Masters final: Scheffler’s dominance, Smith’s collapse and McIlroy’s resurrection

The 86th Golf Masters has written its final chapter. The Augusta National Golf Club course saw another plethora of great performances from the world’s best players. But one stood out above them all this year. Scottie Scheffler escaped his pursuers, and in the end, he deservedly donned the world’s most famous green jacket.

Scottie Scheffler laid the foundation for his success in the second round, when he took the top of the leaderboard for the first time. Although his lead grew or shrank in the later parts of the game, Scheffler’s cool composure never allowed anyone to attack his lead.

One promising competitor was still Cameron Smith of Australia at the start of the final round. He made for drama especially after the first two holes when he brought his American rival to within one shot.

But from the third hole onwards, Smith started to chop errors. On the toughest hole, No.11, he had a birdie putt to give him some hope, but drowned it with his first shot in the water on the 12th. After a triple triple bogey on the shortest hole of the course, it was clear that Smith would not threaten Scheffler again.

Irish crowd favourite Rory McIlroy put on a spectacular show on the course in the final round. He started the round on a score of +1, but repeated his best score from Augusta on the final 18, shooting 64 shots.

For a moment it even looked like McIlroy might threaten the late champion. The highlight of his spirited Sunday drive was a fantastic bunker shot on the eighteenth hole. McIlroy played the best score of any player in the final round. The final second place still seemed like an unimaginable finish on Saturday.

But world number one Scottie Scheffler controlled the battle from a distance. His hands only slightly wobbled at the very end, where he made four putts on the 18th hole.

He shot 71 in the final round and, with a total score of -10 and a three-shot lead, he eventually went on to collect his green jacket, which, according to tradition, was worn by last year’s champion Hideki Matsuyama at the local clubhouse and then at the ceremony.

The fresh-faced twenty-five-year-old Masters champion pocketed a fabulous US$2,700,000 in prize money. The imaginary bronze medal was shared by the pair of Shane Lowry and Cameron Smith.

Source: The Masters