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Sam Burns held the field at bay by making par save after par save on Sunday at the 2022 Valspar Championship. Then he downed Davis Riley in a playoff with a birdie from deep that will go down as one of the best putts of the year.

The win for Burns is his second in a row at this tournament and it was as thrilling a closing act as the PGA Tour has had all season.

Burns was flawless for 16 holes. He made multiple par putts between 9-12 feet to keep the momentum running downhill and birdied the holes he was supposed to birdie all while playing with Justin Thomas in the second to last group on the course, just in front of Matthew NeSmith and Riley. On the 17th, he made a mistake when he left his bunker shot short of the green and blew his chip 9 feet past the hole. But again, another in that 9-12 foot range -- this time to save bogey -- kept the trophy alive for Burns.

Riley birdied that same hole just after him to knot things up at 17 under and both made par at the last to go to a playoff. As far as extra holes between PGA Tour players go, this was an underrated matchup. A pair of 25-year-olds from SEC schools -- Burns from LSU, Riley from Alabama) --one already a star, the other headed in that direction. Two tremendous talents trying to settle the second PGA Tour trophy of the week.

After pars at the first playoff hole, the duo headed for the nasty 16th. Both looked destined for more pars and another hole when Riley left his approach 28 feet from the pin and Burns left his 33 feet. But Burns buried it and unleashed a "we're going to see this at the Ryder Cup at some point in the near future" fist pump on his caddie for his third victory in the last 12 months.

"Davis played well today, especially the way he finished," Burns told NBC. "Hats off to him. He played great. Travis and I just tried to stay steady today. We didn't make a lot of mistakes. A lot of times on Sundays, if you can just plot your way around -- make a bunch of pars, throw in a few birdies here and there, a lot of times it works well. ... I'm just so happy."

It's true that Riley closed well. After making a triple (on a par 5!) on the front nine on Sunday, he clawed his way back into the mix and made a preposterous birdie on the nearly-200-yard par-3 17th just to get into the playoff. His fight was nearly as good as swing, and his pedigree tells me we'll be seeing plenty of both in the near and distant future on the PGA Tour.

Sunday was about Burns, though. It was about his closing putt and how, in the last year, he's gone from perhaps the best player on the PGA Tour without a win to a genuine star, even if he's not yet a household name. Get to know him. Rewatch the highlights. Burns is big time. That didn't just materialize on Sunday with his second consecutive win here, but wins are the public manifestation of who the best players. With three in his last 24 events, Burns is certainly among them. Grade: A+ (Riley grade: A+)

Here are the rest of our grades for the Valspar Championship.

T2. Justin Thomas (-16): J.T. led the field in strokes gained from tee to green on the week and had his chances on Sunday. However, he ended the week with his sixth top 10 in his last eight starts instead of his first victory in just over a year. If you're looking for a problem, there's really not one. The margins are just insanely thin. J.T. hit it great, just as he's been doing, and the putter was solid this week. Look at it this way: If Thomas doesn't bogey the par-5 11th, which he birdied every other day this week, he's in a playoff with Burns and Riley with a shot for his first win since the 2021 Players Championship. He'll win soon if he keeps hitting it like this, and all the evidence we have of his career is that he's going to continue hitting it like this. Grade: A

"I mean it's coming," said Thomas. "I just got to be patient and be in the right frame of mind because you can't force anything in this game. As soon as I start doing that you get down some rabbit holes. I'm doing a lot of really, really good things. I just need to keep putting myself there and it will start happening."

The First Cut Crew reacts to Sam Burns playoff victory at the 2022 Valspar Championship. Follow & listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

T7. Sahith Theegala (-12): This week, Theegala had his best finish since that near win at the Phoenix Open over a month ago. The most impressive part of his showing at Innisbrook was that he finished second in tee to green to J.T. He shot three 67s and a 71 on Friday that ended up being the difference between where he finished and truly getting into contention on Sunday afternoon. I remain excited about his future and how often he's mixing it up in his first full year on the PGA Tour. He came into this week ranked No. 164 in the world, but a top 10 here will push him closer to that top 100 ranking (he was ranked outside the top 1,100 this time a year ago). Grade: A

T39. Dustin Johnson (-5): After D.J. started strong with a 67 on Thursday, I was excited about his trajectory after that stunning 63 at TPC Sawgrass on Monday at The Players Championship. However, he played the next 54 in just 1 under and fell down the leaderboard to a T39 finish. He'll have the ability to grab a bit of lost momentum at the WGC-Dell Match Play next week in Austin, but I was hoping for more out of him this week, especially with the Masters less than three weeks away. The good news if you're a D.J. fan is that it was his putter that let him down a bit at Innisbrook, and that's something that he can easily bounce back from next week. Grade: C