Matt Kuchar / Getty Images

Another Players Championship is in the books, but before we close things out and head down the road to Texas, it's time to take one final look at the winners and losers from this week. We're looking at you, Matt Kuchar.

Winners

Matt Kuchar: There's no question Kuchar is the biggest winner at the Players Championship. Not only did he pick up the biggest win of his career, he now has people questioning if he's more than just a human ATM machine. At 33, he's not considered a rising star on the PGA Tour, but over the last couple of years, Kuchar has solidified his spot as one of the most consistent players on tour. But that title could be changing after today's win. With a close call at the Masters and now a win at the Players Championship, we could be looking at guy who's primed to take over the "best American in golf" title.

Martin Laird: With the exception of his second-place finish at the winners-only Hyundai Tournament of Champions, there was nothing about Martin Laird's recent play

Rickie Fowler / Getty ImagesAfter winning for the first time on the PGA Tour just last week at the Wells Fargo Championship, most figured Rickie Fowler was on the verge of finally breaking out and winning tournaments in bunches.

But it's a safe to say very few had him pegged to go back-to-back on two of the most difficult courses in golf, right off the bat.

After firing a 66 on Saturday, that has him three shots off the lead at 9-under, he's now 18 holes away from becoming the first golfer since Tiger Woods, who accomplished the feat in 2009, to win in consecutive weeks on the PGA Tour.

As NBC commentator Johnny Miller noted during the round, the floodgates may have opened for one of the sport's brightest stars. It certainly looked that way on Saturday, as Fowler put on another superb ball-striking session for the crowds at TPC Sawgrass, hitting more than 80 percent of his greens in regulation for the second straight round.

On a day where the winds made it nearly impossible to make up ground on the field, Fowler

Tim Clark's had a rough go of things since he shut it down and had elbow surgery last summer. The 2010 Players Championship winner has only made one cut in six starts this season, but his luck could be changing after a 2-under 70 that left him just five shots back of the leaders.

He has this shot on the par-4 seventh to thank for shaving a couple strokes off his scorecard on Friday. After finding a squirrely lie on the hole, Clark tried to hack the ball out and onto the green, only to watch the ball bounce short and roll right into the cup for the only eagle of the day on the hole.

That's what you call living right, friends. After everything Clark's been through recently, it's nice to see something go his way for the first time in a while.

Tiger Woods / Getty ImagesTiger Woods was laboring early in his second round. Stuck at 2-over and staring at his second-consecutive missed cut, the 14-time major winner needed a boost to jumpstart his game.

So he did the only thing he could think of: he swapped out his right Nike shoe for a new wheel on the sixth hole. (Truthfully, the eyelet on the shoe had torn, requiring Woods to make the switch, mid-round.)

OK, changing kicks probably didn't lead to Woods' 4-under 68 at the Players Championship, but for some reason, the shoe-swap seemed to add a little pep to his step, as Woods reeled off four consecutive birdies — for only the second time this year — to make the cut with relative ease.

Even better? Woods is now only six back of the leaders going into the third round — something that didn't even seem possible after his opening-round 74. That doesn't mean he'll be right there on Sunday, but after nine rounds of mediocre golf over the last couple of months, just seeing a 68 on the scorecard and being within

Rory McIlroy / Getty ImagesRory McIlroy's used to being in contention on the weekend, but for the third consecutive time at the Players Championship, he'll be packing his bags and heading home early.

Very few courses have McIlroy's number, but based on his track record at TPC Sawgrass, it's clear the course is winning the head-to-head battle.

With a 4-over 76 on Friday, he's now failed to break par in six rounds at the Players Championship — a staggering figure when you look at the success he's had abroad in the last year-plus. But as the 23-year-old mentioned on Thursday, there's something about the course he can't figure out.

"It doesn't," McIlroy said, when asked if the course suited his eye. "It's very tricky.  I find it very tricky.  I really have to think about what I'm hitting off the tee.  Second shots and stuff are fine, it's just tee shots for me that I struggle with."

[Related: Tiger Woods gets a new tee shout at The Players: 'Light the candle!']

There's no question TPC Sawgrass doesn't suit his eye.

There's only so much you can glean from looking at a golfer's scorecard. A par on a hole may look like another ho-hum score, but unless you witnessed it for yourself, you likely have no idea if it was a two-putt par, or a hole-out from a greenside bunker.

The fact that Jhonattan Vegas walked away with three on the treacherous par-3 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass on Thursday was certainly viewed as a success. But if you saw the way he went about recording the score, you'd understand why the three probably should've had an asterisk mark next to it for the luckiest par of the day.

Vegas, who finished his first round of the Players Championship at 4-under, was certainly living right on the island hole. After hitting what he assumed was a tee shot destined for the water, Vegas watched as the ball landed within a couple feet of the hazard, took a soft bounce and rolled onto the walkway leading to the green.

Lucky shot, right? It was until Vegas chipped his next shot past the hole into the fringe ... and then rolled in his putt for par.

Yep, just another ho-hum three. It may not be the most memorable par on the hole in tournament history, but it was a pretty impressive one nonetheless.

There isn't a fool-proof blueprint for catching the eye of college coaches and earning a scholarship, but most high school athletes know that if you want to play at the next level, you need to excel in your particular sport.

Whether that's on the field for your high school or via the AAU circuit, getting noticed is the biggest thing. But every so often a student-athlete manages to obtain a college scholarship by going a completely different route -- like playing volleyball in a recreational league during your senior year.

As Dallas-Fort Worth's ABC affiliate WFAA-TV reported, Plano's Meredith Mounger didn't even play volleyball at Plano East (Texas) High School during her junior and senior years, after she was cut from the team.

After playing for a club squad her junior year, she ended up leaving the team to play in a recreational league at the Plano Sports Authority. And yet somehow, some way, she managed to still end up with an opportunity to play volleyball in college at Texas Wesleyan University, an NAIA school.

"To have someone tell you at a young age no, or you're not good enough, and then for you to continue to pursue and be persistent and work at it says a lot about a person," Christy Clawson-Diver, Texas Wesleyan's volleyball coach, told WFAA.

Mounger's story isn't a first, but the fact that she ended up passing on even playing club volleyball her senior year and still ended up with a scholarship is pretty rare.

While Mounger's scholarship offer is a feel-good story, The Dallas Morning News' Health Blog noted that even though her perseverance paid off, there's still a concern about whether high school sports are discouraging kids who want to play and stay healthy.

Brian Harman / Getty ImagesAs the first alternate in The Players Championship field, Brian Harman had to figure there was a pretty good chance he'd be teeing it up at TPC Sawgrass this week.

So he showed up on Thursday morning and hung around the clubhouse, cell phone in hand, waiting for the green light from tournament officials. Only the call never came.

The unfortunate thing for Harman was he actually made it into the field at 8:39 a.m. ET, when D.A. Points withdrew from the tournament with a back injury. But tour officials never informed Harman of his tee time.

Why? Because they didn't have any idea that last week's runner-up at the Wells Fargo Championship had pulled out. Points decided to inform his playing partners, Carl Pettersson and Robert Garrigus, that he was a no-go on the first tee ... right as his name was being announced.

Garrigus and Pettersson, who had already teed off, decided to go ahead as a twosome, leaving Harman in a lurch. As soon as officials got word, they rushed to inform Harman, who was playing ping-pong with caddie John Davenport, of the good news.

The only problem was Points' late WD meant that even though Harman was in, there still wasn't a spot for him in one of the upcoming threesomes. After discussing the issue for three hours, PGA Tour VP of Rules and Competition, Mark Russell, decided to let Harman go off as a single at 12:05 p.m. ET, right before the afternoon wave.