J.J. Spaun was searching for his second career win on the PGA Tour when he stepped up for his putt on Hole 18 during a wild final round in The Players Championship on a rain-filled Sunday. 

A couple more rotations on his putt, and he would've won it all. 

Instead, he's pitted against Rory McIlroy for a Monday morning, three-hole playoff to determine the winner of this signature tournament. 

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McIlroy and Spaun are both at 12-under following their final rounds on Sunday – a long day that saw a four-hour rain delay. 

The round was forced to be delayed due to the weather and lightning in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, which was expected considering the tournament moved up tee times to avoid a potential extension into Monday. 

However, it was unavoidable with the extent of the delay – 1:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. – and how the golfers ended up finishing their final rounds. 

RORY MCILROY TOOK COLLEGE GOLFER'S PHONE AFTER HECKLING MOMENT AT THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

For McIlroy, he was first to finish his 18 holes, and he was hoping a miracle 74-foot putt would result in a birdie on his final hole. He had the right speed, but he missed it well left and eventually cleaned up for par to finish with a 4-under 68 to get him in position to win the tournament. 

McIlroy went to sign his scorecard while watching closely what Spaun was doing in the group behind him.

Spaun came into this final round on Sunday hoping to post another under-par round, but he struggled to get going despite seeing 12-under by his name at his tee time. 

He began the day 2-over before birdying Hole 9 to post a 37 on the front nine holes. But he would bogey on 12, forcing that 2-over back on the scorecard before finally seeing some golf shots go his way. 

Spaun would birdie Holes 14 and 16 to ultimately get back to 12-under for the tournament, heading to the iconic TPC Sawgrass island green on 17. His tee shot, though, was conservatively hit to the middle of the green instead of seeking the signature far right pin placement on Sunday. 

Spaun would two-putt and get his par, understanding his fate could be sealed one way or another on Hole 18. 

As McIlroy watched from the clubhouse, Spaun's final tee shot of the day made it's way into the straw on the right side of the fairway, just trickling there after trying to hold on into the rough. 

However, despite slipping on the grass, Spaun was able to hit a nice approach shot to give himself a good look at a birdie from 20-plus feet out. 

As fans swarmed around the 18th green, Spaun stepped into his putt and put a good stroke on it, as the ball rolled true toward the hole. But it didn't have enough juice, falling just a couple rotations short and Spaun couldn't believe it. 

With a tap-in par, the playoff was set for Monday, and it will be Holes 16, 17 and 18 to determine the winner of this year's Players Championship.

It's a David vs. Goliath in terms of PGA Tour careers, as McIlroy owns 27 Tour victories to Spaun's one.

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Cory Sandhagen thinks the odds could be swayed into Sean O'Malley’s favor in a potential UFC bantamweight title rematch vs. Merab Dvalishvili.

Although O’Malley (18-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) had limited success when he lost the 135-pound belt to Dvalishvili (19-4 MMA, 12-2 UFC) by unanimous decision at UFC 306 in September, “Suga” has expressed that he felt he deserved the nod on the scorecards, and revealed he entered with a hip injury which has since required surgery.

UFC CEO Dana White recently hinted that O’Malley will get an immediate rematch against Dvalishvili next, and although that might seem unfair to the rest of the division given he only defended one during his brief reign, perennial contender Sandhagen understands why the organization would go in that direction.

“I’m not surprised – we all know why,” Sandhagen told MMA Junkie. “O’Malley has a really big following. That’s the reason. Umar (Nurmagomedov) and Merab’s fight was much closer than O’Malley and Merab’s fight. If you were going to give a rematch to anyone you would probably give it to the guy that was closer, if it was just pen and paper of what makes sense. But there’s a lot of things that go into the sport, and being more famous than other people is one of them. Sean O’Malley has that leverage over everybody, and good on him. He worked really hard in order to gain that, so I’m not going to hate on him for it. But that’s definitely why.”

In the first fight, Dvalishvili was able to mix up his striking and takedowns to keep O’Malley guessing and get the decision. O’Malley’s big moment in the fight came when he backed Dvalishvili off with a hard body kick late in the final round, but other than that, he struggled to connect with damaging strikes.

Sandhagen thinks O’Malley could build on his sporadic points of success in a rematch, but in order to win, he has to be on point in every facet of the game.

“It’s so funny because that’s literally the only thing O’Malley scored the entire fight that was significant, and it was way at the end,” Sandhagen said. “I just think that’s funny because a lot of people are talking about the one body kick. It’s like, ‘Dude, you lost the entire rest of the fight.’ You can make an argument, but the vibe of that fight to me was that O’Malley was losing and he was the one not in control of that fight. But I could definitely see a situation where O’Malley comes back and he does really well. I love underdog stories and I assume O’Malley will probably be the underdog.

“I love rooting for an underdog, so maybe O’Malley will do well, but it’s hard for me to imagine the fight going too different from the first one, but also at the same time, the guy who has the puncher’s chance obviously their ability to knock the person out goes up if you give them another 25 minutes to try to figure out how to do so. It’s definitely an advantage for O’Malley going into this fight.”

With the rematch likely on deck, Sandhagen (17-5 MMA, 10-4 UFC) will use the meantime to try to build a title shot case of his own. He meets Deiveson Figueiredo (24-4-1 MMA, 13-4-1 UFC) in the main event of UFC on ESPN 67 on May 3 in Des Moines, Iowa (ESPN2, ESPN+), and thinks the right type of performance could elevate him to the forefront of the title conversation.

Sandhagen thinks a fight against O’Malley would be the more-desired option for the UFC and the fans, but he is also intrigued by the puzzle that is Dvalishvili, and would relish the chance to end his winning streak and take the strap.

“Merab’s a fine champion,” Sandhagen said. “I don’t really think too much about what Merab is as a champion from a fan’s standpoint, but I think Merab is super skilled. He’s on like a 13-fight win streak. You don’t just oops your way into winning 13 fights. You have to be very good in order to do that. Merab’s obviously one of the best guys in the sport right now, and I think if me and him fight, it would be a really interesting fight. I think I can win that fight for sure. I think that I can be able to control the space similar to the way O’Malley was, but I’m just a way better wrestler than O’Malley is, offensively and defensively. I hit harder now. I’m very athletic.

“I didn’t get to show a lot of the new things I’ve been working on in the last one because Umar was wrestling the sh*t out of me so much, but I think I do awesome against Merab. We’ve kind of seen him fight everyone else. … I go out and I beat Figgy really well, I don’t really see a situation where you can’t at least understand the argument that I should be fighting for the belt next.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 67.