Sergio Garcia beats Justin Rose to win the Masters and end Major duck after being led by spirit of Seve Ballesteros
Spaniard said it was 'amazing' to finally land a big one on what would have been late icon's 60th birthday
SERGIO GARCIA saw off Justin Rose to win his first Major and a thrilling sudden-death shootout for the ages at Augusta.
Garcia was guided by the spirit of Seve Ballesteros on what would have been his 60th birthday as he finally broke his duck at the 74th time of trying.
Rose drove wildly to the right on the first hole of sudden-death after both finished 72 holes on nine under par.
Then Garcia, whose Seve's son Javier said was being "pushed" towards the title by the late icon, sunk his birdie putt for the title after all the Englishman could manage was a bogey.
Garcia said: "It's been such a long time coming. I knew I was playing well.
"I felt the calmest I have ever felt on a Major Sunday and even after making a couple bogeys I still believed there were a lot of holes I could get to. I'm so happy.
"It's amazing to do it on Seve's 60th birthday and to join him and Jose Maria Olazabal, my two idols, it's amazing.
"I'm sure Seve helped a bit with some of those shots and some of those putts.
"Jose sent me a text on Wednesday night telling me how much he believed in me and what I needed to do.
"I didn't let things get to me like they did in the past. My fiancee has been great for me, such great support."
Rose said: "It's hard not to feel good for Sergio. I felt like I had it wrapped up at one point.
"When Sergio was in the trees on 13 it looked pretty good but this course allows people to make a comeback.
"I felt like I did virtually everything right."
Garcia and Rose both missed birdie putts from inside seven feet on the final hole of regulation, with Garcia knowing his was for certain victory after Roe went first and shaved the hole.
Becoming the first player to complete the ‘Second Slam’ would have cemented Garcia’s place as the game’s most unlucky bridesmaid.
But it would also have been a heartbreaking end to one of the most dramatic final day battles Augusta has ever witnessed.
Yes, it was also cruel luck on Rose to finish as a Masters runner-up for the second time in three years. But at least he has the consolation of a previous Major triumph - at the 2013 US Open – to console him.
Garcia's oh-so-elusive victory came in Garcia’s 74th successive Major - after he had finished runner-up in the Open, the US Open and the US PGA.
Your heart would have bled for the long-suffering Garcia, especially as this latest crushing blow would have come on such a significant occasion for Spanish golf.
He went out saying he hoped the ‘Spirit of Seve’ would prove inspirational, just as it did when another double Masters winner, Jose Maria Olazabal, called on his 2012 European team to honour his legendary partner’s Ryder Cup legacy.
That sparked the Miracle at Medinah, and before Rose struck the killer blow with a 16th hole birdie that Garcia was unable to match, it looked as if we might witness another heavenly victory.
After first forging three shots clear - and then falling two behind with six holes to play - it looked as if Garcia had pressed the self-destruct –destruct button with a wild drive at the par five 13th.
It clattered into the trees and finished in a bush, forcing the Spaniard to take a penalty drop and hack his ball into the fairway.
But he summoned up the sort of recovery Ballesteros was famous for, somehow getting up and down from ninety yards short of the green to salvage par.
And when Rose failed to get his ball in the hole in two from just over the back of the green – missing as six footer for birdie – it was virtually a two-shot swing.
That happened for real over the next two holes, with Garcia nailing a six footer of his own to birdie the 14th, and then clattering the flagstick with his 177 yard second shot at the par five 15th.
He could count himself unlucky that his ball finished 14 feet from the hole – but after Rose had polished off a two putt birdie from 50 feet, Garcia rammed home the eagle putt to make it all square at nine under par.
The tension was ramped up again as Rose slotted his birdie putt from eight feet at the 16th and Garcia missed from two feet closer. Advantage to the Englishman.
But Rose was out of position on 17, the hole where he blew his chances of winning ten years ago with a double bogey, and when he failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker it was level pegging again.
Then came the almost unbearable drama on 18, and it was back to the same tee for extra time.
A play-off did not look likely when Garcia led by three shots after five holes.
He hurtled out of the blocks with birdies at the first and third holes, and Rose fell further behind with a three-putt bogey at the fifth.
But the 2013 US Open champion bounced back with a brilliant hat-trick of birdies, and the third of them was probably where the pendulum swung decisively in his favour.
Rose and Garcia have been Ryder Cup team-mates four times, and there was more than hint of match play about the way they played the par five eighth.
Both were on in three, but Rose was first to putt – and when he nailed his 15 footer for birdie, Garcia’s putt from half the distance looked a lot longer.
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Sure enough he missed, and they were back to where they stated, all square, albeit at eight under instead of six.
In fact it had pretty much become match play anyway with third placed Rickie Fowler quickly beating a retreat, and leaving the two Europeans to fight it out.
Garcia’s suspect putting had been rock-steady in the first three rounds. But it looked as if his Achilles heel was becoming exposed again as he missed a nine footer for birdie at the ninth, after Rose had two-putted from thirty feet for his par.
His nervous habit of constantly re-gripping his club was also re-surfacing, while his playing partner was calm personified, giving the impression of being out for a casual Sunday knockabout with an old friend.
The back nine of the Majors is where they say the action really starts. And no-one could ever argue with that on this occasion.