Cameron Smith claimed the biggest victory of his career and heftiest purse in golf as he won The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass despite a tense finish.

It was an action-packed final day for the tour's most-famous mullet, finishing with only four pars from his 18 holes on his way to a final score of 13 under for the tournament.

Smith started like a house on fire, birdieing the first four holes of the day and also the sixth, before things started to go awry with bogeys on the final three holes of the front nine.

Undeterred, Smith responded with another streak of four successive birdies to open up the back-nine, resulting in a multi-stroke lead with five holes to play.

On the famous 17th, Smith admitted he pushed his shot well right of his intended target, but it landed within one yard of the hole for a tap-in, taking a three-stroke lead.

However, the contest was far from over. Anirban Lahiri also birdied the 17th, trimming the margin to two with one hole to play.

It was a horror start to the last for Smith, spraying his drive into the trees before his recovery shot back towards the fairway ran all the way into the water.

Needing a clutch chip to put himself in a position to save a bogey, Smith delivered, again landing within one yard of the hole and tapping in for a final-round 66.

Trailing by one stroke, Lahiri needed a birdie on the par-four last to force a playoff, but his second shot failed to make the green and he ultimately settled for par and a second-place finish.

Two-time major champion Dustin Johnson responded to a disappointing 76 in the third round to post a nine-under 63 – three strokes better than the trio of Smith, Max Homa and Rory McIlroy with 66.

In a day to forget, world number one Jon Rahm posted an eye-watering five-over nine on the par-four fourth hole, going on to finish with a final-round 77, tying for 55th.

For the win, Smith nets $3.6million – the biggest winner's purse in PGA Tour history – while Lahiri takes home over $2.1m in second, and Paul Casey collects nearly $1.4m in third.