It took 80 years, but the Land Down Under finally found itelf a Masters champion.

Thirty-two-year-old Adam Scott, whose last starring appearance on the Major championship stage was a tragic meltdown at the 2012 British Open, rallied with a closing 69, then stared down 2009 Masters winner Angel Cabrera in sudden death to claim both his first Major title and – in a strange quirk of long-time golfing futility – Australia’s first-ever Green Jacket.  Scott was a relatively late arrival to the storyline, but his thrilling triumph lent a good taste to an event which might otherwise hae been remembered for a bizarre Tiger Woods rule infraction (see below) that would surely have led to eternal controversy had Woods somehow managed to claim the title.  Instead it became a splendid Masters Sunday – save for the afternoon’s steady rain – in which several players at various times seemed a likely winner.  Woods, for his part, never truly progressed beyond the edge of contention, bogeying the 5th and the 7th to fall nearly out of touch, then coming back with four subsequent birdies – not quite enough to really make his voice heard.  Early on it was Brandt Snedeker who appeared strong, carding the rare birdie at number one and looking very much in control of his game before bogeys at the 4th and 5th began a slide that would ultimately see him home in 75, tied for sixth.  Then it was Cabrera’s turn, with tap-in birdies at the 2nd and 7th giving him a two-shot cushion, a lead he would surrender with bogeys at the 10th and, alas, the par-5 13th.  This opened the door for Scott’s fellow Australian Jason Day, who began his round birdie-eagle (the latter off a holed bunker shot and the 2nd), then eventually moved into the lead with three straight birdis at the 13th, 14th and 15th.  But with his nation’s first Green Jacket now well in site, Day stumbled at the par-3 16th (failing to get up and down from just off the back fringe) and the 17th, where his hopes died in the front greenside bunker, leaving Day to eventually claim solo third, two strokes out of the playoff.  Enter Adam Scott, who’d frustratingly missed a number of putts early on but quietly moved into position with birdies at the 13th and 15th.  Believing a birdie at the last would be enough to win, Scott calmly drained a 20-footer for three and looked for all the world a champion – but Cabrera was still to be reckoned with.  Having clawed back into the mix with a clutch birdie at the 16th – and knowing he needed another at the last to tie – he delivered an epic blow, stuffing a 7-iron to three feet, and it was on to a playoff.
 
Both men got up-and-down from just shy of the 18th green on the first extra hole before Cabrera narrowly missed a 15-footer for birdie at the long par-4 10th.  Having drilled a 6-iron to 12 feet, Scott then coolly sunk the clinching putt – with a helpful read from ex-Tiger Woods caddie Steve Williams – to set of a nationwide celebration on the other side of the world.  For Scott it was a relatively quick redemption after 2012’s British Open collapse.  For Australian golf, it was 80 years in the waiting.