With Phil Mickelson, you just never know what will happen next. Yesterday, in this 74th edition of the US Masters, we found out: the left-handed American won his third green jacket, producing a stunning final round 67 - for 272, 16-under-par - which seemed to be played from pine needles as frequently as the manicured fairways. It is, simply, Phil's way!
On an extraordinary final day in the season's first major, Mickelson - seeking release from the cancer battles both his wife and mother are involved in - found solace on the golf course. In claiming a fourth major title, and first his Masters triumph here in 2006, the American finished with a three- shot cushion over Lee Westwood with Anthony Kim a short further back in sole third.
Italian teenager Matteo Manassero etched his name into Masters history in some style on the final day at Augusta.
The 16-year-old amateur, the youngest to ever compete at the Masters, birdied the 18th to finish four over, earning a fine reception and the Silver Medal.
"It will definitely help me to be comfortable with this crowd and understand I can compete with these guys," said Manassero.
The youngster will turn professional at next month's Italian Open.
His score put him ahead of the likes of former Masters winners Zach Johnson and Mike Weir as well as Retief Goosen and Sergio Garcia, a player who made his own memorable debut at the Masters back in 1999.
Manassero, the only amateur to make the cut at Augusta, also shone at the Open last year, winning the Silver Medal at Turnberry in recognition of his achievement as the highest finishing amateur.
"Today I think I played really good," said Manassero, the first amateur since 2005 to play in the final two rounds at Augusta.
"I can't play much better than this. I maybe left on the course some birdie chances. I made two bogeys, but I finished with a good birdie - that's a good memory."
Manassero earned his place at Augusta by becoming the youngest-ever winner of the British Amateur Open last year.
Rising kiwi star Cecilia Cho overcame a host of challengers to win the Srixon Australian Women’s Strokeplay Championship by one stroke at Cottesloe Golf Club in Perth.
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The 15-year-old Cho (Auckland) fired a final round even par 72 to come from two shots behind to claim the title by one shot. She finished on one-under par 287, to edge out Australia Breanna Elliott and Yi Chen Liu (Chinese Taipei).
It is Cho’s first international appearance for New Zealand since gaining her citizenship last month.
She becomes the third New Zealander to win the strokeplay honours following from Sarah Nicholson in 2006 and Lynette Brooky in 1993 – a remarkable achievement for a 15-year-old in her first venture in Australia.
Designed by legendary golf architect Tom Doak, the Cape Kidnappers par 71 golf course measures 7,119 yards (6,510 meters) and will challenge golfers of all skill levels.
Completed in 2004, our spectacular New Zealand golf course has been hailed as one of the great modern marvels in golf. Cape Kidnappers golf course is currently ranked the 41st best golf course in the world by Golf Magazine.
Built on a 5000 acre sheep farm just outside of Napier on the eastern coast of the North Island. Cape Kidnappers is not true links terrain, with the wrinkles of sand dunes; instead the land tilts toward the sea as a series of ridges jutting out toward the edge of the cliffs. Yet, the play is seaside golf at its finest. The surface is firm and fast, the conditions can be windy, and the player who can control his trajectory will be master of the course. You'll hit shots over the tops of the tea trees, and play along the edges of deep ravines. If you stray on your approaches, you'll actually hope to get caught up in bunkers hanging off the green's edge, some of them deeper than you've ever seen before. Three times, you'll have to make the perilous leap from the end of one ridge to the end of the next. And at the sixth and fifteenth holes it's possible to pull your approach off the very end of the earth, though it will take nearly ten seconds of hang time for your ball to reach the ocean below.