South African Charl Schwartzel birdied the last four holes to win the 75th U.S. Masters on Sunday by two strokes over Australians Adam Scott and Jason Day in a dramatic back-nine showdown.
Schwartzel's third birdie in a row was a tension-packed eight-foot putt at the 17th hole that left him needing only to par the 18th to win his first Major golf title at age 26.
Instead, he dropped a 15-footer for birdie to finish off a six-under par 66, the field's low round. He also made a chip-in birdie at the first and an eagle from the fairway on the third Sunday in playing 72 holes on 14-under par 274.
“It was just a phenomenal day,” Schwartzel said. “There were so many roars. The atmosphere out there was incredible.”
Schwartzel denied Scott and Day their homeland's long-sought dream of having an Australian capture a Masters title, the only major crown no player from Down Under has claimed.
“Adam Scott was making birdies and I needed to do something,” Schwartzel said. “I made some good iron shots and some good putts.”
McIlroy doomed
It was only the second time in 21 years that the Masters winner did not come from the final pairing, Schwartzel in the penultimate group after entering the last round four strokes behind Rory McIlroy, whose last-day 80 doomed his bid.
Schwartzel captured a $1.44 million top prize and the green jacket symbolic of Masters supremacy to pace a tension-packed day of suspense among two fistfuls of golf's finest.
Scott birdied the par-4 14th to seize a one-stroke lead, overcame a poor chip at the par-5 15th to stay on top, then smashed his tee shot at the par-3 16th three feet from the cup to set up a birdie that gave him a two-shot edge.
Schwartzel answered the challenge with birdies at the par-5 15th and par-3 16th to match Scott atop the leaderboard on 12-under.
Back-to-back Amen Corner birdies by Day at the par-3 12th and par-3 13th put him at 10-under and he birdied the 17th to pull within one.
Scott answered the challenge by draining a 12-foot par putt to stay in a share of the lead but Schwartzel's fiery finish was too much to overcome.
Tiger roars
Tiger Woods closed with a 67 to share fourth with England's Luke Donald and Aussie Geoff Ogilvy on 278, one shot ahead of Argentina's Angel Cabrera and two better than South Korean K.J. Choi and American Bo Van Pelt, all of whom were also in the back-nine title fight.
Leading scores: Final round: 274 : Charl Schwartzel (69, 71, 68, 66).
276 : Jason Day (72, 64, 72, 68), Adam Scott (72, 70, 67, 67).
278 : Tiger Woods (71, 66, 74, 67), Geoff Ogilvy (69, 69, 73, 67), Luke Donald (72, 68, 69, 69).
279 : Angel Cabrera (71, 70, 67,71); 280: Bo Van Pelt (73, 69, 68, 70), K.J. Choi (67, 70, 71, 72).
