AMERICAN LEFT HANDER IS AUGUSTA ACE ONCE AGAIN

BUBBA WATSON REGAINS MASTERS TITLE WITH THREE SHOTS TO SPARE

FROM THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The old adage at Augusta National is that the Masters doesn’t begin until the back nine on Sunday.
This year, it was decided before ever reaching it.
Jordan Spieth three-putted for bogey on the par-5 eighth, while Bubba Watson got up-and-down for birdie to tie him for the lead.
One hole later, the 20-year-old Spieth, playing in his first Masters and trying to become the youngest winner of the Green Jacket, left his approach below the flag and watched as his ball rolled back into the fairway to set up another bogey and a two-shot swing when Watson made a second straight birdie.
“I hit two great shots on eight,” Watson said. “Eight and nine were really the turning point where momentum kind of went my way.”
Watson never trailed again, adding a birdie on the par-5 13th after a 365-yard drive that narrowly missed the trees lining the left side and left him just a sand wedge into the green on the 510-yard hole.
He finished with his second 69 of the week and added a second Green Jacket in three years after an 8-under, 280-total gave him a three-shot win over Spieth and Jonas Blixt.
In doing so, Watson joins an impressive list of players with two Masters titles, including Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Tom Watson, Seve Ballesteros, Horton Smith, Bernhard Langer, Ben Crenshaw and Jose Maria Olazabal.
“It's overwhelming,” Watson said. “Small-town guy named Bubba now has two Green Jackets, it's pretty wild. I know my mom probably watched at home. I wish she was here.”
He gave her, and everyone else, quite a show. It just ended earlier than the last time he won at Augusta.
Two years ago, Watson rallied from three back on the final day before beating Louis Oosthuizen in a playoff with a shot out of the trees on the 10th hole to set up the winning putt.
This time, he was happy it wasn’t that close. He closed with five straight pars and tapped in the final one before dropping his hands to his knees and letting the emotion pour out.
 “The shot out of the woods made me famous,” he said. “But this one was a lot better for me and my nerves, my family, probably on (my caddie).”
Watson’s lead briefly shrunk to one after a bogey on No. 10 but no one got closer than three after the birdie on 13 with few roars so synonymous with Augusta National's back nine on Sunday.
 “The group in front of us and other groups, you could just tell, just nobody really caught fire,” Watson said. “There wasn't too many birdies after No. 10, I don't think.”
That included Spieth, who had one bogey and no birdies over his final nine holes. But it was his inexperience that cost him as much as anything, at least on the ninth hole.
“It's an underrated shot,” Spieth said of his approach. “It's not a standard, on-the-driving-range 9-iron. You really have to work towards being aggressive at the ball, and I may have just picked it up just a little early hoping to see it go right at the hole, and I just thought it caught it a little thin.”

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  Bubba Watson news conference after winning the Masters

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KUCHAR’S DEMISE: Matt Kuchar had a share of the lead early Sunday -- until an inexplicable four-putt and double bogey on the par-3 fourth.
“I can't recall the last time I four-putted,” he said. “But if there was ever a place to do it ... The first putt was a long, uphill putt. I came up six feet short, seven feet short, hit a great second putt that caught the top side and kind of one of those power lips and goes seven feet by.
“All of a sudden walk off with a double bogey, and I think I've hit some pretty good shots.”
It dropped him to even par on his round and he was never able to recover, adding another bogey at No. 9 before a bounce-back birdie on 11. He bogeyed 17 and 18, too, to shoot 74 and finish six back.
This marks the third straight year Kuchar has been in contention Sunday at the Masters Tournament.
In the final round of the 2012 Masters, Kuchar eagled the 15th to momentarily tie for the lead only to make bogey one hole later and eventually finish two strokes out of a playoff between Watson and Louis Oosthuizen. Last year, he trailed by three going into the final round but faded from contention with a 73 to tie for eighth.

LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72) players from USA unless stated
280 Bubba Watson 69 68 74 69
283 Jonas Blixt (Sweden) 70 71 71 71, Jordan Spieth 71 70 70 72
284 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) 71 76 66 71
286 Rickie Fowler 71 75 67 73, Matt Kuchar 73 71 68 74
287 Lee Westwood (England) 73 71 70 73
288 Bernhard Langer (Germany) 72 74 73 69, Rory McIlroy (N Ireland) 71 77 71 69
SELECTED TOTALS
289 Justin Rose (England) 76 70 69 74, Adam Scott (Australia) 69 72 76 72 (T14)
290 Ian Poulter (England) 76 70 70 74 (T21)
294 Stephen Gallacher (Scotland) 71 72 81 70 (T34)