Why is The Players Championship 2025 ending on Monday? Rules explored

The Players Championship 2025 was suspended on Sunday due to darkness, and now the game will have its finish on Monday. The finale was scheduled for Sunday, and even the players had wrapped up their final 18-hole game despite the storm and a prolonged four-hour delay.

After 72 holes, Rory McIlroy and JJ Spaun tied for the lead and headed to play in the playoff to determine the winner. However, the playoff was postponed to Monday, March 17, because of the darkness. The Players Championship has a three-hole playoff format, which usually takes place on the 16th, 17th, and 18th holes of the golf course. If the players end up in a tie after that, it leads to the sudden-death playoff, which starts on the 17th.

If it's a tie again, they play on the 18th. But if the winner is not known even after that, the sudden-death playoff continues on the 16th, 17th, and 18th until the winner is known. It is the ninth time The Players Championship is going to have a Monday finish. Cam Smith also won the tournament in 2022 on a Monday.

The first Monday finish of The Players came in 1974 when Jack Nicklaus emerged victorious by defeating J.C. Snead. Then there was a Monday finish to the event in 1976 (Jack Nicklaus winner), 1981 (Raymond Floyd), 1983 (Hal Sutton), 2000 (Hal Sutton), 2001 (Tiger Woods), and 2005 (Fred Funk).

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Exploring the leaderboard of The Players Championship 2025

After four rounds of The Players Championship, Rory McIlroy and JJ Spaun are tied for the lead at 12-under, followed by Tom Hoge, Akshay Bhatia, and Lucas Glover, who are tied for third at 10-under.

Here is the leaderboard of the 2025 The Players Championship after Sunday's round:

• T1 Rory McIlroy -12
• T1 J.J. Spaun -12
• T3 Tom Hoge -10
• T3 Akshay Bhatia -10
• T3 Lucas Glover -10
• T6 Danny Walker -9
• T6 Corey Conners -9
• T6 Bud Cauley -9
• 9 Robert MacIntyre -8
• T10 Collin Morikawa -7
• T10 Davis Thompson -7
• T12 Jake Knapp -6
• T12 Patrick Cantlay -6
• T14 Aaron Rai -5
• T14 Tommy Fleetwood -5
• T14 Denny McCarthy -5
• T14 Sam Ryder -5
• T14 Sepp Straka -5
• T14 Alex Smalley -5
• T20 Keegan Bradley -4
• T20 Ryan Fox -4
• T20 Joe Highsmith -4
• T20 Matt McCarty -4
• T20 Daniel Berger -4
• T20 Shane Lowry -4
• T20 Scottie Scheffler -4
• T20 Min Woo Lee -4
• T20 Max McGreevy -4
• T20 Stephan Jaeger -4
• T30 Harris English -3
• T30 Will Zalatoris -3
• T30 Russell Henley -3
• T33 Justin Thomas -2
• T33 Taylor Moore -2
• T33 J.T. Poston -2
• T33 Rico Hoey -2
• T33 Kurt Kitayama -2
• T38 Davis Riley -1
• T38 Justin Lower -1
• T38 Taylor Pendrith -1
• T38 Si Woo Kim -1
• T42 Jesper Svensson E
• T42 Mac Meissner E
• T42 Matt Kuchar E
• T42 Billy Horschel E
• T42 Tom Kim E
• T42 Hayden Springer E
• T42 Chris Kirk E
• T42 Ryan Gerard E
• T50 Jacob Bridgeman +1
• T50 Beau Hossler +1
• T52 Sahith Theegala +2
• T52 Byeong Hun An +2
• T54 Joel Dahmen +3
• T54 Camilo Villegas +3
• T54 Matthieu Pavon +3
• T54 Carson Young +3
• T54 Charley Hoffman +3
• 59 Jordan Spieth +4
• 60 Jhonattan Vegas +5
• T61 Austin Eckroat +6
• T61 Will Chandler +6
• T61 Chandler Phillips +6
• T61 Sungjae Im +6
• T61 Trey Mullinax +6
• T61 Cameron Young +6
• 67 Emiliano Grillo +7
• 68 Isaiah Salinda +8
• T69 C.T. Pan +9
• T69 Sami Valimaki +9
• 71 Rickie Fowler +12
• 72 Xander Schauffele +13

The game on Monday will start at 9 AM ET.