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IRVING, Texas -- Billy Horschel won for the first time in nearly three years on Sunday when he took the AT&T Byron Nelson in a playoff over Jason Day. Horschel shot a 69 on Sunday to Day's 68 to get into the playoff and watched on as Day missed a 4-foot putt for par that would have sent the tournament to a second playoff hole.

Horschel dropped his putter and laid his head in his caddie's chest. The man does not want for emotion. 

"[I was] grateful that I was playing a game I love [this week]," Horschel said. "Probably sometimes take it for granted, but I put so much pressure on myself of last four weeks. I was in a peaceful place all week. Happy to be here and happy to compete, and it's nice to walk away with a trophy."

The victory was the first for Horschel since he went on a torrid run in the 2014 FedEx Cup Playoffs and took home the Tour Championship. 

Since that win, Horschel has just nine top 10s in 63 events and came into this week's Nelson having missed his last four cuts in a row. That is to say, he was not exactly a hot pick in daily fantasy leagues across the country for this tournament.

But on a week when his normally sharp iron play was not as tight as he would have liked (43rd in approach shots), Horschel put on a short game show. He finished first in the field in putting and ninth in shots around the green. It was not a classic Horschel performance, but he left with what he came for: a trophy and a bid into the 2017 U.S. Open and 2018 Masters.

"I haven't played here in five years," Horschel said. "I was not a fan of this golf course the first two times I came here and then I came ... and I was like, 'Wow, why did I not like this course?' This course really fits my game to a 'T' and really just embrace the golf course and played really well. I putted beautifully all week. Put a new putter in last week with PXG. Been rolling perfect."

The full Billy Horschel Golf Experience is a tilt-a-whirl of emotion, raucous chatter and irons drawn like they're out of laboratory. If you think golf is boring, you've never followed Horschel for 18 holes.

He yelped congratulations at his partners Day and James Hahn all day when they hit good shots, scolded himself for putting to bad spots, shook Day by the shoulders when he chipped in for birdie with just three holes to go and fist pumped mightily when he poured in a 59-foot putt for birdie on the back nine.

The man is a whirlwind, and he infused unusually benign day -- the final one for this tournament at TPC Four Seasons in Irving -- with a little juice.

Of course none of this matters unless you win, and despite not finishing as spectacularly as he might have liked, Horschel fired at flags and never laid up the whole way in. 

He was rewarded for it on the 16th hole, a par 5 which he reached in two and made birdie. Two pars on the 17th and 18th and an escape from a narrow Day birdie miss on the finale hole, and Horschel was primed to go a few more rounds with the 10-time champ.

It ended with a whimper with Day's three-jack on the 18th green in playoff hole No. 1, and despite being excited about the win, Horschel didn't love how the tournament ended.

"It's tough," Horschel said. "I thought I had a chance to make in it regulation ... never want to win with an opponent like Jason misses a short putt like that.

"I've missed short putt not too long ago to lose a playoff. I know the feeling. You always want to win with a birdie on the last hole. It's the way the game of golf goes sometimes."

Day was frustrated at his costly mistake but still encouraged by what he did on the week. It was a week that included a 63 and no scores at par or worse.

"I only had one top 10 up until this point," Day said. "To be able to play the way I did today, I played some good, solid golf. Obviously, once again, it's a little disappointing, but it's not the first tournament I'm going to lose. I've lost plenty of other ones beforehand, and I'll lose plenty more in the future.

"I got to try to get better from this experience and I feel good about my game. Everything is coming along nicely. Got to work a little bit more on the overall game of things and I think if that happens, then I should be in pretty good form coming into the majors."

It was not exactly a heavyweight duel down the stretch, but Horschel got a victory he badly needed and set himself up for the next few years on the PGA Tour. Day, in some ways, got what he was looking for, too: His game to resurface before the heart of the major championship season. On a day of emotional swings from two of the more emotional players, both walked away filled up.

But only one walked away with the trophy. Grade for both: A+

Here are the rest of our grades for the AT&T Byron Nelson.

Sergio Garcia (T20): The Spaniard shot a poor 74 on Sunday after two straight days of magic with a 65 on Friday and a 64 on Saturday. That is two straight tournaments in which he has flailed on Sunday, but I'm not overly concerned about it. He's shown flashes of the goods he brought to Augusta National, he just needs a little time to work out some post-Masters rust. Garcia is still a top five or seven favorite at the U.S. Open in a month. Grade: B-

Dustin Johnson (T13): The No. 1 player in the world was never really in the mix this week, and he still finished in the top 15. That's the kind of season he's having in 2017. Johnson simply made too many bogeys this week. He was T47 in that category and T8 in birdies. The reason for the bogeys is that he was leaving himself in terrible spots. Johnson finished outside the top 50 in strokes gained on approach shots, which is atrocious for him. Grade: B

James Hahn (3rd): I just wanted to give him a grade as an excuse to post this preposterous near hole-out on the final hole. Can you imagine if this would have gone to get him in a playoff, and he would have gone on to eventually win? "It was exactly where I wanted to hit it," Hahn said. "I was looking at the green contour just before I hit it and I knew it broke left. When you're 120 yards out it lips out, it's hard to be mad about it. I had my ... good breaks for the week, and I wasn't going to beg for the last shot." Grade: A