Warning: mysqli_query(): (HY000/1030): Got error -1 from storage engine in /home/sportsun/public_html/wp-includes/wp-db.php on line 1942

Twenty-eight-year-old Danny Willett of Sheffield, England came from behind to win the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National on April 10th. Defending champion Jordan Spieth of America stumbled in the last round and blew a five-shot lead on the back nine. Spieth’s worst hole was the 12th as he finished the par-three cup with a quadruple bogey seven after two shots ended up in the water. He fell behind by three shots at that point and found himself in a too little-too late situation. Spieth led the tournament from wire to wire last year and had a chance to repeat that feat, but threw it away.

Willett becomes the first Englishman to wear the famous green jacket since 1996 when Nick Faldo captured the tournament. He’s also the first European to win the event since Jose Maria Olazabal wore the jacket back in 1999. Both Willett and Faldo shot bogey-free 67s in their final rounds to overcome big deficits. Spieth still hung onto a one-shot lead when he reached the 12th hole after a pair of bogeys on the 10th and 11th, but that was the turning point in the contest. Willett then took his opportunity and ran with it by shooting a five under par 283 during the tournament to give him a three-shot win over both Spieth and Lee Westwood.

Spieth was attempting to become just the fourth golfer to win consecutive Masters tournaments and the first person in 156 years to lead a major from wire to wire in two consecutive years. The last man to win back-to-back Masters was Tiger Woods in 2001/02. The odds of him pulling it off looked good after he recorded four birdies in a row when he ended the front nine in the final round for a five-shot lead. After his collapse, Spieth told the media, “It was a really tough 30 minutes for me that hopefully I never experience again.”

Willett extended his lead on the 16th hole with a birdie and Spieth was still in the game at that point as he hit a pair of birdies to cut Willett’s lead back to two shots. However, he then missed his birdie putt on the 16th and failed to hit par when he reached the 17th hole. He ended up leading the tournament for seven rounds and finished as the runner up for again for the second time in the past three years. Meanwhile, Westwood eagled the 15th hole to pull within a shot of Willett, but three-putted the next hole and fell behind by three.

With his first major victory, Willett is now ranked as the ninth-best male golfer in the world. Westwood ended the final at a three-under 69 while Spieth shot a 73. Paul Casey shot 67 in the final round while Dustin Johnson wet 71 and J.B. Holmes shot 68 as they all finished tied for fourth place. Just half a dozen golfers finished the event at under par.