Rickie Fowler beat Sergio Garcia and Kevin Kisner in a play-off to win the Players Championship following a dramatic final round at TPC Sawgrass.
The trio finished on 12-under, but Fowler beat the unheralded Kisner at the first sudden death hole after Garcia was eliminated following an initial three-hole aggregate play-off.
It was only 26-year-old Fowler’s second PGA Tour victory following success in the Wells Fargo Championship in 2012.
In the first three-hole aggregate play-off in tournament history, Garcia could only play the 16th, 17th and 18th in level par, as Fowler and Kisner played them in one under thanks to birdies on the 17th. And Fowler then repeated the trick on the first hole of sudden death to give him a prize of $1.8m in the tournament that is often referred to as golf’s ‘fifth major’ due to the quality of the the field, which is stronger than any of the four blue riband events.
After being nominated by his fellow players as ‘the most overrated player of his generation’ in an anonymous survey published by Sports Illustrated last month, it was Fowler who had the last laugh following his impressive win.
“I laughed at the poll, but I was always looked at as only having one win on tour, and I always felt that I needed to put myself in position to win more often,” he added. “I look at this event as basically like a major. It has the major feel, obviously one of the best fields we play all year, on a tough golf course. This will definitely give me momentum going into the US Open (18-and makes me feel confident about being in this situation and taking care of business.”
Fowler, who started his final round three shots behind leader Chris Kirk, was one-over after 10 holes and seemingly out of contention. But he shot four birdies and an eagle in his final six holes and looked on course for victory, but Garcia and Kisner both birdied the 16th and 17th to force a play-off.
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