Canadian Corey Conners went into the final round at the Valspar Championship having led the tournament from the start.

Conners, from Listowel, Ont., failed to qualify for the tournament but was a late addition after another player withdrew.  No one expected that he would find himself at the top of the leaderboard, not only after the first round, but maintain that lead heading into Sunday.

Unfortunately, he stumbled out of the gate in the final round, making bogey on his first hole. He was not able to recover and finished at 6-over par on the day, tumbling to a tie for 16^th.

Still, the Canadian PGA Tour rookie remained positive, calling the round a learning opportunity.

“I gained experience each and every day and played with the lead … and that wasn’t the outcome I wanted today,” he said after the round.

Conners said he tried to remain relaxed even when it was clear Sunday wasn’t going to be his day. It’s an experience he says he will use in the future.

“It was tough,” said Conners, 26. “The game wasn’t going the way I wanted to so it was a little harder to settle in like I was able to the last few days.”

With a PING G400 LST driver in his bag, Conners averaged 307.5 yards off the tee. His finish moved him up 89 spots in the Official World Golf Ranking. Check out his full bag of PING equipment here.

Last year’s winner, Canadian Adam Hadwin, finished in a tie for 12^th, moving well up the leaderboard with a final round 68.

Tiger Woods was trying to make an incredible comeback after having back surgery last year. With Paul Casey in the clubhouse having finished at 10-under par, Woods made birdie on the 17^th hole to pull within one. But a long birdie putt failed to fall on the 18^th, leaving Woods in a tie for second.

“I was close—I had a chance today,” Woods said. “Unfortunately, I just didn’t quite feel as sharp as I needed to with my irons and played a little conservative because of it. I just needed to handle the par 5s a little better.”

Woods will play at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando this week, a course he’s dominated in the past. Woods said he’s ready.

“I believe my game is progressing,” he said. “I had really some nice building blocks at Honda and I’ve had a few tweaks for this week and it paid off.”