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In a three-hole play-off at Sawgrass, Rory McIlroy defeated JJ Spaun to win his second Players Championship title.

The Northern Irishman won the most prestigious event on the PGA Tour besides the annual four majors, earning him his second victory of the season and his 28th of his career.

The world no. two praised his performance in winning his second Players, saying, “I am unbelievably proud and happy.”

“It’s my third victory on St. Patrick’s Day.” It has helped me have a good fortune.

McIlroy, a four-time major winner, dominated the play-off from the par-five 16th hole, blasting his drive down the fairway’s center, while Spaun, who has just one PGA Tour victory, was confined to the rough.

McIlroy, who hit his second into the center of the green, two-putted for a birdie, while the American world number 57 dutifully tucked his third into a greenside bunker and took three from there to make par.

On the famous par-three 17th “insula hole,” McIlroy then found the green with his tee shot, but Spaun effectively put his ball in the water.

Even though McIlroy three-putted drop a shot, his lead was three going down the final shot when he took a triple-bogey six.

Following reckless drives out to the right that had left them obstructed by trees, both players scrambled down the 18th.

However, McIlroy could capitalize on his advantage with a bogey in order to win the play-off. Spaun, who had taken four shots while chasing four over, picked up his ball without going through the hole.

McIlroy, who becomes the first European event to win the competition more than once, continued, “I feel really bad for JJ.” On the 17th, he hit a fantastic shot that simply went straight through the wind.

Spaun’s tee shot on the short hole read, “It looked like it was floating and we didn’t see it land.”

McIlroy will now concentrate on the Masters competition in May as he works to complete the Grand Slam by winning the only major that is out of his reach.

He claims that Scottie Scheffler, the world’s number one, inspired him when he won two PGA Tour victories before making his debut at Augusta National.

The American became the first player to win consecutive Players and won an incredible nine titles in 2024, including the Masters.

The 35-year-old McIlroy praised Scottie for her “unbelievable run” and for inspiring all of us to strive for better.

“I need to improve if I want to compete with him.” I’ve worked hard, and I’ve knuckled down. It’s nice to tie him up with Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods, and the other five players who have each won this numerous times.

By the time the final round’s four-shot deficit to lead Spaun had already been eliminated, but by the time the hooter sounded due to the threat of lightning, play had widened.

McIlroy birdied the 12th to give himself a three-shot lead on the field when play resumed four hours later. However, he missed birdie opportunities on the 15th and 16th holes because he played the final four holes at par on par. A bogey on 14 checked his progress.

Spaun birdied the 16th to equalize, and on the final hole, he put a 30-foot putt to claim the title, but his shot was inches off the hole.

Right after winning the Indian Wells title, Mirra Andreeva had to offer a significant apology.

Before her match against world number one Aryna Sabalenka, she apologized to her coaching staff for being “a little brat.”

Andreeva is only 17 years old, so it’s easy to forget. She has already cleaned up at some of the biggest tournaments on the WTA Tour and is playing with the maturity of a seasoned professional.

She continued her winning ways in Indian Wells on Sunday with her 12th successive victory, becoming the youngest woman to do so in a WTA 1000 victory over Dubai last month.

Impressive, don’t you think?

However, she was only able to surpass Iga Swiatek and Sabalenka, the top two players in the world, over the weekend, making her accomplishment even more impressive.

She had a great time recovering after falling to Swiatek in the second set, 6-1, and had a great mental fortitude after falling to Sabalenka in the first set.

No wonder the gifted teen is touted as a potential grand slam and world champion.

Talk naturally leads to the Slam that is most likely to occur, just like Jack Draper, who won the men’s final and is most likely to do the same with him.

In reality, it could be any of the four because Andreeva has a talent for all kinds of situations.

Plans changed frequently. The British number three won the lottery to be eliminated from qualifying, being eliminated in the main draw, and then enjoyed a memorable fortnight.

Sabalenka’s crushing defeat put an end to the run, but Kartal now ranks 63rd in the world rankings, 20 places above Sabalenka’s record-breaking 63rd place.

Maria Sakkari dropped 22 places, despite Kartal’s biggest move, to the bottom.

Sakkari, who was defending points in the Indian Wells final last year, has experienced a first-ever dropout from the top 50 since 2019.

Tallon Griekspoor, who had shocked everyone on his way to his first Masters quarter-final, jumped nine places to 31st overall.

Given that the 28-year-old Dutchman had never defeated a top-five player in his 18 previous outings, few people gave him a chance to defeat top seed Alexander Zverev.

In Indian Wells, Draper and Kartal were just two of the British players who had success.

Olivia Nicholls and Tereza Mihalikova, both of whom are Slovanian, made their first WTA 1000 finals in women’s doubles.

Since forming a partnership with Mihalikova in May, Nicholls, 30, has soared up the rankings.

British number one Nicholls has soared to a career-high 31st in the world despite losing to Dutch-American duo Demi Schurrs and Asia Muhammad.

The second round of the Indian Wells lost to Australia’s champion men’s doubles team, led by Australian Open champion class=”ssrcss-1xjjfut-BoldText e5tfeyi3″>Henry Patten.

We travel straight to Miami for the second half of the “Sunshine Double” from Indian Wells.

Another ATP Masters and WTA 1000 event combined. One of the most prestigious prizes in the sport is the Grand Slam, which is the lowest level among the four.

As usual, Novak Djokovic’s quest to avoid a third straight defeat is one of the most intriguing storylines.

Jannik Sinner, the reigning men’s champion, will miss out on his three-month ban for a doping offence, but reigning women’s champion Danielle Collins, who originally planned to retire last year before making a U-turn, will be back.

The main draw features the names Draper, Emma Raducanu, Katie Boulter, Cameron Norrie, and Draper from the perspective of Britain.

It can be challenging to keep track of everything from one week to the next due to the number of professional tennis tournaments taking place all over the world and at various levels.

Second Serve will be your weekly roundup of the sport’s most important talking points in line with BBC Sport’s commitment to provide more to tennis fans.

You can see which ATP and WTA players are progressing significantly, how well the British contingent is faring, and where the next stops on the calendar are.

If you were a fan of the visiting teams’ weekend derby games, you could have watched them on a super Sunday.

Fans of Rangers had the opportunity to celebrate a long-awaited victory at Celtic Park, while Dundee fans celebrated their first victory at Tannadice in 21 years.

Despite the pain of Sunday’s Old Firm defeat, Celtic will still likely retain the Scottish Premiership, but Rangers’ search for a permanent manager could have a significant impact there.

Give the job to Ferguson and his team, who have instilled passion, fire, and belief in a group of players that was lacking under both Michael Beale and Clement, following their excellent performances against Celtic and their passage to the last eight of the Europa League. Nicki Raskin was outstanding and gave praise to James Tavernier and John Souttar. Buzzing !

Ross: Where has it been all year? Best domestic performance of the year, aside from the New Year’s Eve game, and [Hamza] Igamane scores a fantastic goal to cap it off. The defending was excellent, but it still has a patchy appearance in some places. Just hope Barry stays in charge of the organization’s management position the following year.

Great video game Frazer. Gusson has undoubtedly sparked the missing’s fire. The Rangers dugout had three managers who demanded a passionate performance throughout the entire coaching staff, who yelled orders for the entire 90 minutes. Ferguson and the rest of the team have a chance next season, but I’d prefer to give them that opportunity.

Anonymous: Brilliant from Barry the novice against Brendan Rodgers the “unbeatable.” Igamane has raised his price by a few million and the midfield has increased. Superb and excellent Souttar.

Robert, I have to say that the entire team is brilliant. Ferguson is there if he continues in this manner without needing to look for another manager.

…but a few remain persuaded.

Allan: Great first half, but we still showed signs of weakness in the third. Remember that we won the game-winning 3-1 under Clement if anyone thinks Barry Ferguson has done enough to earn the manager’s job.

One can see benefit from the loss, and Celtic fans were reasonably optimistic about the rare home Old Firm defeat…

Richard, the Celtic performance was unfeigned. There are serious concerns about Rodgers being outfoxed by a relative amateur.

Liam, the majority of the game was played at a very slow tempo. We don’t have enough technically competent defenders, and a high press causes issues for us, so playing backwards is not our style. Our captain was missing. Some of our players continued to go backwards after fear of making a pass. Rodgers needs to address that. However, we are still in the ascendancy.

John: A great game and a little kick-up are not bad things. Only one team appeared to be winning it when the score was tied at 2-2, and we chose not to. A brilliant strike that came after a defensive error won. If that’s what happens, Celtic dominance will return in a decade. Baz’s resume is not available for the position.

Simply put, Dundee supporters dreamed of winning the Tayside derby…

Bob: Absolutely fantastic first half. Our captain marshalled our defense, but he put in an incredible performance in the second half. Although I don’t want to be greedy, there should have been five or six, though.

Martin: That is a truly impressive result. On the counter, we had a blast to watch. However, it makes us more resilient at the back. I believed Joe Shaughnessy to be incredible. Mohamed] Sylla had some concerns, but he also did a lot of excellent battling and winning fouls, which was much better game management from us. We can be secure if we play that way in the remaining eight games.

Fans of Dundee United attributed Jim Goodwin, at least in part, with at least some of the blame…

Kieran, your city rivals should never have the opportunity to perform that first 45 minutes against any team. Outnumbered, outplayed, and outclassed. We should have been hammered because it was only 3-1 at half, which was the only positive aspect. With only three significant games and cup finals left, nine points out of nine are required; anything less, the top six will be bide-bye.

Ian, Goodwin is the only source of that information. We’vegotten worse since his signings in January. His defensive line-up was shocking. Unfortunately, the players’ efforts did not match Goodwin’s, with the exception of [Vicko] Sevelj and [Sam] Dalby. You can make mistakes in a single game, though? I’ve been waiting for two weeks to find out what they’ve been up to, but I’m glad I won’t have to watch them again in two weeks.