Rory McIlroy is the second Briton to win the Players Championship, following Sandy Lyle in 1987Players Championship final leaderboard-16 Rory McIlroy (NI); -15 J Furyk (US); -14 E Pepperell (Eng), J Vegas (Ven); -13 D Johnson (US), B Snedeker, T Fleetwood; -12 Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Justin Rose (Eng), Jason Day (Aus), Brian Harman (US)Selected others:-11 J Rahm (Spa); -8 S Garcia (Spa); -6 M Wallace (Eng), T Woods (US); -5 R Knox (Sco); -4 M Fitzpatrick; -2 I Poulter (Eng)Final leaderboard
Rory McIlroy has won the Players Championship, beating Jim Furyk by one shot after a thrilling final round at Sawgrass.
The Northern Irishman's two-under-par 70 gave him victory on 16 under.
It is his first win in a year and sets him up for an attempt at the career Grand Slam at the Masters next month.
"I feel like I'm playing some of the best golf of my life right now and I just need to keep doing the same things," he told Sky Sports.
"If I hadn't won today, I'd have said I didn't need one going into Augusta but it's nice to win on a course that will play similar to Augusta in a few weeks."
McIlroy, 29, won the US Open in 2011, US PGA Championship in 2012 and 2014 and The Open in 2014 but is yet to win the Masters, which starts on 11 April.
He has finished in the top six of all his tournaments in 2019.
The Players Championship is known unofficially as the 'fifth major' and is the most prestigious of the regular PGA Tour events.
England's Eddie Pepperell finished two behind McIlroy after a 66.
Pepperell holed a 50-foot putt on the 17th to briefly join McIlroy in a tie for the lead before the four-time major champion pulled clear with birdies on the 15th and 16th.
Overnight leader Jon Rahm fell away in the closing stages and finished on 11 under after a 76, while Tommy Fleetwood struggled to a 73.
McIlroy shows his class after superb climax at Sawgrass
McIlroy is just the second Briton to win the Players Championship, following Sandy Lyle in 1987.
Lyle went on to win the Masters a year later but McIlroy will be targeting his first Green Jacket in less than four weeks after he finally claimed the tournament win which his consistent form in 2019 had been threatening.
However, the victory looked far from certain when he found the water on the par-four fourth, which led to a double-bogey six, as the leaders struggled to gain any early momentum in cold and damp conditions.
A McIlroy birdie on six was cancelled out by a bogey on the seventh but further birdies on the ninth and 11th moved him back to the front on a tightly packed leaderboard, which at one stage saw a five-way tie for the lead.
McIlroy picked up another shot on the short par-four 12th, briefly taking him into the outright lead.
However, 48-year-old Furyk - who was last year's American Ryder Cup captain, and who only got into the event last Sunday as an alternate - overtook him with birdies on the 16th and 18th.
The Northern Irishman had dropped back to 14 under after a bogey on the 14th but birdies on the 15th and 16th took him past Furyk, and he nervelessly secured the win with closing pars by avoiding water on the dangerous final two holes.
"I've started the second phase of my career. I've learned a lot in 10-11 years and feel I can make the next 10-11 years even better," said McIlroy, whose previous victory came at the Bay Hill Invitational on 18 March 2018.
"This was one of the tournaments that I desperately wanted to win and get on my CV.
"It's got the deepest field. There's some unbelievable names on the trophy and I'm proud for my name to be among them."
