Rickie Fowler won a play-off to take the Players Championship title at Sawgrass but Rory McIlroy was left to rue putting difficulties that meant he finished tied for eighth.
McIlroy carded three birdies and one bogey in his final round of 70 to finish eight under par.
Afterards he told Sky Sports: "Obviously I was looking to go out there today and shooting something in the mid-60s that would have given me a chance.
"I felt like I gave myself enough opportunities out there to make some putts and just couldn't. The putter let me down this week, even from the first day I could not come to terms with the greens and that's the story of the week."
Of the other Irish, Padraig Harrington finished on two under par after impressive final round of 67, and Graeme McDowell ended up on level par after a 71.
At the top of the leaderboard, Sergio Garcia, Fowler and Kevin Kisner went into a three-hole play-off after an extraordinary finish to the final round.
Fowler looked to have provided the perfect response to the players who had labelled him and Ian Poulter the most overrated on the PGA Tour in an anonymous poll with a sensational closing 67.
The 26-year-old had been one over for his round after a bogey on the 10th, but played the last six holes in six under par, taking a tournament-record 11 shots to finish birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie.
That gave Fowler a two-shot lead after long-time leader Garcia had bogeyed the 14th, where he took off his shoes to play his second shot from a cart path, but the drama was far from done.
Garcia two-putted the 16th for birdie and then holed from 45 feet across the 17th green for another, before Ben Martin birdied the 15th, 16th and 17th and Kisner picked up shots on 16 and 17 to also reach 12 under.
Martin missed out on the play-off after a bogey on the 18th before Kisner agonisingly missed from 11 feet for a winning birdie on the same hole.
All three players missed the fairway on the first play-off hole, the par-five 16th, and could only manage to make par.
On the second hole, the 17th, Garcia left himself with a remarkably similar putt to the one he had in his fourth round, though he ran the ball up to around 18 inches this time before taking par.
Kisner made two for the second time in the day after a brave tee shot and great left-to-right read on his putt, and Fowler matched him with a fine birdie of his own.
Kisner and Fowler safely made par on the 18th after coming up just short of the green, but Garcia was unable to find the birdie he needed to join them in sudden death, missing a similar putt that he had in regulation, and was eliminated.
That meant Kisner and Fowler weant back to the 17th, where Fowler’s third birdie in a row at the hole was enough to take victory.
