South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel has become the third South African to win The Masters, having come from through from the rest of the pack on the final day with an exhilarating round of 66 – which included birdies on each of the last four holes.
As I predicted yesterday, it was a classic final day of one of the finest Masters tournaments ever staged, certainly the best in my living memory.
Australian duo Jason Day (68) and Adam Scott (67) we tied for second place, meaning another year has past without an Australian winner, although it looked with a few holes to go that Scott was going to be wearing the famous green jacket.
Tiger Woods showed that he is still up there with the very best, at one point very much in contention having carded a superb 67 – he tied for third at 10 under with Luke Donald (69) and another Australian, Geoff Ogilvy (67).
Rory McIlroy, who led for the opening three rounds, had a nightmare couple of holes, and collapsed on the back nine, eventually going round in 80 to finish four under for the tournament.
“It was such an exciting day, with all the roars,” said Schwartzel. “The atmosphere was just incredible.”
His victory means that for the first time since 1994, none of the four majors are held by an American. He joins countryman Louis Oosthuizen, who won the Open last July, Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell (US Open) and Germany’s Martin Kaymer (US PGA).
Schwartzel’s win, in only his second Masters, sees him climb to 11th in the world rankings.
There are some great final day photos on the BBC Website.
Also be sure to check out the final leaderboard.
As for my tips, well my main tip Phil Mickelson finished way down the leaderboard, but one of my each way tips Luke Donald tied for third place at 25/1 which will do me for now! Another of my tips, Bo Van Pelt at 175/1 came extremely close too, finishing on eight under – he’s definitely one to watch in the future…
