World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler won his first career major championship at the Masters on Sunday, while defending champion Hideki Matsuyama ended the tournament tied for 14th place at 2-over.
In a somewhat anticlimactic ending, 25-year-old American Scheffler rolled in a double-bogey putt on the 18th hole to win by three strokes, going 10-under for the tournament, ahead of Rory McIlroy who roared home with a 64 to finish at 7-under.
Australia's Cameron Smith and Ireland's Shane Lowry finished tied for third at 5-under. Northern Ireland's McIlroy and American Collin Morikawa, who finished fifth, both finished their rounds by holing bunker shots on their 72nd hole.
Scheffler dominated the final three rounds of the 2022 Masters and will be taking home a record first prize of $2.7 million from a $15 million purse, compared to the $2.07 million Matsuyama won a year ago.
Scheffler was presented with the famous green jacket by 2021 Masters champion Matsuyama to cap off his fourth win in his last six tournaments.
Matsuyama, who started the week by hosting the traditional Champions Dinner at Augusta National on Tuesday, recorded five birdies and five bogeys to finish the final round even-par and with a four-round total of 290. The 30-year-old became the first Japanese winner of the green jacket in 2021.
"I wasn't able to play my game but I'm glad I was able to play all four days," said Matsuyama, who began the day 11 strokes behind third-round leader Scheffler.
"I tried hard (to put myself in contention) but I couldn't sink my putts from the start and it was tough. I haven't been able to play decent golf for about a month. It was more difficult mentally than physically. I'm going to rest until I'm ready to play golf again."
Matsuyama's Masters defense was in doubt after he was forced to withdraw from the Valero Texas Open, a tournament he entered as a Masters tune-up, due to a neck injury.
The Ehime Prefecture native remained at No. 12 in the latest world golf rankings. Scheffler held onto the top spot and Morikawa moved up to second. Jon Rahm of Spain, who concluded his 2022 Masters campaign tied for 27th, fell to third.
Five-time Masters champion Tiger Woods finished 47th at 13-over after carding consecutive 78s on the weekend. The American made his Masters return more than a year after a serious car crash left him with career-threatening injuries.
