American professional golfer J.J Spaun won the Players Championship 2025 jointly with Irish professional golfer Rory McIlroy. In the interview taken after his win, Spaun shared his struggles in the fourth round, his turning point, and about all the things that motivated his win even after a delay.

Q. You played very well after the delay. How were you feeling out there?

J.J. SPAUN: Great. Yeah, I had such a crappy third shot on 11 that it was not an ideal to come back to after a long weather delay. Then I was like — when we were walking out from the van, I told my caddie, I said, Should I try to chip this? Because the rain matted down the sand and it was kind of a tight lie, so you can get — and I’m placing it — so I can get like a clean little punch on it. I was like, But I don’t want to do that because I didn’t practice that, and the restart kind of — the warm-up session. I was just hitting like 60-yard blasts. I was like, I’d feel more comfortable if I at least tried to chip one out of a bunker. I didn’t, but it felt like the right play, and I went with it anyway and hit it to about 50 feet.

Q. You played well after the holes after that ––

J.J. SPAUN: Well, there’s some context for you.

Yeah, once that bogey kind of hit me, I just tried to just fight back. I kind of went with the odds. I had nothing to lose.

Now I’m trying to catch Rory, and I can’t really control what he does, but I can control what I do, and I just started committing to my shots and my swing and trusting it more. Because it’s easy to kind of — now when I’m hunting, it’s easier to let it go. Whereas, starting the round I was a little tentative, a little scared and stuff.

I think it put me in a pretty comfortable spot to finish off the round.

Q. Were you aware that he was three strokes up, and if so, what was your mindset?

 J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, I bogeyed 11 to get to 10, to go down to 10, and he was at 13. So I was like — but at the same time, anything can happen on this final stretch. I mean, yeah, he could go eagle-birdie-birdie or —

Q. (Inaudible.)

J.J. SPAUN: Exactly. I don’t want to say that, but anything can happen, so I just had to keep plugging, keep plodding.

The drive on 14 kind of gave me a little pep in my step because I didn’t drive it well on the front nine, so it was nice to see and feel a good tee shot that I was able to run with for the rest of the nine.

Q. You said that was the most pressure that you’ve played under. What do you think you showed yourself?

J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, I showed myself that I don’t have to shy away from the moment.

I think in the past I’ve done that, just kind of been afraid of being in that spotlight, being in that pressure, be worried about failure. But it’s hard to win, and you have to fail multiple times in order to win.

That’s kind of what I’ve learned throughout my career, and it paid off today.

Q. I’m sure you don’t want any moral victories, but do you feel like you’ve won something by showing yourself that?

J.J. SPAUN: Totally. Totally.

Q. How did you spend the four-hour delay?

J.J. SPAUN: I hung out with Chuck, Charley Hoffman, in the performance center thing. It’s actually funny, there’s this chair called the Shiftwave — I think that’s what it’s called. It’s this vibrating — it’s not a massage chair, but it’s got these magnets all over it that vibrate to kind of like a track — like specific tracks. And you put this headset on and an eye mask, and he’s like, Dude, you need to try this. It was like a 10-minute session. And I sat down and it was telling me, like, to breathe in positivity. And it was like, When you arise from this you’re going to feel like you’re ready to take on the day, and maybe that’s what I needed.

Q. Are you going to ride it tomorrow or sit in it tomorrow?

J.J. SPAUN: Maybe I should. It’s a little intense. You feel

like you’re in like a rocketship taking off. It’s pretty crazy, especially with the eye blackout stuff.

Q. What do you think in general of a three-hole playoff? Do you have a strategy in mind for tomorrow?

J.J. SPAUN: No, I didn’t even know it was a three-hole playoff. I thought we were just going to go straight to 17 like tonight. Gary Young told me, he’s like, No, you’re coming back in the morning.

I think it’s the same thing as — it’s not the same thing as a playoff, sudden death. Yeah, you kind of have to have some strategy. You kind of have to play off of how he’s playing, too, I think. I haven’t really given it too much thought, but I just know those three holes, anything can happen.

Q. You said you’ve got nothing to lose. At this point do you think all the pressure is going to be on Rory?

J.J. SPAUN: I would think so. I mean, everyone expects him to win. I don’t think a lot of people expect me to win. I expect myself to win. That’s all I care about.

Q. Is that a positive place for you to be in, do you think?

J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, sure. I like having the opportunity to play. I like having the chance to win, and I like being in the spotlight now. I proved it to myself, coming down the stretch, playing those holes, that tomorrow it could go my way. Maybe I am the one that everyone thinks should win. If so, that would be great.

Q. What did your wife say to you either last night or sometime this morning before you played?

J.J. SPAUN: She’s like, Are you going to make your flight tonight? I was like, I don’t think so. I was like, Well, maybe.

But then the delay happened — I saw the forecast, and I said, No, no chance.

But then I had one for tomorrow morning, as well, at like 7:00 a.m., direct shot to Phoenix. But that ain’t happening. I’ve got to figure it out. Good problem to have, I guess.

Q. Do you feel like the delay helped reset you a little bit? You played really well after it.

J.J. SPAUN: Yeah, sure. I definitely had a little reset, got some food, kind of collected myself. But it did feel like I was going through, like, the night before today again, where you’re just anxious, you’re like, Oh, my God, let’s go, when are we going to play. That’s the other thing, you don’t know when you’re going to play. Are we going to play today, are we going to play tomorrow, are we going to play Tuesday? I don’t know.

There was a lot of uncertainty, but that doesn’t help the anxiety, but it definitely felt like a mini kind of night before, you know, the final round, leading the round, or leading going into the final round.

But yeah, the Shiftwave chair helped.