2016 Players Championship: Sunday Birdies & Bogeys

By Alex Myers and Sam Weinman

Who were the winners and losers on the final day of the 2016 Players Championship? Let's take a look with Golf Digest's daily roundup of birdies and bogeys.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL - MAY 15: Jason Day of Australia celebrates his four stroke victory with his son Dash on the 18th hole green during the final round of THE PLAYERS Championship on THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on May 15, 2016. (Photo by Keyur Khamar/PGA TOUR)

Photo by US PGA TOUR

Birdie: Jason Day

The Aussie didn't make things easy on Sunday with a front-nine 38, but Day never led by less than two shots during the final round. A back-nine 33 gave him a closing 71, a four-shot win, and his first Players title. Day extended his commanding lead in the Official World Golf Ranking with an incredible seventh victory in his past 17 starts on the PGA Tour. He didn't wind up breaking Greg Norman's 72-hole tournament scoring record, but Day has now reached 10 PGA Tour titles seven years faster than his boyhood idol. "To be able to finally win as No. 1 in the world and then to go wire-to-wire was very special," he said. Something tells us, it won't be the last time.

Bogey: Rory McIlroy

Another birdie run on a tough golf course, another strong finish in a big tournament. This is normally occasion for praise on the PGA Tour, but when that player is Rory McIlroy, it's befuddling. McIlroy's hot-and-cold run continued this week, when he followed up a 64 on Friday with a back-nine implosion and a 75 on Saturday. On Sunday, he made another mini-run up the leader board with three birdies in his first 11 holes, but a water ball on the par-3 13th and continued struggles with the putter halted his momentum, finishing T-12 after a 70. That McIlroy continues to creep up leader boards is a testament to his sublime ball-striking. But until he learns to grind out scores when he's got less than his best, he'll have a hard time returning to the top of the game.

Birdie: Kevin Chappell

A Sunday 69 gave Chappell a third runner-up of the season and has him following in another Kevin's footsteps. Last year, it was Kevin Kisner who finished runner-up here, one of four second-pace finishes. "Yeah, third on the season, second in '16, second to Jason Day," said Chappell, referring to his runner-up to Day at Bay Hill. "That's getting a little old, but I've got to get to work. I've got to putt it better, got to scramble better to lift the trophy." On the bright side for the winless Chappell, Kisner closed out 2015 with his first PGA Tour title. Oh, yeah, and he's never made a million dollars for losing a golf tournament before.

Birdie: Ken Duke

A day after shooting arguably the most impressive round in Players history, Duke backed it up with another solid effort -- a Sunday 72 in the second-to-last group to finish T-3, his best result since winning his lone PGA Tour title at the 2013 Travelers Championship. Even more surprisingly, was how he did it. Duke entered the week ranked 206th in strokes gained putting, but finished fourth in the field in that stat and didn't have a three-putt on TPC Sawgrass' slick greens until his 10th hole on Sunday. Not bad for someone ranked 495th in the world and who hadn't made a cut at TPC Sawgrass since 2008.

Bogey: Hideki Matsuyama

Four shots off the lead heading into the final round, the sweet-swinging Matsuyama found himself in a familiar position -- needing a good Sunday to capture the biggest win of his career on Sunday. Matsuyama experienced this dynamic just last month at Augusta National, where he sat two shots behind leader Jordan Spieth with 18 holes to play. But stumbled with a final round 73, and he started the final round at TPC Sawgrass sluggishly as well, bogeying the first and double bogeying the third before finishing six shots behind Day. Matsuyama is rightly included on lists of the brightest young stars in the game. But as Rickie Fowler proved a year ago, it's one thing to put yourself in good position, quite another to deliver on the opportunity.

Birdie: Justin Thomas

With Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, and Smylie Kaufman missing the cut, Thomas carried the banner over the weekend at TPC Sawgrass for the #SB2K16 crew. Thomas fired a Sunday 65 -- the low round of the day -- to move up 20 spots to T-3. The result was just JT's second top 10 since picking up his first PGA Tour title at the CIMB Classic in November.

Birdie: Matt Kuchar

It's been a quiet stretch for Kuchar, who arrived in Ponte Vedra Beach with just two top 10s on the season. But on Sunday, the 2012 Players champ got back to doing what he does best: making money. With a final-round 68, Kuchar moved up to T-3 at TPC Sawgrass to pick up his biggest check of the year. It's still been more than two years since Kuchar last won on the PGA Tour, but this is a big step in the right direction.

Birdie: The Stadium Course

Never mind the adventures of Saturday, when Players were subjected to tucked pins and burnt greens. Even under relatively benign circumstances, the danger lurking on the final few holes at the Stadium Course means no outcome is guaranteed. Although Jason Day was in command most of the way and Sunday risked becoming a snooze, the sheer volume of disaster possibilities meant his challengers could hold on to some morsel of hope right up until the final putt was holed. That said . . .

Bogey: Sunday Drama

Sure, there was always the chance that Day could have plunked a half-dozen balls in the water on 17, but given the way he had played most of the week and weathered his most challenging stretch of golf early on Sunday, it never felt like a legitimate threat. The closest anyone got was when Ken Duke pulled within two after Day bogeyed the sixth hole, but even then, it was still Jason Day two shots ahead of Ken Duke. For all the drama that the Players has provided in years past -- most recently last year thanks to Rickie Fowler -- this tournament was one that lacked real electricity on the weekend.