Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl
Charl Schwartzel won the Masters by two strokes over Adam Scott and Jason Day after a wild final day at Augusta National on Sunday.
The 26-year-old South African closed with four straight birdies, making a 20-footer at the final hole to wrap up a 6-under 66. He finished 14-under 274, enough to deny Australia its first green jacket.
Scott shot a 67 and Day finished with two straight birdies for a 68, leaving both Aussies at 276. It wasn’t enough to hold off Schwartzel, who gives South Africa another major champion.
Tiger Woods finished with a 5 under 67 Sunday to tie Geoff Ogilvy and Luke Donald four strokes back at 10 under.
Scott seized the outright lead for the first time with an 8-foot birdie putt at the 14th. But it was still far too early to claim the title, not on a day when seven players had held at least a share of the lead. Scott was at 11 under, with eight players within two strokes of the lead.
Woods made a stunning front-nine charge on the first day of the Masters, making the turn with a 5-under 31 to tie for the lead with Rory McIlroy and Schwartzel.
Woods started Sunday a daunting seven shots off the lead, but he wiped out that deficit before he went to the back side at Augusta National. He made four birdies, a 10-footer for eagle at No. 8 and a brilliant up-and-down out of the bunker to save par at the ninth after driving onto the pine straw.
He couldn’t keep up the momentum on the back 9. He missed a short putt at the 12th, and another for an eagle at the 15th that would’ve given him the outright lead.
McIlroy gave up the lead with a triple-bogey at the 10th hole. After leading for three rounds, the 21-year-old got off to a shaky start, making the turn at 1-over 37. Still, he had a one-shot lead as he stepped to the 10th tee.
That’s where it all unraveled. He pulled his tee shot into the trees left of the fairway, and the ball apparently ricocheted between two of the club’s famous cabins. McIlroy had no choice but to punch it back out, but he still had a long shot to the green.
He yanked it left of the green, near a scoreboard, then banged a wedge off a tree limb. He finally chipped it onto the green — barely. Two putts left him with a 7, and sent him tumbling down the leaderboard.
Schwartzel, one of four players tied for second at the start of the round, made an early charge, as well. He chipped in for birdie out of the second cut at No. 1, then holed out a wedge from the fairway for an eagle at the third, the shortest par-4 on the course.
-ESPN
