Scheffler earns second Green Jacket at Augusta National

The American, 27, is the fourth-youngest player to win the Masters twice after Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Seve Ballesteros

World No.1 Scottie Scheffler won the Masters for a second time after a commanding performance at Augusta National on Sunday demonstrated why he was the red-hot pre-tournament favourite.

Scheffler, who led overnight by a shot, hit a four-under 68 in Sunday’s final round to finish four clear on 11 under.

Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg shot 69 to finish runner-up on his major debut.

England’s Tommy Fleetwood (69) ended joint third with American pair Collin Morikawa (74) and Max Homa (73).

Fleetwood put together an impressive round to make a late charge up the leaderboard and record his best finish at the Masters.

But catching Scheffler was out of reach. The 27-year-old American showed rare emotion on the 18th green as he received the acclaim of the Augusta patrons after wrapping up his second Masters victory in three years.

Not since Tiger Woods dominated golf in the 2000s had anybody arrived at Augusta as strong a favourite as Scheffler.

He came into the first major of the year on the back of two victories in his three previous tournaments - at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Players Championship - and a secondplace finish at the Houston Open.

That imperious form, combined with his pedigree as a previous Masters champion, meant his odds were as short as 4-1 at the start of the week.

While not hitting the expected heights on the opening three days, particularly during an eventful round on Saturday where he recovered from several mistakes, he still led by a shot going into Sunday.

However, he lacked distance control with his irons in the opening holes and a bogey on the seventh dropped him back alongside Morikawa and Aberg. Homa joined them in a four-way tie for the lead after a birdie on the eighth.

But Scheffler - playing alongside Morikawa in the group behind Aberg and Homa - birdied the same hole to lead again on seven under.

Then came a moment of magic which felt like a potential turning point - and proved to be so.

Scheffler almost holed a magnificent 89-yard approach on the ninth, demonstrating sublime skill to spin the ball and use Augusta’s contours to roll it towards the pin - leaving himself with a tap-in for back-to-back birdies.

Scheffler added a third successive birdie on the 10th but as the leaders approached Amen Corner - the famed section of the course featuring the 11th, 12th and 13th holes - it was still too close to call.

However, by the time he teed off on the short 12th, it was his tournament to lose.

His nearest rivals - Aberg, Morikawa and Homa - all picked up costly double bogeys in the space of about 15 minutes, handing a three-shot lead to Scheffler even though he had bogeyed the 11th.

Aberg and Morikawa both pulled their approaches on the 11th into the water, while a bad bounce for Homa on the iconic par-three 12th left him in the bushes and taking a one-shot penalty.

From that point, Scheffler could relax more and birdies on 13, 14 and 16 all but clinched victory.

Aberg’s hopes of becoming the third man to win on his first start in a major were over, but he finished second after recovering with birdies on 13 and 14.

Five-time Masters champion Tiger Woods finished last of the 60 players who made the cut to play all four rounds, shooting a fiveover 77 to finish 16 over in total.

Even making the weekend was an achievement for the 15-time champion, who had barely played in the past year as he continues to recover from injuries sustained in a car crash in February 2021.

However, packed galleries followed Woods around the scene of some of his most famous triumphs, with patrons roaring him off the final green and hoping they will get many more chances to see the 48-year-old at Augusta in the future.

Defending champion Jon Rahm was already out of contention and things got even worse as he recorded his highest total in eight appearances at the Masters.

The 29-year-old Spaniard, who has made a shock switch to the breakaway LIV Golf tour since his victory last year, shot a 76 and finished nine over.

Final leaderboard: -11 Scheffler (US); -7 Aberg (Swe); -4 Morikawa (US), Homa (US), Fleetwood (Eng); -2 DeChambeau (US), Smith (Aus). Selected others: Level Hatton (Eng), +4 McIlroy (NI), Fitzpatrick (Eng); +9 Rahm (Spa), Willett (Eng); +16 Woods (US).