The Masters Golf Tournament needed 2 extra holes to decide the winner. On the second playoff hole, Adam Scott made his birdie, while Angel Cabrera barely missed his, and that’s how the Masters ended in Augusta, Georgia on Sunday. Scott is the first Australian to ever win the Masters. In fact, you could say this Masters basically belonged to Australians, with three golfers finishing in the top 5. Scott won, Jason Day finished third, and Marc Leishman finished tied for fourth, with Tiger Woods.
Of course, as usual, Woods dominated the headlines, until the exciting finish. However, not for winning the tournament, but for his improper drop after hitting the flag with a shot, and his ball rolling back into the water, on the 15th hole on Friday. Woods could have been disqualified from the tournament, but the Rules Committee assessed a 2 stroke penalty instead. CBS would have taken a big ratings hit if Tiger Woods didn’t play the last 2 rounds. Debate about whether he should have been disqualified or not, was rampant at the beginning of the third round. Woods finished 4 strokes back, so he wouldn’t have been in the playoff, even without a penalty.
Adam Scott, who lost last year’s U.S. Open Championship by one stroke to Ernie Els, after bogeying the last 4 holes, was elated to bring an end to Australian misery. He yelled Come On Aussie! after he finished his fourth round, thinking he had the tournament won then. In the 2011 Masters, the Aussies almost came through, with Scott and Day tied for second, two shots behind tournament winner Charl Schwartzel of South Africa.
Greg Norman, the greatest golfer in Australian history, watched closely, hoping that their Masters drought would finally come to an end. Norman himself seemed to have victory in his grasp, if that could be possible, after three rounds in 1996. He held a 6 stroke lead over Nick Faldo, going into the final round. Faldo shot an excellent round of 67, so Norman just needed an even par round of 72 to win. However, he shot a 78, and his last round is commonly referred to as one of the greatest collapses in major championship history. But Scott finished the job and won the green jacket, which goes to the winner. Australia now has its first Masters champion ever. 32 year old Adam Scott won his first major championship at the 2013 Masters.
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