Justin Thomas denies Lee Westwood in The PLAYERS Championship at Sawgrass

Thomas had been in danger of missing the cut on Friday, but two late birdies followed by a storming third-round 64 saw him begin the final round just three shots back of Lee Westwood.

An eagle at the 11th hole saw Thomas take up the lead and despite a dropped shot at the 14th, he was one-under par over the fearsome closing stretch, enough to beat the Englishman by one.

"I'm so happy to be a Players champion," said Thomas. "I fought so hard today. I stayed really patient. Probably one of the best rounds of my life, tee to green; total control of the ball.

"I've seen some pretty crazy stuff on TV happen on the back nine, I was glad to be on the better side of it this year."

The victory makes Thomas just the fourth player to win the Players Championship, a major championship, a World Golf Championships event and the FedEx Cup after Tiger Woods, Henrik Stenson and Rory McIlroy, who missed the cut in the defence of his title.

Thomas exchanged messages with long-time friend, mentor and practice partner Woods throughout the event, and expressed regret that the two-time Sawgrass winner wasn't there to witness his brilliant display.

"I was replaying what he told me in my head. He likes to give me a lot of grief, especially when he's not here. Part of me wishes he was here so I could rub it in his face a bit more!"

"I'm happy, I hope he's happy, and I always appreciate his help.

"If you were to tell us at 15, 20 years old that Tiger Woods is texting us the night before we have a chance to win a tournament, trying to inspire us, it's pretty cool."

Victory for Thomas meant a winning week for followers of Ben Coley's golf tips, who were advised to back the world number three at 20/1 on Monday and also collected each-way returns from 80/1 shot Jamie Donaldson, who was placed in Qatar.

It came two weeks after Branden Grace also triumphed at 20/1, and is our expert's third winner in the last eight tournaments in the USA - the other being Brooks Koepka at 45/1 in the Phoenix Open.

Thomas made a quiet start to his round, struggling on the greens as chances went begging at each of the first seven holes, before he three-putted to bogey the eighth.

Given that he started the day behind Westwood and Bryson DeChambeau, such a slow start might have had him out of contention but for that pair making early mistakes, most spectacularly at the third where the American topped his tee-shot.

DeChambeau was unable to recover from his double-bogey there, an eagle at the 16th coming too late, while Westwood paid the price for missing the green at the par-five 16th where Thomas had just edged back in front.

Thomas two-putted from distance at the treacherous 17th hole to remain ahead and when Westwood could not do so in the group behind, making bogey, the 2017 PGA champion led by two as he teed off at the last.

Although his final drive flirted with the water, and he missed his first green of the day with his approach shot, Thomas was able to get down in two and complete a brilliant round and add a PLAYERS Championship title to his growing collection.

It had been a difficult start to the year for the 27-year-old, whose grandfather passed away in February. "A lot," was his answer when asked how much he'd thought of him on Sunday. "I wish I could talk to him. I know he's watching."

Thomas was cut to 11/1 for the Masters by Sky Bet, who make Dustin Johnson and DeChambeau their 8/1 joint-favourites for the first major of the season, which is less than a month away.

More from Sporting Life

• Watch Bryson DeChambeau's topped drive