Rory McIlroy had seen this before. After a double bogey on the fourth hole, the final round of the Players Championship had the feel of so many other tournaments this season when the 29-year-old from Northern Ireland had played well for three rounds but struggled when the championship was on the line.
However, McIlroy was unwilling to buy into that scenario. He steadied himself and after a one-over 37 on the front nine, and he fired a three-under 33 on the back nine for a final round score of 70. That two under par round enabled McIlroy to win the Players Championship for the first time in his career as he finished the tournament as the top name on the leaderboard with a score of 16-under 272.