ADAM SCOTT HAS has dedicated his drought-breaking US Masters win to Australian champion Greg Norman.
In dramatic scenes last night, Scott held his nerve to clinch a key putt on the 18th hole before surviving a tense play-off over two holes against Argentine Angel Cabrera.
Having seen Cabrera’s putt on the second playoff hole curl narrowly wide, Scott stepped up and holed the 12-foot putt to become Australia’s first Masters champion.
But just before being presented with the famous green jacket, Scott was quick to dedicate his victory to Norman, the man who came so close before falling at the final hurdle in dramatic circumstances in 1986, 1987 and 1996.
“There was one guy who inspired a nation of golfers and that’s Greg Norman,” said Scott. “He’s been incredible to me and all the young golfers in Australia and you know part of this definitely belongs to him.
“I tried not to think about anything today along those lines,” Scott added when whether thoughts of his dramatic playoff loss in last year’s British Open crept through his head during the course of his final round.
“And the thing I did well out there was just stay right where I was, wherever I was on the golf course, I stayed in that one shot. Australia, it’s a proud sporting nation and this is one notch in the belt that we never got and amazing that it’s come down to me today.
“Marc (Leishman) and Jason Day… it could have been any of us. It fell my way today. There was some luck there somewhere, I don’t know how I digest it all at the moment but it was incredible.”
Having holed his putt at the 72nd hole, Scott let out a wild celebration only to quickly rein it in as Cabrera matched that birdie to set up the play-off.
“Well it was a split second I’d thought I’d won,” he said. “You never count your chickens.
“That was the putt. We’ve seen so many guys make it to win and that was what I thought, it’s time for me to step up and see how much I want this and to make a couple of putts to win the Masters tournament is just an amazing feeling.”
