McIlroy and Spaun set up Players Championship playoff

Rory McIlroy and JJ Spaun will battle it out in a three-hole playoff after finishing tied after four rounds at The Players Championship in Florida.

McIlroy built a three-shot lead on the back nine during Sunday's weather-marred final round but Spaun didn't blink.

They wound up tied after a four-hour rain delay and will return on Monday morning for a playoff to decide who wins the richest tournament in golf, worth $US25 million ($A40 million).

World No.2 McIlroy needed two putts from 75 feet on the par-4 18th to complete a four-under-par 68.

All he could do was wait in the scoring area on Spaun, who had caught up with a marvellous chip on the par-5 16th and stood over a 30-foot putt for the win.

It stopped centimetres short, giving Spaun a 72 to match McIlroy at 12-under 276.

"I'm standing here feeling like I should be going home with the trophy today," McIlroy said. "But it's all right. I'll reset and try to go home with the trophy tomorrow."

It will be the first Monday finish since Cameron Smith won in 2022 and the first playoff at The Players since Rickie Fowler won 10 years ago.

Tom Hoge had to wait out the delay with a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th. He returned and missed, posting a 66 and wound up two shots behind. Lucas Glover rallied from a rough front nine for a 71 and joined Hoge and Akshay Bhatia (70).

Australia's halfway co-leader Min Woo Lee rounded out a disappointing weekend with a one-over 73 to finish in a nine-way tie for 20th with world No.1 and defending champion Scottie Scheffler.

Lee slumped from 11 under to four under over the final two rounds, collecting only three birdies in his last 36 holes compared to 13 on Thursday and Friday.

Bidding for a hat-trick of Players titles, Scheffler also closed with a 73 as McIlroy and Spaun duelled it out either side of the suspension of play.

McIlroy had faced a four-shot deficit entering the final round but roared into contention with a birdie at the first hole and eagle at the second. He took the lead for the first time when Spaun made bogey on the seventh.

Spaun caught a big break on the ninth when his second shot was in the collar of deep rough. He got relief from standing on a sprinkler head, then more relief when his drop was in the sprinkler head, leading to a clean lie. He chipped to six feet for birdie.

Still, McIlroy appeared to start pulling away right before and after the stoppage from a band of thunderstorms moving across north Florida.

He holed a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-5 11th to reach 12 under. Spaun, playing in the group behind him, was in trouble in a bunker well short of the green.

Four hours later, McIlroy made a 15-foot birdie on the 12th, while Spaun barely got the bunker shot on the green and three-putted for bogey from some 70 feet.

Just like that, McIlroy was three shots clear and Spaun appeared rattled, missing birdies chances from the 12-foot range on consecutive holes. And then it became tight again.

"Once that bogey kind of hit me, I just tried to just fight back," Spaun said.

"I kind of went with the odds. I had nothing to lose. When I'm hunting, it's easier to let it go."