Britain's Luke Donald admitted he threw away a strong winning position at the Players Championship at Sawgrass.
The overnight leader dropped five shots on the outward nine, finishing with a 76 and a tie for second place.
"If someone had offered me tied second I'd have said 'yes', especially with my track record here - two missed cuts," said the 27-year-old from High Wycombe.
"But I wouldn't have taken it going into the last round and it's disappointing leading and not winning."
Donald, who was trying to become the first European winner of this event since Sandy Lyle in 1987, had a 22-foot putt at the last to force a play-off, but his ball narrowly missed the hole.
That miss meant the surprise winner of golf's richest tournament was the 48-year-old Fred Funk.
The local favourite bogeyed three of the last five holes but showed great nerve to successfully get up-and-down out of a greenside bunker at the last to post the winning score of nine under par.
Donald, a former Walker Cup star, can at least count himself in good company as European greats Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer (twice), Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington (twice) have all finished as runners-up at Sawgrass since Lyle's victory.
"I'm proud I gave myself a chance, but I don't know too many people who have made birdie on the 18th in the final round here," he added.
"It's a tough enough hole without any wind. I hit a great shot and it pitched maybe four feet to the right of the hole, but unfortunately it just caught the run-off."
Donald, who is based in Chicago after starring in the US collegiate system, still picked up a £320,000 cheque for second place and improved his world ranking to 16th.