On a rain-softened Sunday at Augusta National, Tiger Woods won the 2019 Masters for his fifth green jacket and 15th major championship. The victory ended a drought that had stretched more than 11 years, since his 2008 U.S. Open win on a broken leg, and capped a comeback that once seemed impossible amid four back surgeries and deep personal turmoil.
Chaos at the 12th
Woods began the final round two strokes behind Francesco Molinari, the overnight leader. The defining moment arrived at the par-3 12th, Golden Bell, where Amen Corner’s swirling winds turned the tournament upside down. Brooks Koepka and Ian Poulter, playing ahead, both found Rae’s Creek and made double bogey.
Then Molinari stepped up and his tee shot splashed into the water as well. Woods placed his ball safely onto the centre of the green and two-putted for a calm par. “For me, 12 was the turning point,” said Tony Finau, who played in the final pairing.
Molinari’s collapse and the chase
Woods was now tied for the lead for the first time all week. The Italian’s unravelling continued two holes later at the par-5 15th, where his chip from the rough clipped a tree branch and tumbled back into the water for another double bogey. That second disaster dropped him to 11-under and effectively ended his challenge.
Behind Woods, a trio of major champions—Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Xander Schauffele—each mounted late charges and finished at 12-under. Woods reached the 18th tee needing only a bogey-five to close it out.
A walk up the last
After narrowly missing a 15-foot putt, he tapped in from three feet to seal the title with a final-round 70 and a total of 13-under par. The crowd erupted in chants of “Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!” as Woods, now 43, embraced his children behind the green in a scene broadcaster Jim Nantz called a rival to his 1997 hug with his own father.
“When I tapped the putt in, I don’t know what I did, but I know I screamed,” Woods told reporters afterward. “To have my kids there, it’s come full circle; my dad was here in ’97, and now I’m the dad with two kids there.” Later that same year he would tie Sam Snead’s record of 82 PGA Tour wins, but the Sunday at Augusta stood alone.
