AUGUSTA, Ga. — The sun came out Sunday afternoon at Augusta National Golf Club, and spring returned. So did the shotmaking.
All the sins of the 87th Masters Tournament were forgotten and forgiven. The bitter cold and rain, the weather-suspended rounds, a five-time champion in agony, the scoring advantage half the field enjoyed. PGA Tour-LIV drama faded and festered, simultaneously somehow.
On a marathon day, Masters Tournament leaders played 29 holes, starting in sweaters and ending in short sleeves. The action accelerated, generating electricity on the grounds.
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The first hole after the third round resumed was a harbinger of the excitement ahead. Jon Rahm cut Brooks Koepka’s lead in half, from four to two, before viewers could put cream in their coffee and settle on the sofa.
When the final round began, the leaders stayed stuck in neutral, going six hours between birdies. They were trading routine pars and making sloppy bogeys, missing critical putts, opening the door for chasers down the board.
The chasers tried. With the umbrellas in the car or the closet, roars returned to Augusta National.
Most came from the 12:49 p.m. ET pairing, the third twosome off the first tee, featuring former champions and perennial contenders Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth. Once teammates representing the United States, now playing on different tours, they made 17 birdies between them. None bigger than Mickelson’s 11-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a closing 65 and the clubhouse lead.
“Today was a really fun day,” Mickelson said.
Spieth and Mickelson’s bestball score of 59 was good enough to win any invitational.
The field’s 72.95 scoring average was the lowest since Thursday.
Others joined the fray. Spieth could’ve tied Mickelson at 8 under if not for another errant tee shot on the home hole. He’s been in those left trees before.
Cam Young rolled in a 47-footer for eagle at 13, pulling within four shots of the lead for a bit. He departed his second Masters dwelling on three double bogeys over the 72 holes and summing up what makes Augusta National so exciting in a final round when there are a half dozen friendly hole locations.
“Yeah, obviously it’s a day that anything can happen. It’s a difficult golf course that you can also make eight birdies on,” Young said. “I think it just makes for a day that anything can happen, and I was really hoping for the eight birdies, but I didn’t quite get there.”
He made four and an eagle but bogeyed the last for 68 and settled for a third top-10 in the last four majors.
The unlikely contender Russell Henley, a Georgia Bulldog buoyed by the patrons, pulled within three shots at the turn but never any closer.
Patrick Reed made a 42-foot birdie bomb at No. 12, which showed its true self, ranking as the second-toughest hole in the final round after being 10th, 13th and 13th in the first three.
Sahith Theegala, a Masters rookie, holed an improbable pitch from behind the 16th green on his way to a closing 67.
There was tragedy, too. Patrick Cantlay’s putting produced anxiety for himself and anyone watching. Viktor Hovland dashed his chances with a double on No. 6. The 54-hole leader, Brooks Koepka lost control of his ball and the tournament, making three bogeys and six pars on the front nine.
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler’s tee shot sailed over the slender green tucked over Rae’s Creek, flying deep in the shrubbery, disturbing the landscaping and ruining a run at a repeat. Minutes earlier a 40-foot birdie putt on 11 pushed him to 6-under and generated hope.
The greens regained their speed thanks to Sub-Air magic. Downhill putts became scary again. The wind swirled and gusted in familiar ways, causing players to remove their caps in disgust, stare toward the heavens, turn to their caddies and wonder where the calculations went awry.
In the middle, it was electric. In the end, though, it was simply window dressing. The final results reflect a comfortable victory for a deserving champion. Another Sunday at Augusta ended somewhat as expected, in a coronation for Jon Rahm, his second major and fourth victory in 2023.
The field made Sunday fun for a while.
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