On the ten-year anniversary of Adam Scott’s Masters Tournament victory, we look back to when he became the first Australian to win the Green Jacket.
One of the great images in Masters history is Scott leaning back in celebration with his arms held aloft in the rain and fading light after his sudden-death play-off win against Ángel Cabrera.
Augusta National has delivered many magical moments, but his 15-foot birdie putt across the tenth green on the second extra hole brought a thrilling battle for the Green Jacket to a dramatic climax.
Less than a year earlier, Scott had suffered the agony of missing out on his maiden Major at The Open, squandering a four-shot lead with four holes to play to lose out to Ernie Els by one shot at Royal Lytham & St Annes.
But after facing adversity, the strength of a player often emerges.
Amid the most intense pressure imaginable and backing from the public in his homeland, he earned redemption on one of golf’s biggest stages.
“It’s amazing that it’s my destiny to be the first Aussie to win [the Masters], it’s just incredible,” said Scott, who had finished runner-up alongside compatriot Jason Day at Augusta in 2011.
Day, again, was in contention this time around but two bogeys in his final three holes saw him falter and miss out on the play-off as first Scott and then Cabrera birdied the 72nd hole to reach nine under.
Playing in the penultimate group of the day, Scott rolled in a near 30-foot birdie putt across the 18th green to momentarily lead by one amid roars from the patrons around the green.
But Cabrera, the joint overnight leader, responded by hitting a fantastic approach shot to within a few feet to make a birdie of his own as he targeted his third Major win.
From thinking he had won for a split second, Scott had to come back and win it a second time.
Scott, who had played alongside Cabrera in the first two rounds, came into the play-off with the momentum having birdied three of his final six holes.
The pair returned to the 18th for a fifth time that week for the first extra hole. After finding the narrow fairway with their tee shots, both saw their approach shots come back off the front of the green and finish within ten feet of each other.
Cabrera then almost holed his third shot, his ball grazing the right edge to leave a tap-in par. Scott came up a few feet short with his effort, but he rolled in the putt to extend the contest.
Then came the drama of the tenth where the Presidents Cup team-mates both found the green in regulation after nerveless approach shots with six iron in hand.
Cabrera, who won a play-off against Chad Campbell and Kenny Perry to win the Masters three years earlier, just missed his birdie putt on the high side to set the stage for Scott to win the Green Jacket at shortly before 09:40am on Australia’s east coast.
"It fell my way today, there was some luck there but it's incredible to be in this position. I'm honoured,” Scott said.
At last week’s 87th Masters Tournament, Scott extended his run of making the cut at Augusta to 14 consecutive years as he finished in the top 40 on his 22nd appearance.
