The old saying is the Masters doesn't start til the final 9 on Sunday
Here is the leaderboard http://www.majorschampionships.com/masters/2012/scoring/
Phil Mickelson took a 6 on the par 3 4th. He drove it left off the grandstand, found it in the bamboo, chose to make a hack instead of going back to the tee, barely moved it, played right handed next with a turned over wedge, almost missed it, flopped into the bunker from a trampled lie, made the up and down for 6...He went from -8 to -5
Meanwhile Louis Oosthuizen made an albatross 2 at the par 5 2nd , holing a 4 iron for 2. He is at -9 and leads..
FINAL WRAP
First let's talk about the contenders. Peter Hanson opened with 3 5's in a row to drop 2 shots, back to -7 and he didn't make a birdie until the 15th, missed all the putts he was making on Saturday, ended up with a 73, T3 -8. Mickelson as I said, recovered from that triple bogey and managed to stay in contention, but he could only make birdies on the two par 5s on the back and shot 72, T3 -8
Lee Westwood made three straight birdies, but he had an 8-foot eagle putt to tie for the lead on the 15th and missed it, and a final birdie on the 18th gave him a 68, finished T3, -8, his seventh top-3 finish in a major since the 2008 U.S. Open.
Matt Kuchar tied for the lead with a short eagle putt on the 15th, then bogeyed the 16th for a 69 T3 -8
Now to Bubba and Louis who finished tied at -10.
Louis had the lead at -10 after the albatross at #2 and stayed in the lead with a slippery par putt from 10 feet on the 14th and an 8-foot birdie putt on the 15th, but Bubba caught him by making his fourth straight birdie on the back nine, a shot into 4 feet on the par 3 16th. Both made pars at 17 and 18. Louis did nothing wrong on the day, he made one putt after putt on the back nine, especially a 5 footer on the 18th for a 69 to force the playoff.
PLAYOFF
They played 18, both had a shot at birdie and missed.
Then it ended in spectacular fashion at the par 4 10th. Louis drove in the fairway, Bubba hooked his wildly deep into the woods, but found it and had a shot off the pine needles..
It turned out to be the shot. It will be remembered every bit as much as Mickelson's 6 iron from the trees in 2010. He was so deep in the trees right of the fairway that he couldn't see the green. He hooked a wedge from 155 yards to about 10 feet from the hole.
"Hooked it about 40 yards, hit about 15 feet off the ground until it got under the tree and then started rising," Watson said. "Pretty easy."
"I had no idea where he was," Oosthuizen said. "Where I stood from, when the ball came out, it looked like a curve ball. Unbelievable shot. That shot he hit definitely won him the tournament."
Louis had a 12 footer of his own for par that broke a foot from left to right, and it looked in all the way, but somehow slid right across the hole as he sank to his knees.
Bubba lagged up close then tapped in for the par that won him the 76th Masters. He immediately broke down, sobbing in his caddy's then his mother's arms.
As for the much vaunted Tiger/ Rory showdown ??
Woods, an over hyped favourite coming in, based on his win at Arnie's was never close to being a factor on the weekend. He closed with a birdie on the 18th for a 74 and had his highest score ever at the Masters, finishing at +5 293, just 15 shots out of the lead, T40 with Rory, who was one shot out of the lead after two rounds, then had a 77-76 weekend.
For the emotional wreck that Watson undoubtedly is, he is as entertaining a golfer as there is to watch anywhere. If he were to retire to spend the next 20 years raising his new son Caleb, he could make a handsome living as a trick shot artist.
Kind of like the one he used to win this year's Masters..
Bryan Angus also on twitter@mummmbles and at www.isr1050.com
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