Tiger Woods wins 2019 Masters at Augusta to claim 15th major

Perhaps the crucial hole in the story of this year's Masters was the 12th on the final round, the treacherous par three where any errant tee shot risks being sucked back into Rae's Creek.

Molinari, who played with Woods in the final round as he won The Open last July, dumped his tee shot into the water at the front of the green and walked off with a double-bogey five.

Tony Finau, also in the final group, followed Molinari in the water to drop back to eight under.

The more experienced Woods, who was playing his 22nd Masters, played to the heart of the green and two-putted for par to join Molinari at the top of the leaderboard on 11 under.

That par was cheered like a birdie by the thousands of patrons who have followed his every stroke this week, alerting more and more to join the party and roar Woods home.

Others were challenging from behind with Schauffele and world number two Johnson posting four-under-par 68s to set the clubhouse target at 12 under.

Molinari faded further after hitting his third shot into the pond guarding the 15th green and from that moment there was no stopping Woods' relentless march to the title.

A par on the 17th left the world number 12 with a lead of two shots going up the last - only Koepka, who has won three of the past seven majors, could realistically put any pressure on but the American missed an eight-foot birdie putt to stay at 12 under.

Woods appeared to fluff his second shot to the 18th, leaving it well short of the green, and could only chip on to 14 feet, but with a two-shot cushion he could afford to drop a shot and he sealed the win with his second putt.

"I was as patient as I have been in years. I kept control of my emotions, shots, placement," said Woods.

"To see that leaderboard it was a who's who. And it all flipped at 12 when Francesco made a mistake. All these scenarios started flying around.

"It was an amazing buzz to figure what was going on while staying present and focused on what I needed to do."

For Molinari, it was a case of what might have been. "I think I made a few new fans with those two double bogeys," he said. "It's great to see Tiger doing well. The way he was playing last year, I think we all knew it was coming sooner or later."

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