Weather: Partly cloudy. High of 78. Wind SE at 12-25 mph with gusts to 32 mph in the afternoon.

Third-Round Leaderboard

Pos.        Player                    R1           R2           R3           Total

1              J.J. Spaun               66            68            70            204 (-12) – Interview transcript attached

2              Bud Cauley            68            71            66            205 (-11)

T3            Lucas Glover         66            70            71            207 (-9)

T3            Alex Smalley         68            67            72            207 (-9)

Leading APAC Scores

T16         Min Woo Lee        67            66            78            211 (-5)

T22         Tom Kim                70            73            69            212 (-4)

T33         Ryan Fox                72            70            72            214 (-2)

T56         Sungjae Im            76            66            76            218 (+2)

J.J. Spaun (1^st/-12)

• Fifth career 54-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR and second this season (2025 Sony Open in Hawaii/finished T3); 1-for-4 converting to victory (2022 Valero Texas Open)
• Seeks second PGA TOUR win in his 228^th career start (2022 Valero Texas Open)
• 11 top-10s in 80 starts since his win at the 2022 Valero Texas Open (best: T2/2025 Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches)
• World No. 57 would be the lowest-ranked player to win THE PLAYERS Championship since Si Woo Kim (No. 75/2017)
• Two top-three finishes in eight starts this season (T3/Sony Open in Hawaii; T2/Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches)
• Sixth appearance at THE PLAYERS (best: T64/2024); missed the cut or withdrew in his first four appearances

Bud Cauley (2^nd/-11)

• Began the week as first alternate and was added to the field on Monday after Lee Hodges withdrew with a rib injury
• Entered the week with six starts left on a Major Medical Extension and needs 66.893 FedExCup points in those six starts to be eligible to play the remainder of the season out of the Major Medical category; can accomplish that by finishing T18 or better
• Injured during the 2020-21 season and is attempting to reach the FedExCup point total from the No. 125 position that season (440.355); returned at the 2024 WM Phoenix Open and has earned one top-10 finish in the first 21 starts of his medical (T5/2024 Sanderson Farms Championship)
• World No. 251 would be the lowest-ranked player to win THE PLAYERS Championship (Craig Perks/No. 203/2002)
• 66 marks his low score in his 13^th career round at THE PLAYERS (previous: 69/R1/2019)
• Fifth career appearance and first since 2019 (best: T47/2019)

Miscellaneous Notes

• At 45 years, 4 months, 4 days, Lucas Glover (T3/-9) seeks to become the second-oldest winner of THE PLAYERS Championship (Fred Funk/2005/48 years, 9 months, 13 days); six-time TOUR winner entered the week with two top-10s in 16 career appearances at THE PLAYERS (3^rd/2010, T6/2017)
• Alex Smalley (T3/-9) seeks to join Craig Perks (2002) and Tim Clark (2010) as players to win their first career PGA TOUR title at THE PLAYERS Championship; two career runner-up finishes in 105 starts on TOUR (T2/2022 Corales Puntacana Championship, T2/2023 John Deere Classic)
• Rory McIlroy (T5/-8) seeks to become the eighth multiple winner of THE PLAYERS; has won twice on TOUR when trailing by four or more strokes after 54 holes (2010 Truist Championship/4 strokes, 2016 Dell Technologies Championship/6 strokes)
• Of the final seven pairings, J.J. Spaun (70) and Lucas Glover (71) were the only players to post under-par scores in round three
• Due to forecasted inclement weather on Sunday afternoon, final-round tee times for THE PLAYERS Championship will run from 8-10:01 a.m. ET in threesomes off Nos. 1 and 10.