Adam Scott had one of the finest performances of his career on Sunday during the final round at Augusta National, defeating Angel Cabrera in a two-hole playoff to become the first Australian to win the prestigious major and wear the green jacket.
According to ESPN.com, Scott shot a three under 69 and finished with a birdie on the 18th hole to set up a chance for Cabrera to match and he did just that, putting up a near perfect shot to set him up on the green near the hole for an easy birdie shot and finished with a two under 70 that tied him with Scott at nine under overall for the tournament. After a quick reset to the 18th hole, Scott and Cabrera took near identical shots on the approach and made par on the hole before setting up a final showdown on the 10th.
After Cabrera barely missed a 15-foot putt for birdie on the 10th hole, Scott lined up with his belly putter from just under that length and made it perfect to win the Masters. Scott helped erase some major meltdown memories from both the Masters and the British Open where he collapsed and now has a major championship to his name. Scott became the first Australian to win the Masters and highlighted a weekend that saw Aussies dominate with Scott, Jason Day and Marc Leishman, who finished tied for fourth place with Tiger Woods at five under.
Woods had himself some interesting weekend, as he was assessed a two stroke penalty after taking a wrong drop, but news on Sunday may have shown that no penalty actually occurred. The penalty would not have given Woods the win, but it may have changed how he approached the rounds on both Saturday and Sunday. Woods had an excellent finish while getting birdies on four out of five holes during a stretch while going for his first major since 2008 and his fifth green jacket, but it wasn't enough to get into the playoff.
Woods added his 11th top five finish at Augusta and despite the two stroke penalty he remained near the top of the leaderboard all day Sunday for the final round. Woods's next chance for a major will be in June at the US Open and he has already won three times on tour this season. Woods was a favorite heading into the Masters and two others in Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson finished over par and out of contention.
McIlroy continued his tough start to the 2013 season with a tie for 25th at two over, but on Sunday he at least shot his best round of the week with a 69 at three under par. Mickelson had a rough go at a course he historically is good at, failing to break 70 for just the fifth time in his career at Augusta. The playoff added some high drama to a tournament that had its fair share of it, including for Woods's drop issue and the penalty stroke for slow play given to Tianling Guan on Friday.
Scott finished ahead of Cabrera and Day, who was two strokes up on Woods and Leishman, while Brandt Snedeker finished sixth after being in the final group and Matt Kuchar finished tied for eighth. Ernie Els, Dustin Johnson and Fred Couple all finished at one under, while Tim Clark was at two under.