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AUGUSTA (AFP) – High-ranked Scottie Scheffler captured his first main title on Sunday by successful the Masters in dominating trend, holding agency down the stretch to grab the inexperienced jacket after Tiger Woods accomplished his superb comeback from extreme leg accidents.
Scheffler fired a final-round one-under par 71 to complete 72 holes on 10-under 278 and defeat four-time main winner Rory McIlroy by three strokes with Australian Cameron Smith and Eire’s Shane Lowry sharing third on 283.
“It was an extended day, a troublesome day for me,” Scheffler stated. “I simply tried to maintain my head down and execute my pictures.”
Scheffler, who solely gained his first PGA title in February, holed a spectacular chip-in birdie from 87 ft on the par-4 third to blunt an early cost by Smith, final month’s Gamers Championship winner.
“It was not a shot I anticipated to see go in but it surely acquired issues off and rolling for me,” Scheffler stated.
He additionally birdied the 14th and sank a 14-foot birdie putt on the par-5 fifteenth to sign there can be no collapse to open a door for McIlroy, chasing an Augusta Nationwide win to finish a profession Grand Slam.
Scheffler endured an agonizing double bogey on the 18th gap, needing three putts from inside 5 ft earlier than lastly sinking the putt to safe his breakthrough main triumph.
“I can’t put into phrases what it means to know I’ll be capable to come again right here for all times,” Scheffler stated.
The 25-year-old American took a $2.7 million prime prize from a $15 million purse and joined 1991 Masters champion Ian Woosnam as the one gamers to win majors of their debut occasions as world primary.
Scheffler is barely the fifth participant to win the Masters whereas atop the rankings, becoming a member of Welshman Woosnam and Individuals Fred {Couples}, Dustin Johnson and Woods, whose epic damage fightback dominated consideration all week.
Spectators gave Woods a standing ovation on the 18th inexperienced for his astonishing return to golf 14 months after a automotive crash that left him hospitalized for weeks and unable to stroll for months.
“I wasn’t taking part in my finest however to have their assist on the market, I don’t assume phrases can describe it,” Woods stated.
The 15-time main winner fired weekend 78s, his worst Masters rounds, to complete along with his highest Augusta Nationwide 72-hole rating of 301 and in a worst-ever forty seventh place.
However the reality Woods was in a position to stroll the course and play in any respect was nothing wanting unbelievable given the 46-year-old medical marvel had not performed a prime occasion for 17 months and feared amputation of a proper leg now held along with rods, plates, pins and screws.
“Given the place I used to be just a little over a 12 months in the past and what my prospects have been, to finish up right here and be capable to play in all 4 rounds, even a month in the past, I didn’t know if I may pull this off,” Woods stated.
Woods arrived at Augusta chasing a record-tying sixth Masters crown and departed figuring out he had the fortitude to play majors once more.
“It has been a troublesome highway and one which I’m very grateful to have the chance to have the ability to grind by means of,” Woods stated.
– Six begins, 4 wins –
Scheffler gained his first US PGA title at February’s Phoenix Open, added one other final month at Bay Hill and overtook Spain’s Jon Rahm for the summit by capturing the WGC Match Play crown two weeks in the past.
He’s the primary participant to win 4 occasions in six PGA begins since Australian Jason Day in 2015.
Smith, who missed an opportunity to hitch Woods in 2001 as the one gamers to win the Gamers and Masters in the identical 12 months, opened with back-to-back birdies to trim Scheffler’s result in one stroke, however faltered with bogeys on the third and fourth holes.
“Simply too many errors,” Smith stated. “These two bogeys actually slowed me down.”
Each birdied from about 5 ft on the par-4 seventh and bogeyed the tenth.
Smith sank a 15-foot birdie putt at 11 however his tee shot on the par-3 twelfth discovered a watery grave in Rae’s Creek on the way in which to a triple bogey to fall six adrift.
“At 12, that was the event,” Smith stated.
Scheffler, in the meantime, parred his method by means of Amen Nook, a deadly three-hole stretch the place Scheffler sank par putts from seven ft at 11, 9 ft at 12 and missed a five-foot birdie putt on the par-5 thirteenth.
The par saves thwarted a dramatic run by McIlroy, who delivered his finest Masters spherical with a bogey-free 64 that included a 10-foot eagle putt at 13 and a 54-foot birdie chip-in from a greenside bunker on the 18th.
“That’s as glad as I’ve ever been on a golf course proper there,” McIlroy stated after his finest main end since a share of second on the 2018 British Open. He hasn’t gained a significant since 2014.
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