South African Charl Schwartzel birdied the last four holes on Sunday to win the 75th Masters by two strokes over Australians Adam Scott and Jason Day in a dramatic back-nine showdown.
Schwartzel, who made it to Augusta only off his 2010 year-end top 50 world ranking, won 50 years to the day after countryman Gary Player became the first Masters winner from outside America.
He captured a $1.44 million top prize and the green jacket symbolic of Masters supremacy to pace a tension-packed day of sizzling back-nine drama among two fistfuls of golf's finest players.
Sunday at the 2011 Masters produced a number of intriguing storylines. Tiger Woods made a charge thanks to a strong front nine and got himself into contention to win the tournament. Rory McIlroy melted down starting with a triple-bogey on No. 11. And a number of players worked their way up the Masters leaderboard to put themselves in position to make a run at the green jacket.
In the end, the top story of the day was without a doubt Charl Schwartzel, who is the 2011 Masters winner. He put together an outstanding 66 in the final round of the Masters to finish 14 under and to win the tournament.
Schwartzel started off the day strong with a birdie on No. 1 and an eagle on No. 3. He did bogey the fourth hole, but then he settled back down and had a par on 10 straight holes.
Starting at No. 15, Schwartzel took his game to a new level. He birdied No. 15 and suddenly was at the top of the leaderboard. A birdie on 16 put him in excellent position with the tournament winding down, and a birdie on 17 put him in the driver's seat to win the whole thing. On the final hole of the Masters, Schwartzel again hit a birdie to not only finish the tournament with four in a row, but also to clinch his first ever major championship.
Jason Day and Adam Scott finished tied for second at 12 under. Tiger Woods was one of three players to finish at 10 under for the Masters. Angel Cabrera came in seventh at nine under and Bo Van Pelt and K.J. Choi were tied for eighth at eight under. Rory McIlroy, who entered the final round in first place, finished at four under.
 |
| Charl Schwartzel |
 |
| Adam Scott |
 |
| Rory Mcllroy |
No comments:
Post a Comment