Strong finish from Graeme McDowell puts him into top 10 at Players' Championship

A second consecutive 69 lifted Graeme McDowell into a tie for ninth, with fellow Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy carding a 70 to finish a shot behind in 12th, thereby missing out on a fourth straight top-10 in the event.

Winner Day carded a closing 71 at Sawgrass to finish 15 under par and four shots ahead of American Kevin Chappell, with Justin Thomas, Matt Kuchar, Colt Knost and Ken Duke a shot further back.

The 28-year-old began the final round with a four-shot lead, but struggled to reproduce the form which saw him equal the course record on Thursday and set a tournament best halfway total of 129.

Day’s lead was cut in half when he followed a bogey on the sixth with another on the ninth after amazingly fluffing three consecutive chips from the side of the green, but for the second day running he played the closing stretch in three under par to seal a hard-fought win.

“It’s such a big accomplishment for me in my career to be able to finally win as number one in the world,” Day told Sky Sports. “And to go wire to wire is very special.

“I’m glad I don’t have to play the course again. It was tough. It was easy to lose a little bit of focus on the front side, especially with a four-shot lead, and I just kept telling myself ‘Keep yourself in it and give yourself opportunities on the back side’.

“I played really solid golf on the back side and am very pleased to walk away the champion.”