LAST UPDATE | 10 Apr 2022
RORY MCILROY AND Shane Lowry both finished in the top three after the final round of the Masters at Augusta as Scottie Scheffler was crowned the winner of a Major for the first time.
McIlroy hit a sensational bunker shot at the last for birdie to crown a stunning final round of 64, but there was no stopping Scheffler who remained in control to win after leading overnight.
Scheffler emphatically underlined his status as world number one by claiming his first major title in the 86th Masters at Augusta National. Scheffler survived early pressure from Cameron Smith and then kept a charging McIlroy at bay to win for a remarkable fourth time in his last six events.
The 25-year-old American suffered the embarrassment of four-putting the 18th, but a closing 71 saw him finish 10 under par and three shots clear of McIlroy, whose stunning 64 equalled the lowest final round in tournament history, and included that stunning bunker shot for birdie at 18.
What a way to finish. McIlroy holes out on No. 18 to put pressure on the leader. #themasters pic.twitter.com/L5fWWbR9cj
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 10, 2022
Shane Lowry finished on -5 after carding a 69, an impressive outcome after a triple-bogey early in his round. That was good enough to see Lowry in a tie for third with the Australia Cameron Smith, who rallied from a devastating triple-bogey on the 12th.
Scheffler took a three-shot lead into the final round and, after seeing his advantage cut to a single stroke as Smith birdied the first two holes, chipped in for an unlikely birdie on the third to restore his overnight cushion as Smith bogeyed the same hole.
Smith also dropped a shot on the difficult par-three fourth hole and the gap remained four shots at the turn before the Australian made a superb birdie on the 11th, the most difficult hole on the course.
Bidding to join Tiger Woods as the only players to win the Masters and Players Championship in the same year, Smith’s chances promptly ended when he hit a terrible tee shot on the 12th into Rae’s Creek.
That left an inspired McIlroy alone in second, four shots behind Scheffler, until the Northern Irishman produced a stunning birdie from a greenside bunker on the 18th.
That completed a brilliant 64, just one shot outside the course record and eclipsing McIlroy’s previous lowest score of 65 in the opening round in 2011, when he went on to lead by four shots after 54 holes before slumping to a closing 80.
McIlroy had birdied the first and drove the green on the third to set up another, perhaps fuelled by missing out on the par-five second after hitting a 376-yard drive but then pushing his approach into a bunker.
The four-time major winner, who needed to win the Masters to complete a career grand slam, also picked up shots on the seventh and eighth before missing another good chance on the ninth, but swiftly made amends by chipping in from the back of the green on the 10th.
His round got even better with an eagle on the 13th and then came that magical bunker shot on the last for birdie.
Shane Lowry was three-under for his round, fighting back after a triple-bogey on the par-three fourth. The Offaly native had four birdies on his front nine.
He picked up a shot on the second before that mishap on the 4th after his tee shot, yet his recovery was admirable with birdies arriving on the 6th, 8th and 9th, as Lowry moved onto the back nine. He bogeyed the 12th but again rebounded with birdies on the 13th and 15th, before closing out with another birdie on the 18th.
Waterford’s Seamus Power struck 70 in his final round after a trio of 74s before then. That got Power to +4 for the tournament and ensured he finished in a tie for 27th, alongside Jon Rahm and Viktor Hovland.
His front nine featured three birdies and a bogey, but he was back to level par for the day with a dropped shot on 12. The 2021 Barbasol winner finished in style with birdies arriving on the par-five 13th and the par-three 16th.
Additional reporting by PA
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