The Masters has a tradition thrilling finishes and we got exactly that at Augusta this weekend. Heading into the day Angel Cabrera was clinging to the lead, but Aussie Adam Scott had something to say about that and he went down swinging, forcing a playoff with Cabrera to decide who would put on the green jacket.
For Cabrera, it wouldn’t have been his first green jacket but he was playing under rare circumstances. Before this weekend, Jack Nicklaus was the last golfer to use his son as his caddy, but Cabrera was golfing not only with the lead on Sunday but with his son at his side. Scott’s circumstances weren’t as family oriented as much as it was national pride. No Aussie had ever won at Augusta before and Scott was in line to become the first on Sunday.
The showdown was so epic that we needed extra holes to decide a winner. Scott and Cabrera both teed off the 18th hole tied at 8-under par but Scott put the pressure on with an extraordinary putt to birdie the hole. Scott’s putt put him at 9-under and in the lead, but Cabrera wasn’t about to give up. Cabrera hit an amazing shot from the fairway to land within mere inches of the hole, setting up an easy tap in for birdie and sending us to a playoff.
With the rain pouring at Augusta, both Cabrera and Scott ended up in almost identical spots after their second shot on 18. Scott hit the green with his second shot but it rolled off, meaning he’d have to chip it in to likely tie Cabrera. However, Cabrera hit the green on his second shot and had his ball roll off the green as well, putting the two golfers in the same spot.
Both golfers chipped and then putted their balls in to par the 18th and move on to a sudden-death showdown on the 10th hole. Even there, the two golfers remained almost deadlocked in every way, as Cabrera and Scott both teed off and landed in the same area of the fairway. That remained the way things were going to go on the 10th, as Cabrera and Scott both hit the green in relative distances from the hole.
It all ended when Cabrera barely overshot the hole by mere centimeters, setting up a winning birdie by Scott.
With the win, Scott becomes the first Australian to win a green jacket at Augusta and it is stands as his first ever win in a PGA major. We couldn’t have asked for a more thrilling finish to the Masters, and as much of a nail biter as it was, it’s yet another memorable thread in the most historic tournament in sports.