Jasen Vinlove/USA Today Sports, via Reuters
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Rory McIlroy’s Sunday drive at TPC Sawgrass was far from leisurely. He spent most of the final round of the Players Championship stuck in his lane, pumping his brakes while a crowded field of players grew larger in his rearview mirror.
Eddie Pepperell, who started Sunday six strokes behind McIlroy, caught him, and so, fleetingly, did Jhonattan Vegas. Early on, McIlroy, who himself began the day trailing Jon Rahm by one stroke, was passed on the leader board by Abraham Ancer, who came from three off his pace.