Scott holds nerve to end years of hurt
Eight times an Australian had finished runner-up, including Scott, 32, just two years ago. This time he went one better, banishing the demons of losing last year’s Open Championship to Ernie Els with four dropped shots over the last four holes to claim his first major title.
Cabrera, 43, has only two wins on the PGA Tour – the 2007 US Open and the 2009 Masters, and the Argentine was clearly focused on another big prize to make a mockery of being ranked 269th in the world. Last night he watched Scott bury a birdie putt to move to nine under with a final round 70 then jammed an iron approach to three feet and sank a birdie of his own to force a sudden-death play-off in the Augusta rain.
They matched each other shot for shot for par at the 18th in sudden death and again onto the 10th green at the next hole before Cabrera left his birdie putt hanging over the hole. That left Scott with a 12-foot putt for the green jacket. He sank it as Australia whooped and hollered.
His fellow countryman Jason Day missed the play-off by two shots and claimed third at seven under with Tiger Woods and another Aussie, Marc Leishman, tied for fourth at five under, with Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olsesen the leading European at four under, tied for sixth with Cabrera’s overnight co-leader Brandt Snedeker.
Rory McIlroy added another frustrating Masters to his learning curve last night and headed into a two-week break to figure out how to put four solid rounds together at Augusta National The two-time major champion had felt primed to make the Masters the third leg of a majors grand slam after finally shaking off early-season rust with a runner-up finish in Texas last weekend. Yet a 79 on Saturday, and more specifically a five-over-par run between holes seven and 11, which he triple bogeyed, ended his hopes for another year, one bad round in an otherwise solid week’s work.
A closing three-under-par 69 yesterday eased a little of the pain, leaving the Holywood golfer at two over par and in a tie for 25th. Yet a tie for 15th in 2011, the year he led the Masters for 63 holes before collapsing on the back nine, remains his best finish in five starts, his scoring average in 18 rounds running slightly over par at 72.44. And as he headed towards the Cote D’Azur for a two-week break before resuming his PGA Tour schedule in Charlotte on May 2, two days before his 24th birthday, he spoke not only of what might have been but also how to ensure a better outcome in future.
“It’s frustration,” McIlroy said. “That’s what this golf course is, it’s frustrating. I know I’ve played good enough golf here to win it at times, it’s just a matter of stringing it all together in one week.
“It’s just the misses. Usually if I have a miss it’s not that bad, it might be in the semi-rough or it might just be in the rough. But my misses have been wide and that’s the thing that I need to sort out. A perfect example is the 11th (on Saturday). Instead of just missing it in the right rough you miss it 20 yards in the trees and you don’t have any shot.
“And then all of a sudden you chip it out and then you put your third in the water and it’s just, it’s tough. But if I can just sort out those misses so they’re not quite as wide and they’re still in play, then that’s what I need to do. I think that will definitely help me.”
McIlroy accepted that his lack of consistency around Augusta National, and his search for form this season, was “more a mental thing” but he was on the right road to solving those problems.
“Just trusting myself, trusting my swing, that’s really it. I played nicely today and I’ve got a couple weeks off now and I’m looking forward to getting back and playing in Charlotte and TPC (The Players Championship).
“I feel like my game’s definitely heading in the right direction, I’m hitting all the shots. It’s just a matter of committing to them all the time.
“I gave myself plenty of chances today. I got off to a good start yesterday, one under through six holes and feeling really good with my game and just sort of hit the handbrake.
“It’s just frustrating. Sometimes when you hit a good shot and all of a sudden it’s off the green and it is what it is and you have to embrace it. It’s Augusta and you’re going to get some good bounces, you’re going to get some bad. It will all even out in the end.”
McIlroy finished his round as four-time champion Woods was getting his under way — “I would rather be teeing off a little later than him again,” he said. Not being amongst the leaders will have served as a timely reminder of the value of experience as Cabrera, Bernhard Langer and Fred Couples, as well as Woods, all started after him.
“They know where to miss it. Even their bad shots are put in the right positions. So you can give your self an easy up-and-down. Because they have played it so many times that it’s sort of second nature to them and I’m trying to get there.”
McIlroy did add another highlight to the Masters memory bank yesterday, sending his tee shot on the 170-yard 16th to within inches, allowing him a one-handed tap-in and smile. As McIlroy knows only too well, there will need to be plenty more of those if he is to don a green jacket.
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