The Masters – R4

April 11-14
Augusta National GC, Augusta, Georgia
$11,000,000
Live leaderboard
Round 1, Round 2, Round 3

Tiger Woods held his nerve on a wonderfully chaotic final day at Augusta National to win his 15th major title, and a first in 11 years, in the 83rd Masters.

Amid a dizzying series of twists and turns, Woods carded a closing 70 to finish 13 under par, one shot ahead of Dustin Johnson, Xander Schauffele and Brooks Koepka, the reigning US Open and US PGA champion.

Overnight leader Francesco Molinari was two clear with seven to play but dumped his tee shot on the 12th into Rae’s Creek and also double-bogeyed the 15th, the Open champion having to settle for a tie for fifth with Tony Finau, Webb Simpson and Jason Day.

It is the first time Woods has won a major when trailing after 54 holes and comes 3,954 days since he beat Rocco Mediate in a play-off for the 2008 US Open, despite a double stress fracture and knee injury which prompted season-ending surgery.

And it is just two years since he told Jack Nicklaus “I’m done” during the Champions Dinner at Augusta National, after which he flew straight to London to see the consultant who recommended he undergo what proved to be career-saving spinal fusion surgery.

With thunderstorms forecast to hit the course in mid-afternoon, tournament officials took the unprecedented decision to move the tee times forward by several hours, with players sent out in groups of three from both the first and 10th tees.

Molinari began the day with a two-shot lead over Woods and Finau and found himself three clear after six straight pars, but Woods closed the gap to a single shot with the aid of back-to-back birdies to set up a thrilling finale.

Woods had ridden his luck at times in his third round of 67 and finally paid the price for a wild drive on the 10th, the resulting bogey dropping him two behind Molinari, who saved par superbly after pulling his approach left of the green.

However, the wind was playing havoc on the daunting par-three 12th and Molinari, Koepka, Ian Poulter and Finau all dumped their tee shots into the water guarding the front of the green.

Sensing his opportunity, Woods played safely away from the pin and a somewhat nervy par, after leaving his birdie attempt five feet short, gave him a tie for the lead as Molinari could not get up and down following a penalty drop.

An amazing day then took another twist as Patrick Cantlay, who only made the halfway cut with a shot to spare, followed his third round of 64 with five birdies and an eagle on the 15th to briefly claim the lead, only to bogey the next two holes.

Birdies from Johnson and Koepka made it a five-way tie before Molinari’s mishap on the 15th, where Woods two-putted from long range for birdie to take the outright lead for the first time.

Woods was then inches away from the third hole-in-one of the day on the 16th and tapped in for birdie to double his lead, allowing him the luxury of a bogey on the last before the exuberant celebrations could begin as chants of ‘Tiger, Tiger’ reverberated around the 18th green.

“That will be the greatest scene in golf forever,” said six-time major winner Nick Faldo, commentating for CBS. “We will never see anything as exhilarating as that.”

Woods, who was presented with his fifth green jacket by 2018 winner Patrick Reed, said at the presentation ceremony: “I’m a little hoarse I think from yelling.

“It’s overwhelming because of what has transpired. Last year I was just lucky to be playing again, the previous dinner I was really struggling, missed a couple of years of this great tournament and to now be the champion… 22 years between wins (his first was in 1997) is a long time.

“It’s unreal for me to experience this. I couldn’t be more happy and excited, I’m kind of at a loss for words.

“To have my kids there, it’s come full circle. My dad was here in ’97 and now I’m the dad with two kids there.”

Woods added: “I was just trying to plod my way around all day, all of a sudden I had the lead coming up 18 trying to make a five.

“When I tapped in I don’t know what I did, I just know I screamed, then I was looking for Joey (LaCava, his caddie) somewhere.”

Woods then embraced his son Charlie, daughter Sam and mother Kultida behind the 18th green and added: “My little boy Charlie, that embrace is just special.

“Sam lost a State soccer tournament yesterday so I convinced her to come up and watch the Masters and luckily I was able to win.”

 

 

Pos.	Player	To Par	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
1	Tiger Woods	-13	70	68	67	70	275
T2	Dustin Johnson	-12	68	70	70	68	276
T2	Xander Schauffele	-12	73	65	70	68	276
T2	Brooks Koepka	-12	66	71	69	70	276
T5	Jason Day	-11	70	67	73	67	277
T5	Webb Simpson	-11	72	71	64	70	277
T5	Tony Finau	-11	71	70	64	72	277
T5	Francesco Molinari	-11	70	67	66	74	277
T9	Jon Rahm	-10	69	70	71	68	278
T9	Patrick Cantlay	-10	73	73	64	68	278
T9	Rickie Fowler	-10	70	71	68	69	278
T12	Bubba Watson	-8	72	72	67	69	280
T12	Justin Thomas	-8	73	68	69	70	280
T12	Justin Harding	-8	69	69	70	72	280
T12	Matt Kuchar	-8	71	69	68	72	280
T12	Ian Poulter	-8	68	71	68	73	280
17	Aaron Wise	-7	75	71	68	67	281
T18	Patton Kizzire	-6	70	70	73	69	282
T18	Phil Mickelson	-6	67	73	70	72	282
T18	Adam Scott	-6	69	68	72	73	282
T21	Si Woo Kim	-5	72	72	70	69	283
T21	Kyle Stanley	-5	72	72	70	69	283
T21	Matthew Fitzpatrick	-5	78	67	68	70	283
T21	Kevin Kisner	-5	69	73	72	69	283
T21	Rory McIlroy	-5	73	71	71	68	283
T21	Jordan Spieth	-5	75	68	69	71	283
T21	Lucas Bjerregaard	-5	70	72	69	72	283
T21	Thorbjorn Olesen	-5	71	71	68	73	283
T29	Charley Hoffman	-4	71	71	72	70	284
T29	Bryson DeChambeau	-4	66	75	73	70	284
T29	Louis Oosthuizen	-4	71	66	71	76	284
T32	Viktor Hovland (a)	-3	72	71	71	71	285
T32	Hideki Matsuyama	-3	75	70	68	72	285
T32	Gary Woodland	-3	70	71	74	70	285
T32	Charles Howell III	-3	73	67	76	69	285
T36	Kevin Tway	-2	72	71	70	73	286
T36	Henrik Stenson	-2	74	72	67	73	286
T36	Tommy Fleetwood	-2	71	71	70	74	286
T36	Jimmy Walker	-2	72	72	72	70	286
T36	Alvaro Ortiz (a)	-2	73	71	73	69	286
T36	Patrick Reed	-2	73	70	74	69	286
T36	Rafa Cabrera Bello	-2	73	70	75	68	286
T43	Keegan Bradley	-1	76	68	71	72	287
T43	Keith Mitchell	-1	72	74	72	69	287
T43	Haotong Li	-1	72	74	73	68	287
T46	Corey Conners	E	70	71	71	76	288
T46	Kevin Na	E	71	73	73	71	288
T46	Andrew Landry	E	72	73	73	70	288
T49	Marc Leishman	1	72	72	70	75	289
T49	Kiradech Aphibarnrat	1	69	72	75	73	289
T51	Cameron Smith	2	70	74	69	77	290
T51	Eddie Pepperell	2	74	73	72	71	290
T51	Martin Kaymer	2	73	74	72	71	290
T51	Trevor Immelman	2	74	72	75	69	290
55	Devon Bling (a)	3	74	73	71	73	291
T56	Tyrrell Hatton	4	73	73	72	74	292
T56	Billy Horschel	4	72	75	74	71	292
T58	Takumi Kanaya (a)	5	73	74	68	78	293
T58	Branden Grace	5	72	75	72	74	293
T58	Zach Johnson	5	74	73	73	73	293
61	Satoshi Kodaira	6	75	70	73	76	294
T62	J.B. Holmes	8	70	72	74	80	296
T62	Bernhard Langer	8	71	72	75	78	296
T62	Emiliano Grillo	8	72	75	73	76	296
T62	Alex Noren	8	75	72	75	74	296
CUT	Sandy Lyle	4	73	75	—	—	148
CUT	Stewart Cink	4	76	72	—	—	148
CUT	Justin Rose	4	75	73	—	—	148
CUT	Kevin O’Connell (a)	4	77	71	—	—	148
CUT	Mike Weir	4	72	76	—	—	148
CUT	Danny Willett	4	75	73	—	—	148
CUT	Sergio Garcia	4	73	75	—	—	148
CUT	Adam Long	5	75	74	—	—	149
CUT	Brandt Snedeker	5	75	74	—	—	149
CUT	Fred Couples	5	78	71	—	—	149
CUT	Charl Schwartzel	5	77	72	—	—	149
CUT	Shugo Imahira	6	76	74	—	—	150
CUT	Larry Mize	7	77	74	—	—	151
CUT	Shane Lowry	7	78	73	—	—	151
CUT	Matt Wallace	8	75	77	—	—	152
CUT	Jovan Rebula (a)	8	73	79	—	—	152
CUT	Michael Kim	10	76	78	—	—	154
CUT	Paul Casey	10	81	73	—	—	154
CUT	Vijay Singh	12	80	76	—	—	156
CUT	Ian Woosnam	12	80	76	—	—	156
CUT	Jose Maria Olazabal	13	78	79	—	—	157
CUT	Angel Cabrera	13	82	75	—	—	157