Golf Events / Editor / 09 April 2007 /

The Story of the Final Round

One of the most dramatic and pulsating US Masters in living memory ended late on Sunday evening, with American Zach Johnson pulling on the famous Green Jacket for a first time.

It was Johnson's first victory in a Major and only the second PGA Tour tournament he has ever won - following his breakthrough at the 2004 BellSouth Classic - as he finished on one-over-par, the joint-highest winning score ever at the event.

But the bare facts of the 31-year-old's two-shot victory over Retief Goosen, Rory Sabbatini and Tiger Woods do not tell the full tale of the final day drama that unfolded during the final round at Augusta National.

There were five different leaders in the opening hour-and-a-half's play alone, before the leading contenders faced up to the challenge of the course's famous back nine.

After all the field's struggle in the first three days to contend with the fast, firm conditions and cold and windy weather, day four at the US Masters lived up to its billing as one of the most tense and climactic in the golfing calendar.

Australian Stuart Appleby began the final round at two-over par and a one-stroke clear of Woods and Justin Rose with the trio of Johnson, Padraig Harrington and Vaughn Taylor a further shot back.

Despite his prominent position on the leader board, Johnson was by no means one of the fancied contenders and could be backed at 34 at the start of the day, which was cut to 26 by the time he teed off.

Most of the market attention centred around four-time champion Woods and this only intensified after Johnson, Harrington, Rose and Appleby all dropped at least one shot at the opening hole.

Woods, who began the day trading at just under 2, also bogeyed the first but immediately got the shot back at the par-five second to strengthen the world number one's position at the head of the market.

Johnson's lapse at the first prompted his price to be momentarily pushed out to as high as 60 and, despite birdies at the second and third, his odds were again eased to the mid-20s after he bogeyed the fifth.

But a chip-in for birdie at the eighth brought Johnson to within one shot of the lead and his odds tumbling in to 16 and put him in the ideal position to challenge over the final nine holes.

Ahead of the leaders, two new challengers were emerging as Sabbatini and Goosen made their moves to the top of the leaderboard.

Sabbatini, like Goosen, had begun the round at six-over and trading at 100-plus, but two birdies in his first three holes cut his trading price to 36 and a spectacular eagle at the par-five eighth pushed him into the lead at two-over, as his odds tumbled to just 7.8.

He was not the new market leader, though, as Goosen - who only made the cut by parring the final hole of his second round - had also taken the eye of backers with his spectacular start to his round.

The laid-back South African, who was available to back at 38 before the start of the round, had already won two Major titles and looked to be heading to a third as he reached the turn in just 32 shots to lead by one after Sabbatini bogeyed the ninth.

Four birdies in his first nine holes, and no bogeys, had seen Goosen establish himself as the clear new favourite and he could be backed at just 2.76 at the turn - with Woods out to 4.3 as he uncharacteristically faltered.

Goosen remained a rock-steady favourite at under 3 as he parred the difficult 10th and 11th holes, and even when he bogeyed the dangerous short 12th, his odds only went out to 4.2 as he slipped back to join Appleby, Sabbatini and Johnson at three-over-par.

Sabbatini looked as if he may be the man to take control of the tournament after he regained the lead with a birdie at the 13th, to be cut to as low as 5 in the market.

But the South African lost his way after dropping two shots in his next three holes and had to settle for a share of third place, as a new man suddenly came to the fore.

Johnson appeared to be very much the forgotten man of the round, as much of the attention focused on Goosen, Sabbatini and the continued erratic play of Woods.

But the quiet American made his move around Amen Corner and his odds tumbled accordingly as his nearest rivals began to tread water.

A birdie at the 13th moved Johnson into a one-shot lead, which he quickly extended with his fifth birdie of the day at the next hole, and he was now the new market leader at odds of just under 3 as Appleby found the water at the 12th and Goosen failed to birdie both par fives on the back nine.

The title looked to be his when he rolled in a ten-foot putt for birdie at the 16th to open up a three-shot lead and not even three-putting the next could dampen his spirits, as he carded a 69 to finish on one-over-par for the tournament.

But there were still a few late twists in the tale to be had as Woods, Rose and Harrington finally got their games together to throw down a belated challenge.

Harrington found a watery grave with his approach shot at the 15th to undo the good work of his eagle two holes earlier but, for a while, there looked a possibility that Rose and Woods could yet force a play-off.

Rose had begun his round with two double bogeys in his first three holes to fall out of contention but began rebuilding the damage at the eighth hole, and further birdies at the ninth and 11th meant he was back in the thick of the action.

Another two birdies at the 15th and 16th brought his price crashing down from 50 to just 6.2, and one more birdie in the final two holes would have left him on the same score as Johnson, but a double bogey at the 17th ended the Englishman's challenge and he eventually finished joint fifth.

Woods was out of sorts for most of the final day and only seemed to get going after breaking his club on the way to successfully saving his par at the 11th hole.

Four shots behind and available to back at 9.2, Woods suddenly came to life with an eagle at the 13th which left him just two strokes behind Johnson with five holes to play and revived the interest of his mass group of supporters.

A miraculous rescued par at the 15th, after finding water with his second shot, kept his slender hopes of winning a fifth Green Jacket alive.

But, for once, Woods failed to deliver over the closing stretch as he could only par the final three holes and his failure to hole his second shot at the last proclaimed Johnson a deserved winner.

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>