Tiger Woods wins his fourth Masters at the 69th Tournament
“I was just trying to throw the ball up there on the hill and let it feed down there and hopefully have a makeable putt. All of a sudden, it looked really good, and it looked like how could it not go in, and how did it not go in, and all of a sudden it went in.”
— Tiger Woods on his remarkable chip on 16.
Tiger Woods won his fourth Masters after a thrilling playoff with Chris DiMarco. Rain was a factor the whole week, delaying much of the play. The purse was $7.0 million and Woods earned $1.26 million.
A thrilling final round came down to a two man duel between Tiger Woods and Chris DiMarco. DiMarco narrowed the three shot lead to one by the 11th with a second birdie in three holes after Woods had dropped a shot at the 10th. The lead stretched back to two when DiMarco bogeyed the 12th at the heart of Amen Corner, but a stunning approach on 14 set up a birdie for DiMarco and cut the gap back to one.
Both players birdied 15 and set up a dramatic and memorable 16th hole. With DiMarco sitting comfortably in the center of the green Woods pushed his drive just off the green. Woods made a sensational chip, aiming 20 feet to the left of the hole and using the sloping green to run the ball towards the hole. The ball crept towards the cup and appeared to stop on the lip of the hole before toppling in for a dramatic birdie. DiMarco missed his birdie putt and the lead grew back to two with just two to play. Woods pushed his drive on 17 leading to a bogey, cutting the lead to one as they went to the 72nd hole.
Woods approach on 18 ended up in the greenside bunker while DiMarco ended up just short of the green. DiMarco's chip for birdie hits the pin rebounds ten feet away when it could easily have jammed in the hole. Woods hit his chip to 14 feet, but missed his par putt to win. DiMarco calmly sank a ten foot putt to force a playoff.
Tiger Woods defeated Chris DiMarco with a birdie on the first hole (hole 18) of the sudden death playoff clinching his ninth major and fourth Masters. Both players were in the fairway after their drives and Woods knocked his approach to 15 feet. DiMarco ended up just short of the green, the same spot he was at the end of regulation. DiMarco knocked his chip to five feet, but it didn't matter as Woods buried his birdie putt to win a thrilling final round. It marked the second consecutive major that DiMarco lost in a playoff.
“I went out and shot 68 around here on Sunday, which is a very good round, and 12-under is usually good enough to win. It was just that I was playing against Tiger Woods.”
— Chris DiMarco on his runner up finish.