Davis Love won his second Players Championship title at Sawgrass in brilliant fashion in Florida.

With Tiger Woods mixing two eagles with three trips to water in a closing 72 and both Padraig Harrington and Darren Clarke not finding their best when they needed it most to apply more pressure, 1992 champion Love strode to a majestic six-stroke win.

His 64 was described by former US Open champion Johnny Miller as "possibly the greatest round of his life".

Despite a blustery wind which Woods called "brutal", it was the lowest round of the week and only one outside the Sawgrass course record.

A 17 under par total of 271 earned the 38-year-old world number seven not only his second victory of the season and second Players crown, but also a US Tour record cheque for 1.17million dollars (£780,000).

Harrington shared second place with 49-year-old American Jay Haas, with whom he shared the third-round lead, after both returned 72s for 11 under.

The Dubliner was one ahead of Haas on the final tee, but hooked into the lake. He bogeyed and Haas' 18-foot par putt meant they each took home £381,333.

Clarke (71) was joint sixth and Woods down in 11th. Not since the Open at Muirfield last year has the world number one failed to make the top 10 in a tournament.

Fred Couples, who partnered Love, commented: "It is the best round I have ever seen from anybody. It was a treat to see someone I have known for 20 years play like that.

"I don't think anybody thought anyone could shoot 64 today. He was just so solid."

Two behind at the start, Love took over at the top with birdies at the eighth and ninth and then moved clear by starting the back nine with three more birdies.

With three to play he was back to only two ahead and when he hooked into the trees the destiny of the trophy was still in doubt.

But off the pine needles Love struck a long iron to 10 feet for a spectacular eagle and two closing pars completed a dream day for the former US PGA champion.

"I was hitting it so good that I just couldn't take my rain jacket off even when I got hot," said Love.

Harrington said: "There was no legislating for what Davis did. You would not have thought it was possible,

"You don't feel too bad finishing second to that. He just kept going and just kept pouring it on and getting further and further away. When I didn't birdie the 11th and 12th I knew it was tough."

The prospect of Woods coming from five behind to win his fourth title in five starts this season looked on as he sank a 15-foot eagle putt at the second.

But then he dumped a relatively simple pitch into water and double-bogeyed the fourth and pushed his second to the long 11th into another lake for a second six of the day. The other splash landing was on the island green 17th - and he was far from alone in that.

Clarke had a trip to the water himself on the 583-yard ninth and, having three-putted the short third, birdies at the second, seventh and 11th were not sufficient to lift him any higher.

"I slipped into some old bad habits, but overall I hit it really well and I'm looking forward to the Masters."

That starts on Thursday week and unlike Harrington, who plays in Atlanta this week, Clarke immediately rushed off for a flight home.

Harrington was relishing the challenge of "being the hunted", saying: "It's why we play golf - to try to shoot a good score under pressure. When you're leading, the focus is on you and if you have a bad day everybody sees it.

"Obviously I've had plenty of bad days in the past, but it's the ultimate test when you have all these guys coming at you and for you to do your job.

"It's more fun playing in the middle of the field, but I've always judged how good a player is on that sort of scenario. Trying to perform under pressure."

Woods is the best in the "ultimate test" department, of course. But of all his 50 wins as a professional, so far only two have come from this far back in the final 18 holes.

He was five behind at the 2000 Pebble Beach Pro-am and won by two - incredibly after being seven behind with seven to play - and surged from eight behind Ernie Els to win the 1998 Johnnie Walker Classic in Thailand in a play-off.

Adding to that list became an impossibility, though, after his three visits to the drink.

Nick Faldo opened with an amazing 102-foot putt and closed with a 20-footer, but had to settle for a 74 and level par.

And debutant Justin Rose, having reached six under and joint 16th spot, fell all the way back to level par as well with a 76. He was in the lake at the short 17th for the second time in the week.

He and Faldo were tied for 39th, while Paul Lawrie's 74 for four over left him only 56th.

Collated final totals (USA unless stated, par 72)

271 Davis Love 70 67 70 64

277 Padraig Harrington 67 68 70 72, Jay Haas 68 70 67 72

278 Robert Allenby (Aus) 70 71 72 65, Jim Furyk 73 68 68 69

279 Chad Campbell 72 66 71 70, Darren Clarke (Gbr) 71 70 67 71

280 Kirk Triplett 72 70 71 67, Scott Verplank 71 72 68 69

281 Fred Couples 67 71 69 74

282 Mark Calcavecchia 73 68 72 69, Brad Faxon 73 69 71 69, Briny Baird 76 68 68 70, Tiger Woods 72 70 68 72, Duffy Waldorf 70 72 68 72, Jeff Maggert 71 70 68 73

283 Stephen Ames (Tri) 73 69 71 70, Adam Scott (Aus) 69 69 74 71, Bob Tway 68 73 69 73, Craig Perks (Nzl) 68 69 70 76

284 Chris DiMarco 77 67 70 70, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 71 72 71 70, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 68 73 71 72, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 71 68 72 73, Justin Leonard 73 70 68 73, Tim Clark (Rsa) 69 72 69 74

285 Mike Weir (Can) 72 71 69 73, Glen Day 72 67 73 73, Jay Williamson 74 69 68 74, Neal Lancaster 70 72 69 74

286 Bob Estes 71 68 72 75

287 Charles Howell 72 71 72 72, Jeff Sluman 72 72 70 73, Jonathan Kaye 73 70 70 74, Kenny Perry 70 73 69 75, Brandt Jobe 72 70 70 75, Skip Kendall 68 69 73 77, Corey Pavin 70 69 69 79

288 Tom Lehman 69 72 75 72, Nick Faldo (Gbr) 74 68 72 74, Glen Hnatiuk (Can) 71 72 71 74, Stewart Cink 69 71 73 75, Justin Rose (Gbr) 72 71 69 76, Steve Flesch 71 68 70 79

289 Shigeki Maruyama (Jap) 76 65 74 74, Fred Funk 70 70 75 74, Rocco Mediate 68 70 73 78

290 Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe) 73 70 75 72, Billy Andrade 71 72 73 74, Carlos Franco (Par) 71 71 72 76, Kevin Sutherland 69 73 72 76, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 76 68 69 77, Bernhard Langer (Ger) 72 70 71 77

291 Tim Herron 71 73 72 75, Shaun Micheel 71 73 71 76

292 Notah Begay 77 67 76 72, Paul Lawrie (Gbr) 71 73 74 74, David Berganio 75 69 72 76, Esteban Toledo (Mex) 74 69 72 77, John Daly 70 70 72 80, Peter Lonard (Aus) 73 68 71 80

293 Steve Jones 68 75 76 74, Dudley Hart 75 69 75 74, Mark Brooks 73 70 75 75, Joe Durant 75 67 75 76

294 Matt Gogel 70 71 77 76, Bob Burns 74 70 72 78

295 Lee Janzen 73 69 70 83

299 Jim Carter 69 73 77 80, Robert Gamez 71 73 74 81

300 Loren Roberts 75 69 78 78

Withdrew John Cook