A level-headed Henrik Stenson landed the biggest victory of his career with a commanding final round at TPC Sawgrass to take The Players Championship.

The Swede had been one of six men also including world number one Tiger Woods and England's Ian Poulter to start the day in a tie for second place at six-under-par with overnight leader Alex Cejka of Germany five shots in front five shots clear.

Yet as Cejka imploded and Woods faltered in the final group of the day, Stenson shot a six-under-par 66 to win by four strokes at 12 under to become only the third European winner in the tournament's 36-year history, following Sandy Lyle in 1987 and Sergio Garcia 12 months ago.

"It's obviously a great feeling to have won this championship and it's a golf course I really enjoy playing," Stenson said.

"I've always liked to play it, it suits my eye, suits my game, and I just handled myself very well throughout these four days, putted well and given myself plenty of chances and stayed very level-headed.

"I just managed my game very well. I knew it would be tough.

"Before we started yesterday I knew the greens were going to be even firmer and it was going to be hard to get close to the pins, and the course kind of got back at me yesterday on 16, 17.

"But I still felt like I was in good spirits and told whoever was out there after the round yesterday that I was going to go out there and finish strong today and I did."

Poulter finished second ahead of Americans John Mallinger and Kevin Na after shipping just one bogey in a final round 70 that took him to eight under and his second top-five finish in a row although he is still in search of his maiden PGA Tour victory.

"I played solid, it was a shame I got a bad bounce on four and made bogey, but the rest of the day I played solid all day and I'm just happy with the way I played," Poulter said.

England's Brian Davis gave the European contingent more cheer as he took a share of fifth place on six under alongside Americans Jim Furyk and Ben Crane with Woods alone in eighth at five under following a 73, his first top-10 finish in the event since he won it in 2001.

Aaron Baddeley of Australia completed an amazing turnaround following a 76 on Saturday that left him in last place with a final round 66 earning him a tie for ninth alongside Vijay Singh and Cejka, who closed with a 79.

"I think I actually played better than my score showed today," Cejka said. "I just didn't make any putts, one birdie only, but the ball-striking wasn't as good as the last couple of days."

Collated final round scores & totals (USA unless stated, par 72):

276 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 68 69 73 66

280 Ian Poulter (Eng) 67 68 75 70

281 Kevin Na 71 66 74 70, John Mallinger 66 71 74 70

282 Brian Davis (Eng) 71 69 71 71, Ben Crane 65 73 72 72, Jim Furyk 68 74 71 69

283 Tiger Woods 71 69 70 73

284 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 71 71 76 66, Vijay Singh (Fij) 71 72 74 67, David Toms 67 70 77 70, Tim Clark (Rsa) 72 69 74 69, Alex Cejka (Ger) 66 67 72 79

285 Jeff Klauk 71 72 71 71, Paul Casey (Eng) 70 69 76 70, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 75 65 72 73, Robert Allenby (Aus) 73 66 75 71, Mike Weir (Can) 72 72 73 68, Camilo Villegas (Col) 67 72 75 71, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 72 65 77 71, Matt Kuchar 72 72 73 68

286 Steve Stricker 71 71 71 73, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 67 72 71 76, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 71 73 73 69, Woody Austin 72 72 68 74, Ben Curtis 71 72 69 74, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 70 72 73 71, Scott Piercy 71 72 74 69, Tommy Armour III 74 70 70 72, Kenny Perry 73 71 68 74, Justin Rose (Eng) 70 71 72 73

287 Justin Leonard 70 69 75 73, Zach Johnson 72 71 70 74, Jason Dufner 67 70 77 73, Billy Mayfair 70 74 69 74, Kevin Sutherland 73 67 72 75

288 John Rollins 68 76 70 74, Charley Hoffman 70 69 76 73, Jeff Overton 71 67 75 75, John Senden (Aus) 72 69 72 75, Tim Petrovic 68 70 75 75, Bubba Watson 67 75 72 74, Luke Donald (Eng) 74 70 71 73, Jonathan Byrd 67 72 71 78

289 Michael Letzig 71 68 74 76, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 66 72 74 77, Ernie Els (Rsa) 73 69 73 74, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 72 70 75 72

290 Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 70 73 72 75, Scott Verplank 67 74 73 76, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 68 73 75 74, Stephen Ames (Can) 70 71 75 74, Jason Bohn 72 71 74 73, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 72 72 74 72

291 Phil Mickelson 73 71 71 76, Brad Adamonis 67 76 74 74, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 71 73 69 78, Heath Slocum 75 69 71 76, Mark Wilson 69 72 75 75

292 Johnson Wagner 69 73 72 78, Rocco Mediate 73 71 74 74, Chez Reavie 70 72 75 75

293 Michael Allen 71 70 74 78

294 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 68 74 76 76, Steve Flesch 75 69 74 76

295 John Merrick 70 72 74 79, Cameron Beckman 72 72 73 78