Rory McIlroy, like so many successful athletes at the top of their sport, spends a lot of his time fighting outside narratives.

His Players Championship victory, and the process by which he reached the end, hoisting the trophy after defeating journeyman J.J. Spaun in a three-hole aggregate playoff Monday at TPC Sawgrass, represented a good example of the volatile nature of the McIlroy narratives.

That McIlroy was in the playoff in the first place, not having closed the tournament out in regulation on Sunday, was a source of consternation for many.

And yet, to get to the playoff in the first place, McIlroy overcame a four-shot deficit in the final round by shooting 68 in the wind.

McIlroy built a three-shot lead with five holes to play Sunday. That should have been game, set, and match with his nearest competitors including the likes of Spaun, Lucas Glover, Bud Cauley, Akshay Bhatia and Tom Hoge.

Yet McIlroy not only failed to close the deal, he looked tentative in the process on those final five holes, nearly missing a 4 ½-foot par putt on the 72nd hole that would have lost him the tournament.

The putt fell into the cup through the side door and it brought back memories of his devastating missed putt that lost him the U.S. Open last June at Pinehurst. But enough with negative narratives.

Now, allow us to switch to the positives as we look ahead to next month’s Masters, the only major championship among the four that he hasn’t won, the only piece missing to complete the coveted Grand Slam.

Monday’s win was his 28th victory on the PGA Tour and 42nd worldwide. That’s a positive narrative. But it’s followed by a negative one about the fact that it’s been 11 years since he won the last of his four career majors.

Perhaps the most positive narrative about McIlroy is his resilience.

“The first thing you have to do is be willing to go through it,” he said. “And I’ve went through my fair share of losses, criticism, expectations. You have to be willing to get your heart broken, and I think I went through a few years of my career where I wasn’t willing to put myself out there, and I think that’s why I probably didn’t win as much as I probably could have from like 2015 to 2020. … But I feel like I figured it out. I’ve been on a pretty good stretch since then.”

In his last 25 events, McIlroy has five wins, three runner-up finishes, 14 top 5s, and 22 top 25 finishes while missing just one cut. This win at TPC, coupled with his victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, marks the first year McIlroy has ever won twice before the Masters.

There’s an unfair view of McIlroy, like before Monday’s playoff against Spaun, who he was supposed to boat-race in that three-hole playoff (and did). He faced immense pressure to win, because he was supposed to win against the less decorated opponent. Anything less than him lifting that trophy was going to be considered a failure and a choke job on his part.

McIlroy, after all, was ranked No. 2 in the world to Spaun’s No. 57. McIlroy, with his 27 PGA Tour wins to Spaun’s one, made him the “Goliath” to Spaun’s “David.”

McIlroy is one of the greatest players of this generation while Spaun is a journeyman who walked onto his college golf team and considered giving up the game less than a year ago.

The 35-year-old McIlroy has nearly $100 million in on-course earnings, some $85 million more than the 34-year-old Spaun.

Winning the Players would have changed Spaun’s life, opened doors he never dreamt of walking through.

Losing it would have wreaked havoc on McIlroy’s narrative as he works his way toward Augusta.

“Standing over that tee shot on 16 this morning was the most nervous I’ve been in a long time,” McIlroy said.

Why?

“Because I’m expected to win, and that brings its own pressure,” he said. “But I felt like I handled everything and handled those nerves really well.”

McIlroy won this Players because he’s built himself into a more complete player. He won without his best stuff, specifically his driving (the strength of his game) was off for much of the week. That’s something McIlroy always admired about his idol, Tiger Woods, who made an art of winning without his A game.

“I feel like I’m a way more complete player than I was a few years ago,” he said. “By no means did I have my best stuff this week, but I was still able to win one of the biggest tournaments in the world. That’s a huge thing.”

That’s a narrative McIlroy can embrace.