The Masters 2024: final round at Augusta – as it happened | The Masters

Summarize this content to 100 words Key eventsShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureJon Rahm helps Scottie into his green jacket with a couple of celebratory slaps on the back … and that’s a wrap at the 2024 Masters. Here’s how the top of the leader board looked once it all came down. Thanks for reading all four days of this blog!-11: Scheffler-7: Åberg-4: Fleetwood, Homa, Morikawa-2: Smith, DeChambeau-1: SchauffeleE: Zalatoris, Hatton, Young+1: Pavon, Reed, Schenk, Davis+2: Straka, Kirk, An, HojgaardShareScottie Scheffler is welcomed back to the Butler Cabin. “I did my best to stay calm … I tried to stay patient … I made some key shots and putts … Ludvig played great, he made a great move there on the back nine … I was fortunate to hold him off … on 9 it was a nice to get that feeling of hitting a really well-struck shot … that kinda set me up to have a really nice back nine.”A message for his wife Meredith, as the couple prepare to become parents: “I’m coming home! I’ll be home as quick as I can. I love you and I’m coming home!”ShareThe Butler Cabin. First up, the low amateur Neal Shipley, who went round with Tiger Woods today. “It’s a day I’m going to cherish forever … he was great to me out there … to have all the patrons rooting both of us on was phenomenal … this week is going to be one of the best weeks of my life … something I will remember forever … especially being able to play with Tiger … the whole week in general!”ShareScottie Scheffler falls into the arms of friends and family. All his loved ones. Max Homa! That was an outrageously good round of golf, not least because it took him most of the front nine to really get going. But the minute the chasing pack pulled up to his bumper, he sped off into the distance. Ludvig Aberg’s jaw-dropping birdie putt on 9 was the spark for a stunning response: nearly holing out for eagle at 9, the conquest of the notoriously difficult 10th, another kick-in birdie at 14 just when Aberg briefly threatened to revive his bid. Scheffler, the world number one, the reigning Players champion, now a two-time Masters champion, is simply the best in the world right now by some distance. Too good. Too many extra gears. What a round of golf!ShareScottie Scheffler wins the 2024 Masters!Scheffler tidies up for his par, and that’s a wonderful 68. He hugs his caddie then takes his cap off to salute the crowd that’s saluting him. Collin Morikawa congratulates him too. Scheffler raises both arms in triumph and a mixture of relief and joy washes over his face! What a performance!-11: Scheffler (F)-7: Aberg (F)-4: Fleetwood (F), Homa (F), Morikawa (F)Scottie Scheffler celebrates on the 18th green after winning the 2024 Masters. Photograph: Jamie Squire/Getty ImagesShareUpdated at 01.14 CESTCollin Morikawa makes it! Lovely to see. It’d have been cruel had he slipped out of third place. Bogey, though, which means he now shares it with Tommy Fleetwood and Max Homa. All three deserve their podium finish.Share… and he chips up to three feet. He’s about to win his second Masters, but first Collin Morikawa has to finish the hole. He splashes out to eight feet. A fine shot, but he needs to make this putt if he’s to avoid making a third double-bogey in the last ten holes. Not ideal behaviour on Masters Sunday.ShareThe patrons of Augusta National stand as one to greet their champion-in-waiting. The applause continues to ripple as he prowls the green, sizing up his last chip. He’s home and hosed, yet he wouldn’t be human if he doesn’t remember his shaky four-putt on this green when he won two years ago. He’ll be taking nothing for granted …Scottie Scheffle plays his shot from the 18th tee. Photograph: Jamie Squire/Getty ImagesShareUpdated at 01.03 CESTMorikawa is miles back. So far, in fact, that he can’t see the green. He lashes a fairway wood towards the target, but lands short, in the bunker at the front. Unless he holes out from there, Tommy Fleetwood and Max Homa will be guaranteed a share of third.ShareLudvig Aberg is receiving one heck of a reception from the Augusta patrons. Everyone wants to slap his hand in congratulations. He looks relaxed and happy. The week could hardly have gone any better. Well, yes, of course, but y’know. He’ll be back! Meanwhile Collin Morikawa is in all sorts of tree-bound bother and can only chop out back down the hole. Before he can take his third, Scottie Scheffler carefully wedges out from the sand. A lay-up at a par four. Hey, if you’ve got the shots in hand, use them.ShareTwo putts for Max Homa, who signs for a 73 and ends the week in a tie for fourth. Meanwhile Ludvig Aberg gets up and down from the sand, and receives the warmest of ovations after his 69. He’ll end the week in second spot. The last Masters debutant to do that? Jordan Spieth in 2014, and he won the thing 12 months later. Just sayin’!ShareScottie’s tee shot at 18 finds Sandy’s Sand. Morikawa’s finds the trees down the right; he’ll need to take care if he wants to hold onto third place for himself.ShareUpdated at 00.52 CESTScottie Scheffler finds the middle of 17 in two easy swipes, then nearly guides in the birdie putt. It’s the width of a dimple to the right of the cup. Par. Just the four-shot lead going up the last, then. Meanwhile up the 18th, Max Homa finds the green in regulation, while Ludvig Aberg sends his final approach of the week into greenside sand.ShareA bogey at the last for Xander Schauffele. He signs for a 73 and will end the week in the top ten of a major yet again. Par for Bryson DeChambeau, whose 73 leaves him in a tie for sixth with Cameron Smith.ShareLudvig Aberg’s birdie putt on 17 is more like 30 feet than 12. Blame the camera angle. Blame bleary eyes after four days of blogging. Blame idiocy. You won’t be too far off if you plump for all three. So it’s asking a bit much of him to make it. Two putts and that’s a par. Max Homa can’t get up and down from greenside sand, though, and he slips back to -4.ShareScottie Scheffler strokes his gentle right-to-left slider into the cup. Did you expect to read anything else? Meanwhile it’s a two-putt par from distance for Collin Morikawa. This is over. To be honest, it’s been over since Scheffler birdied 10 while Aberg was finding water at 11. But for a wee while, we had a four-way fight back there!-11: Scheffler (16)-7: Aberg (16)-5: Homa (16), Morikawa (16)ShareIf Scottie Scheffler is nervous, there are no betraying jangles to be heard. He sends a gentle draw into 16, the tilt of the green setting up a ten-foot birdie opportunity. Up on 17, Ludvig Aberg caresses an 8-iron 12 feet past the flag. A couple of big putts coming up, if there’s to be any weird twist in the tale.ShareAberg gets it close! He splashes 15 feet past the flag, hoping that the camber of the green will bring it back, Tiger-style. It does, but not by enough. He’ll rescue his par, though. That’s a clever up-and-down. He remains at -7. Meanwhile back on 15, Scheffler batters his long bunker shot 20 feet past the flag, but that’s about the best he could have hoped for. He races the first putt three feet past, but he’s not missing the one coming back. Par, and he’s one step closer to home. Birdie for Morikawa.-10: Scheffler (15)-7: Aberg (16)-5: Homa (16), Morikawa (15)-4: Fleetwood (F)-2: Smith (F), DeChambeau (17), Schauffele (17)Scottie Scheffler reacts on the 15th green during the final round. Photograph: Andrew Redington/Getty ImagesShareUpdated at 00.37 CESTScheffler sends his shot over water at 15 and into the bunker to the right of the green. Morikawa, who lays up having driven into trees down the right, wedges to 15 feet. Meanwhile up on 16, Aberg flirts with the water but his ball lands in the bunker. He’s super short-sided, though. Good luck getting that one close.ShareSome proper close-but-no-cigar stuff by Max Homa and Ludvig Aberg on 15. Homa had creamed his second into the green, only for the ball to topple off the back, just an inch or two too long. He can’t get his chip up close, no matter how delicate, and he’s got to settle for par. As does Aberg, who tickles his birdie putt down to the cup, only for it to drift right at the end and shave the lip.-10: Scheffler (14)-7: Aberg (15)-5: Homa (15)-4: Fleetwood (F), Morikawa (14)ShareA par for Tommy Fleetwood at the last. A final round of 69 and he ends the week at -4. Meanwhile a 71 for Cameron Smith; the 2022 Open champ will finish in the top ten at -2.ShareYep, in goes Scottie’s putt. Meanwhile Aberg’s drive at 15 had gone into the trees, and so he punches back out. His third, a wedge over the flag, thinks about spinning back close, but snags in the fringe. He’ll have to make a difficult downhill tickler for birdie, and even then it’ll probably not be enough … especially as Scheffler has just battered his drive at this hole straight down the middle. Procession ahoy!-10: Scheffler (14)-7: Aberg (14)-5: Homa (14)-4: Fleetwood (17), Morikawa (14)-3: DeChambeau (15)-2: Smith (17), Schauffele (15)-1: Davis (16)ShareAnything Ludvig Aberg can do, Scottie Scheffler can do even better. He lands his wedge at 14 behind the flag before spinning it back to kick-in distance. He’ll restore his three-shot lead. His performance since rediscovering his distance control on 9 has been little short of other-worldly. This is almost certainly a procession now, unless there’s a real kicker in the final chapter.ShareThe other problem for Aberg is that perfection is pretty much required from now until the clubhouse if he’s to snatch this from Scheffler. So sending his tee shot down the left of 15 isn’t the smartest thing to do. He won’t be able to go for the green in two from there.ShareLudvig Aberg, drawing on his supercool, rolls his birdie putt straight in at 14. His response to dunking his ball in the water at 11 has been quite outstanding. This is his major championship debut! That requires constant reminders. If you didn’t know for sure, you’d struggle to believe it. Only problem is, Scottie Scheffler is a force of nature himself, and he’s coming behind and not looking in the mood to make any mistakes. He blooters a big tee shot down 14 and you wouldn’t bet too much of the farm on his getting close with his approach and replicating Aberg’s birdie.-9: Scheffler (13)-7: Aberg (14)-5: Homa (13)-4: Fleetwood (17), Morikawa (13)Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg hits an approach on the 14th hole, leading to a birdie. Photograph: Mike Blake/ReutersShareUpdated at 00.14 CESTUp on 14, Ludvig Aberg wedges over the flag and sets up a straight uphill five-footer for birdie. He’ll need that for sure, because back on 13, Scottie Scheffler makes his short putt for a fourth birdie in six holes. Collin Morikawa makes his birdie too.-9: Scheffler (13)-6: Aberg (13)-5: Homa (13)-4: Fleetwood (17), Morikawa (13)ShareIt’s not clear who’s closer to the 13th pin: Collin Morikawa or Scottie Scheffler. They’re both miles away, this much we know. So they spin a tee to decide. Very causal. No biggie, they’re just competing for the Masters, is all. The tee falls and points at Morikawa, who goes first, and chips down gracefully to six feet. Scheffler then strokes a putt to similar distance. Both will have a great look at birdie.ShareLudvig Aberg clatters his drive miles down the track at 14. He’s responded really well to that double-bogey mistake at 11. But you suspect he really needed to make that eagle putt on 13 for a chance of gaining any real ground on Scottie Scheffler, because the world number one clacks his second into the 13th green. His ball’s back left, with the flag front right, and he’ll be a good 50 or 60 feet away from the flag. But if he makes it down in two careful putts, he’ll restore his three-stroke advantage at the top.ShareMax Homa’s birdie putt has a left-to-right swing. He sends it off along the perfect line, but doesn’t hit it. His ball stops one turn short. Par. Ludvig Aberg then buckles his knees in irritation as his eagle putt stays high on the left, not turning at all despite travelling on a fairly similar line. It’s a birdie, though, and for a couple of moments at least, Scottie Scheffler’s lead is down to two.-8: Scheffler (12)-6: Aberg (13)-5: Homa (13)ShareLudvig Aberg hasn’t given up, that’s for sure! He creams a 4-iron into the middle of 13, the camber of the green gathering his ball to 15 feet or so. He’ll have a relatively straight look at eagle. Max Homa lays up, then wedges to 25 feet. Coming behind, Scottie Scheffler sends his drive into the second cut to the right, but he’ll be able to fly one in from there. Collin Morikawa whistles his tee shot along the Tiger Line down the left.ShareThis isn’t over yet … though the vibe around Augusta National at the moment suggests most of the patrons think it is. After a period of high drama, when Ludvig Aberg and Scottie Scheffler were trading outrageous birdies at 9, the atmosphere has gone a bit flat thanks to the series of mistakes made by the chasing pack. Scheffler and Collin Morikawa both take two careful putts for their pars on 12, while Max Homa and Ludvig Aberg find the fairway with their drives at 13. Aberg may be in a position to go for the green in two; not sure Homa, who sent his out to the right, will be able, or even minded, to do the same. Let’s see.-8: Scheffler (12)-5: Homa (12), Aberg (12)-4: Fleetwood (16)ShareAfter a five-minute wait as Max Homa faffed around, Scottie Scheffler takes aim at the 12th. Into the heart of the green. Maybe 30 feet away, but the safe play. Collin Morikawa gets a bit closer and claps his hands together in determination, a desperate cry to himself to take it up a notch. The entire chasing pack in the last-chance saloon already, unless Scottie Scheffler gives them a helping hand. Hey, it’s happened before around Augusta National, nothing’s set in stone yet.ShareMax Homa takes a drop onto the pine straw, the best result he could hope for. But the chip is no good, duffed into the fringe and left short of the green. His next one sails six feet past, and he does very well to make the one coming back. But that’s a double-bogey five, and suddenly Scottie Scheffler has a three-stroke lead. Ludvig Aberg pars after a calm two-putt from distance.-8: Scheffler (11)-5: Homa (12), Aberg (12)-4: Fleetwood (15)-3: DeChambeau (13), Morikawa (11)Max Homa of the U.S. looks for his ball with his caddie Joe Greiner on the 12th hole. Photograph: Mike Blake/ReutersShareUpdated at 00.15 CEST
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2024/apr/14/the-masters-2024-final-round-at-augusta-live The Masters 2024: final round at Augusta – as it happened | The Masters