Sergio Garcia finally snags major Masters victory

Sergio Garcia finally claimed the major championship victory that the golfing world had decided was his for the taking as a teenager, winning the Masters on Sunday night in his 74th major start, writes the Irish Examiner's Simon Lewis.

On the late Seve Ballesteros's 60th birthday, Garcia, 37, became Spain's third Masters champion having prevailed in a play-off with Justin Rose, defeating the Englishman at the first hole of sudden death at Augusta National.

Both men had tussled throughout the day, playing in the final pairing having shared the 54-hole lead but 72 holes could not separate them, each finishing on nine under par after closing three-under-par 69s.

Garcia had had the chance to win at the last hole of regulation but missed from five feet to send the tournament into a play-off. His wait to join Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal, both two-time Masters champions, would not take too much more of his time.

Up to then it had been gripping, a see-saw battle with both men tied for the lead at the turn. The start of the second nine had exposed a shaky swing from Garcia, who missed the 10th green and dropped his first shot of the round, falling to seven under, Rose now in the outright lead heading into Amen Corner.

More woe enveloped Garcia with a bogey at 11 and when he was forced to take a drop on the dogleg par-five 13th, Rose was firmly in the driving seat. Yet this was a contest set to hit another gear and Garcia signalled another momentum shift when he saved par at 13 and then birdied 14.

Then Garcia spectacularly eagled the par-five 15th, his approach pitching inches from the hole and rolling to 14 feet, from where he holed out to a massive roar from the gallery.

An emotional round for the ages.

Highlights galore from Sergio on Sunday: pic.twitter.com/IPZ4RrlANh

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 10, 2017

The symmetry was uncanny as the last champion to make an eagle on the back nine of a final round was Olazabal at the same hole in 1994.

It sent him to nine under, where he was quickly joined by Rose, who followed him in with a birdie and then re-took the lead, throwing down the gauntlet at the 16th as he sank his eight-foot birdie putt at the par three with his friend and rival facing a six-footer. Garcia left it short, and the Englishman was alone in the lead once more, one ahead at 10 under with two to play.

Another twist as Rose bogeyed 17 after finding a greenside bunker and missing a seven-foot putt and the duo went to the last tied at nine under.

There were still more fireworks to come in what had turned into a thrilling tussle. Rose's approach drifted right but fortuitously bounced towards the flag after taking a big kick off a greenside mound, Garcia following that with the shot of his life, sticking his iron from 135 yards out to five feet.

Rose putted first from seven feet and watched in agony as the ball didn't break, rolling two feet past the hole and settling for par.

It left Garcia with the five footer to win the Masters but he pushed it wide right as the entire gallery around the green seemed to groan in disbelief.

A sudden death play-off it was, the pair heading back to the 18th tee and Garcia gaining the upper hand as Rose pushed his drive into trees on the right of the fairway, though his ball once again took a fortunate ricochet, rolling back out towards the fairway.

Garcia, though, was on the fairway, almost 40 yards further ahead and Rose's punch-out from pine straw just about overtook the Spaniard's ball. Garcia, with the advantage and the bit between his teeth, sent in his approach to 12 feet as Rose sent his third shot to 14 feet, graciously hanging back as his rival took the plaudits as he walked onto the green.

Putting first, Rose had his par putt to stay alive

The pair had been locked together since the previous night, sharing the 54-hole lead at six under par, one shot ahead of American Rickie Fowler.

Jordan Spieth was a further shot in arrears having rebounded from an opening 75 to get to four under and looking for all the world like the player with serious momentum behind him. Yet just as he had failed to close the deal as 54-hole leader in 2016, the final round was proving a bridge too far last night.

He bogeyed the first and was battling from there on. A birdie at the second was a false dawn, followed by bogeys at the third, sixth and 10th holes and, to compound his misery, a return to the water at the par-three 12th in a repeat of his 2016 nightmare.

With Spieth fading to a 75 to finish at one under and Fowler crumbling to a 76 to join his playing partner in a group tied for 11th, it was as if all the leading cast were playing against type. Garcia, assumed to be the nerviest of the leading contenders, birdied two of his first three holes and Rose, mister consistency around Augusta National, bogeyed the fifth to hand his Ryder Cup team-mate a two-shot lead.

Yet Rose rallied in impressive fashion, sinking three birdies in a row to join Garcia in the lead at eight under as they moved into the all-important second nine, where the Spaniard's nerves would be challenged like never before as a first major title beckoned.

There was drama elsewhere as Matt Kuchar reached five under with an ace on the 16th on the way to 67, while Belgian debutant Thomas Pieters sank four birdies in a row from the 12th before a bogey at 16 stopped his charge, his 68 good enough for a share of fourth with Kuchar on an accomplished Masters debut.

Both were overtaken by 2011 champion Charl Schwarzel, who drained a 23-foot putt at the last to claim outright third with a 68 at six under par.

Six shots behind Garcia and Rose lead, world number two Rory McIlroy fired a closing 69 to claim a tie for seventh at three under, his fourth consecutive top-10 finish at the Masters.