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Woods wins third Masters

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AUGUSTA, Georgia (REUTERS) — Defending champion Tiger Woods won his third U.S. Masters title Sunday, firing a one-under-par 71 in the final round to finish three shots clear of South Africa’s Retief Goosen.

The world number one secured his seventh major title with a 12-under-par 276 total, becoming the third back-to-back winner at Augusta National after Jack Nicklaus in 1966 and Nick Faldo in 1990.

He also became the seventh player to win at least three Masters crowns — joining Nicklaus (six), Arnold Palmer (four) and Jimmy Demaret, Sam Snead, Gary Player and Nick Faldo.

Woods, joint leader after three rounds with U.S. Open champion Goosen, could afford to drop two shots over his last eight holes as the expected last-day challenge from his closest rivals failed to materialize.

The 26-year-old collected four birdies, three of them coming in his first six holes, as he clinched a sixth major title in his last 10 starts.

“I was surprised [that his closest challengers fell back on the last day] but I still had to be very focused and committed on every shot,” Woods said afterwards. “This one is special, but somehow it seemed harder.”

FOURTH SHOT: Left-hander Phil Mickelson, who picked up his fourth shot of the round at the long 15th, carded a 71 for third place at eight-under 280. Two-time Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal fired a matching 71 for fourth spot a further shot back. “I didn’t feel like it was a struggle and thought I played pretty well today — just not well enough to win,” Mickelson, who is still looking for his first major title after 36 professional starts said. “But I had a few unfortunate breaks and it seemed when I made birdies, I followed with bogeys.” Vijay Singh, the 2000 winner, was second after holing his third shot of the day at the 440-yard 14th. But the tall Fijian twice found the water in front of the green at the par-five 15th on his way to a quadruple-bogey nine, and crashed down the leader board into seventh place at five-under 283 after finishing with a 76. Two-time U.S. Open champion Ernie Els, who began the day at seven under, effectively ended his own Masters challenge at the par-five 13th. There he ran up a triple-bogey eight after twice finding water to slip to six under for the tournament, and he ended up with a 73 for a share of fifth place at six under with Ireland’s Padraig Harrington (71).