Matt Kuchar Wins 2012 Players Championship

Once again, someone not named after a member of the feline family finished the day at the top of the leaderboard. While Tiger Woods floundered and finished tied for 40th, the day and the tournament belonged to Matt Kuchar.

Consistency and avoiding mistakes made the difference for Kuchar who never had an outstanding round, but did have a good round on all four days of competition (68-68-69-70) to finish 13-under par and claim victory.

The win is his first since he defeated Martin Laird (who finished in a four way tie for second) in a sudden death playoff to win The Barclay's in 2010, and the fourth of his career.

Kevin Na appeared to be the favorite going into Sunday's final round after shooting a 67-69-68 in the first three for 12-under par. The notoriously slow player folded under pressure recording four bogies in five holes on the front nine and then hitting his tee shot into a water hazard on No 13.

For Tiger, it was another day of mediocrity. He narrowly missed getting cut after an opening round 74 by recording a 68 in round two. Going into Sunday he was well off the pace, but if anyone could catch up it would be the Tiger—correction, the old Tiger could. This Tiger fumbled around in the front nine, but rallied in the back to finish 1-over on the day and tied for 40th.

Rory McIlroy continued to have trouble playing TPC Sawgrass and missed the cut. He was able to retain his No 1 in the world rankings after Luke McDonald shot a 66 Sunday to finish in sixth.

Article by Travis Pulver