(CNN) -- Matt Kuchar took home $1.7 million, the biggest prize in golf, for winning the Players Championship. It lifted him to a career-high fifth in the world rankings, but most importantly his family was there to see it.
The American's wife and two young sons raced onto the green after he clinched his fourth PGA Tour victory, and biggest by far. Also at TPC Sawgrass on Sunday were his dad and mom, who live nearby in Ponte Vedra Beach.
"It's such an amazing feeling -- playing amongst the game's best, to come out on top, to do it on Mother's Day, staying here with Mom and Dad, with my wife and two kids here ... it really is magical," Kuchar said on the PGA Tour website.
Kuchar, a top amateur who has never exploded on the professional scene, is known as one of golf's nice guys, a Mr. Consistent who has made the halfway cut in his past 17 starts and tied for third at the Masters in April.
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Tiger Woods had to defend himself at a press conference ahead of this week's $9.5 million Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
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Rickie Fowler, one of golf's most colorful characters, celebrates his first PGA Tour title at Quail Hollow, where he won in a playoff against 2010 champion Rory McIlroy and D.A. Points.
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Fifteen-year-old Lydia Ko is the youngest LPGA Tour winner in history courtesy of her win at the Canadian Women's Open. She was just 14 when she triumphed at the the New South Wales Open in January 2012, becoming the youngest player to win a professional tournament. She clinched the U.S. Amateur Championship two weeks ago.
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It didn't even bother him that his final-round partner was Kevin Na, the third-round leader who was battling inner demons and heckling from the crowd as he struggled to get around the course in his allotted time.
"I feel like I'm so lucky to be doing what I do. I'm out there, I'm enjoying myself, having a good time. The smile is there because I'm having a good time, because I'm loving playing golf," Kuchar rold reporters.
"Kevin knows that he's fighting some demons with pulling the trigger, and in trying to help himself, he walks really fast. So he tries to offset his difficulty in actually hitting the ball by walking fast, getting up to his ball and trying to keep a similar pace of play."
South Korea-born Na, who is a naturalized American, collapsed with a closing 76 to finish tied for seventh -- five shots behind Kuchar.
"I deserve it," Na said of the booing. "I mean, I'm being honest. But is it fair? No. You put an average guy in between those ropes, trust me, they won't even pull it back."
Na had little sympathy from Tiger Woods, who suggested penalty strokes for slow players.
"Strokes is money. What people don't realize is that one shot is so valuable out here," the 2001 Players champion said after finishing tied for 40th, having closed with 73.
TPC Sawgrass is one of the toughest courses on the circuit, and even leading players such as Rory McIlroy struggle there.
The U.S. Open champion missed the halfway cut for the third time at the $9.5 million tournament, but retained the No. 1 ranking after Luke Donald finished only sixth despite a closing 66.
The Englishman was two shots behind a group of four tied for second, including last weekend's Quail Hollow winner Rickie Fowler, Texas Open champion Ben Curtis, 2007 Masters victor Zach Johnson and Scotland's Martin Laird.
But the spoils went to Kuchar, who claimed his first win since The Barclays in 2010 and can now take his place among some legendary names to have triumphed at the Players.
"I think one of the things that strikes me is walking every day through the champions' tunnel," he said.
"Every player does it. And for me, I can't help but stop and gaze at all the photos going through champions tunnel, and to think I'm going to be a part of that with Jack Nicklaus and Lee Trevino and Raymond Floyd and Phil Mickelson and David Duval and Tiger Woods, it's all the best of the best.
"To feel like I'm going to see my picture up there next year is pretty cool."
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Woods missed the halfway cut at his last tournament, the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow, which was won by Rickie Fowler.
Quail Hollow was Woods' first outing since finishing 40th at the Masters, where he was watched by his mother Kultida (left) and Phil Knight, co-founder of one of his main sponsors, Nike.
Woods with rock star Jon Bon Jovi, who performed at Tiger Jam 2012 on April 28. The event raised almost $1 million for Woods' charity foundation.
Fowler holds the Wells Fargo Championship trophy alongside his mother Lynne (letf) and girlfriend Alexandra Brown.
The 23-year-old wished his close friend Bubba Watson had been there to help celebrate. Fowler was on the green when Watson won his first major at the Masters in April, but the left-hander has played only one tournament since then as he is spending time with his newly-adopted son.
McIlroy (left) won at Quail Hollow in 2010 for his first PGA Tour victory, but lost out to Fowler in the rookie of the year award.
They played together for the first two rounds at last year's Masters, where McIlroy suffered a final-day collapse before winning his first major at the U.S. Open two months later.
They were paired again at the next major, the British Open at Royal St. George's -- where Fowler tied for fifth and McIlroy was 25th.
The duo's rivalry goes back to their amateur days, with Fowler helping the U.S. to beat Great Britain and Ireland in the 2007 Walker Cup on McIlroy's home soil at the Royal County Down Golf Club.
Guan Tian-Lang, 13, made history as the youngest player at a European Tour event when he teed off at his home China Open in April 2012.
However, he could not better the achievement of Jason Hak, who was 14 when he became the youngest player to make the halfway cut at a European Tour event at the 2008 Hong Kong Open.
Thompson is the youngest player to win on the European Ladies' Tour. Here she receives her trophy at the Dubai Ladies Masters on December 17, 2011.
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