name onto the first page of the leaderboard.
“I was out for a long time, and it’s funny, when I first came back and started playing again, I really felt ready,” Cauley said. “Then I kind of reflected — my first tournament was Phoenix last year, and I kind of reflected on that this year playing Phoenix again. I wasn’t quite as ready as I thought I was, just having a year under my belt again and playing. I’ve tried to just really practice with a purpose and just make little changes and just get a little bit better. I feel like some things are starting to come together that I’ve been working on for a while now.”
T3. Lucas Glover, Alex Smalley (-9): What a wild day — or should we say finish — for Glover. The former U.S. Open champion was going along nicely as he tacked on four birdies after an opening birdie and stood at 3 under through his first 14 holes. He then made a sloppy double on No. 15 before he immediately grabbed those two strokes back on No. 16 with a chip-in eagle. Glover was gleaming until he dumped his tee shot into the water on the island green for another double. It all added up to a 71.
T6. Rory McIlroy, Akshay Bhatia, Corey Conners (-8): There was some good and some bad from McIlroy on Saturday. He was strolling along at 1 under through his first six holes but then hit some turbulence in the middle of his round. Partially due to course management and partially due to poor golf shots, McIlroy made a mess of both par 5s around the turn and dropped shots on the short par-4 12th and par-3 13th. After a 3-putt bogey on No. 17, McIlroy mustered up his best approach of the afternoon into the par-4 18th to give him a good look at his second Players title.
T8. Sepp Straka, Patrick Cantlay, Stephan Jaeger, Danny Walker, Jake Knapp, Max McGreevy (-7): The FedEx Cup No. 1 didn’t get off to the best of starts, but he finished like a champion. Straka played his final 11 holes in bogey-free fashion and tacked on a couple birdies along the way — both on par 5s. After some so-so short game performances in Rounds 1 and 2, the Austrian leaned heavily on that part of his game and enters Sunday with an outside chance to make his presence known.
T16. Scottie Scheffler, Robert MacIntyre, Davis Thompson, Chris Kirk, Sam Ryder (-5): The three-peat is officially on life support. Scheffler got within four strokes of the lead at various points, but a poor finish will make it so the world No. 1 requires a minor miracle on Sunday to secure his third straight tournament title. Scheffler was cruising along and bogey-free until he hit his second into the water on No. 12 and misplayed both Nos. 16 and 17.
“It was a tough finish for me,” Scheffler said. “I felt like I did some good things there towards the end and just the shots weren’t going exactly where I thought they were going to. Hit some really nice shots that didn’t end up where I thought they should have, and frustrating finish, but we’ll see. You never know. Maybe do something crazy tomorrow. You’ve got guys shooting some pretty low numbers this week. So going into tomorrow, just try and get off to a good start and go from there.”
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