Spain’s Garcia wins The Masters, his first major golf title

Both men played the ideal hole up until the green where Rose missed a seven-foot birdie putt to hand Garcia his chance, but he rolled a shorter – but arguably more testing putt – wide of the hole and they would soon replay the last. All four of these golfers were chasing their first major championship, creating an atmosphere of competition that attracts golf fans from all over.

“I’m sure he helped a little bit with some of those shots or some of those putts”, Garcia said.

“I mean, I can’t pick holes in my performance”. “I felt fantastic out there”.

Garcia was ecstatic. “From the drive this morning to the course I was very calm”.

Even Rose, who was disappointed to miss out on a second major title, couldn’t hold back his praise and happiness for his friend and Ryder Cup teammate.

“I’ve had so many good chances and either I lost them or someone has done something extraordinary to beat me. I feel like I play as aggressive as anyone around here”, he said.

“The way I tried to look at it was in a positive way”.

“And you know, barring a great comeback from Sergio, it was mine to cruise to the house”. But it’s not always that easy.

The French Open is the next slam on the calendar – if the 30-year-old can sustain his recent form, he might just become the first tennis player ever to win the same major 10 times. “He mentioned, ‘You know what you have to do, ‘ and ‘Believe in yourself'”.

Going into Sunday’s play it was the two Europeans who were top of the leaderboard with most pundits predicting that the American pairing of Rickie Fowler (-1) and Jordan Spieth (-1) would pressure the top two.

“And some of the moments I’ve had here at Augusta that maybe I haven’t enjoyed as much and how stupid I really was trying to fight against something that you can’t fight – and how proud I was of accepting things. I loved it out there”.

“Everybody that is around me is helping me, making me not only a better golfer but a better person”, Garcia said. He ensured that it would be a two-horse race as he produced an incredible eagle on the 15th to draw level with Rose at nine under.

“It was a good putt. I struck the ball well and I putted well”.

The cries of “Sergio” rang out across the azaleas at the iconic Augusta National course in Georgia as the natives accepted the right man was winning their tournament. I picked my line – I trusted that it would break because in practice, that’s what I’ve been seeing.

Schwartzel finished alone in third after a closing 68, with Matt Kuchar – who had a hole-in-one on the 16th – and Belgium’s Thomas Pieters a shot behind.

Garcia said he thought of the late Seve Ballesteros while overcoming setbacks that would have derailed his less confident self. He finally shed the tag “best player not to have won a major”. This forced him to take a one shot penalty after an unplayable lie, but he still managed to get down in par.