"Just doesn't seem like anything is going to upset him too much," Laird said. "That's obviously a good attitude to have when you're out here on Sunday on this golf course."

That smile has been around for a long time.

It first showed up in 1998 when Kuchar won over the crowds with his easy smile and demeanor while contending as an amateur at the Masters and U.S. Open. Through wins and having to go back to the Nationwide Tour, it never seems to leave him.

"It's completely a natural reaction," Kuchar said. "I love playing the game of golf. I have fun doing it. I'm a golf junkie. I have to force myself to take vacations where I cannot play golf, because the game is just always so challenging. And I think it's that challenge that's addictive to me. ... The smile is there because I'm having a good time.

"Now, granted, if I'm shooting 10-over par, you're probably not going to see my real happy. I'm hopefully going to behave myself appropriately, thanks to my mother, but I'm not going to be near as happy as when I'm making birdies."

Suffice to say Kuchar, who finished on 13-under 275, was thrilled Sunday.

"It's such an amazing feeling — playing amongst the game's best, to come out on top, to do it on Mother's Day ... it really is magical," he said.

Curtis, who started the season without a full PGA Tour card, now has three top 5s in the last month, including a win at the Texas Open. He was slowed by a double bogey on the par-3 eighth, and simply couldn't catch up.

Even though Laird is the only player who actually tied for the lead at one point, Fowler generated the biggest buzz in his all-orange attire and free swinging ways. Coming off his first PGA Tour win last week at Quail Hollow, he got in the mix with two birdies in the opening four holes, only to take a double bogey on No. 5 and a bogey on the seventh. Even so, he ran off four birdies after that and never went away until missing the short birdie at the end.

"The last few holes were a lot of fun," Fowler said. "It's a rush out there. Get yourself in contention Sunday at The Players, it's a lot of fun."