Fifty-four hole leaders do not have a good history at TPC Sawgrass; yet, J.J. Spaun hopes to break that mold.
Since 2007, nine players have held a one-shot advantage through 54 holes and none of them went on to win, per Justin Ray. That includes last year, when Xander Schauffele held a one shot lead after three rounds. But Scottie Scheffler passed him by with a historic final round 64 to win The Players for a second straight year.
Considering the wind will continue to blow on Sunday, anything can happen. But Spaun did handle the treacherous conditions better than anyone on Saturday, firing a 2-under 70 to take control of the championship at the 54-hole mark. Whether he continues to play well with the final round pressure on the line remains to be seen.
Another vital tidbit for Sunday’s final round is that the PGA Tour moved up the tee times to cater to inclement weather set to strike Northeast Florida in the afternoon. The final pairing will go off at 10:00 a.m. ET and everyone will play in threesomes off of split tees as the tour hopes to wrap up play by 3:00 p.m. ET.
The Players Championship Round 4 Tee Times (ET):
* — 10th hole start
8:00 a.m. — Jesper Sevensson, Aaron Rai, Keegan Bradley
8:00 a.m.* — Ryan Fox, Jordan Spieth, Joe Highsmith
8:11 a.m. — Davis Riley, Justin Thomas, Justin Lower
8:11 a.m.* — Matt McCarty, Harris English, Jacob Bridgeman
8:22 a.m. — Tommy Fleetwood, Collin Morikawa, Mac Meissner
8:22 a.m.* — Will Zalatoris, Matt Kuchar, Billy Horschel
8:33 a.m. — Tom Hoge, Taylor Moore, Taylor Pendrith
8:33 a.m.* — Russell Henley, Joel Dahmen, Austin Eckroat
8:44 a.m. — Tom Kim, Daniel Berger, Denny McCarthy
8:44 a.m.* — Hayden Springer, Beau Hossler, Shane Lowry
8:55 a.m. — Sam Ryder, Scottie Scheffler, Min Woo Lee
8:55 a.m.* — Camilo Villegas, Will Chandler, Chandler Phillips
9:06 a.m. — Chris Kirk, Davis Thompson, Robert MacIntyre
9:06 a.m.* — Sahith Theegala, Sungjae Im, Matthieu Pavon
9:17 a.m. — Jake Knapp, J.T. Poston, Ryan Gerard
9:17 a.m.* — Byeong Hun An, Isaiah Salinda, Carson Young
9:28 a.m. — Max McGreevy, Patrick Cantlay, Sepp Straka
9:28 a.m.* — Charley Hoffman, Si Woo Kim, C.T. Pan
9:39 a.m. — Akshay Bhatia, Danny Walker, Stephan Jaeger
9:39 a.m.* — Xander Schauffele, Rico Hoey, Kurt Kitayama
9:50 a.m. — Alex Smalley, Corey Conners, Rory McIlroy
9:50 a.m.* — Jhonattan Vegas, Trey Mullinax, Cameron Young
10:01 a.m. — J.J. Spaun, Bud Cauley, Lucas Glover
10:01 a.m.* — Rickier Fowler, Sami Valimaki, Emiliano Grillo
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.
