Adam the first

What an incredible day 8211; everything fell my way in the end,I guess, said Scott,who closed with a three-under-par 69 to finish deadlocked with Cabrera,who posted a 70,at nine-under 279. Another Australian,Jason Day,was alone in third,two strokes back,after a final-round 70. Brandt Snedeker,who began the day tied for the lead with Cabrera,shot a 75 and tied for sixth.

The only one thing in my head was winning, Cabrera,who expected his last putt to fall,said,adding,Sometimes you make those putts,sometimes you just miss them,but thats golf.

Playing in the second-to-last group,Scott came to the 18th hole even with Cabrera. He hit his approach on the 465-yard par 4 to 25 feet and then sank the putt. Cmon,Aussie, he shouted as he raised his arms in the air and high-fived his caddie,Steve Williams,who had been on Tiger Woodss bag for 13 of his 14 major championships.

Cabrera,who was in the fairway when Scotts putt dropped,hit his approach inside 3 feet and made the putt to put Australias celebration on ice.

The great putt

After both players made pars on the first playoff hole,Scott,32,coolly made the biggest putt of his career. In becoming the first player to win the Masters using a long putter with an anchored stroke,Scott exorcised memories of his final-round collapse at the British Open in July,where he held a four-shot lead with four holes to play,only to bogey in because of a balky putter.

Its amazing that its my destiny to be the first Aussie to win,just incredible, said Scott,who also avenged Greg Normans collapse at the 1996 Masters,a loss so painful it became a nations freeze-framed portrait of the agony of defeat.

Australia is a proud sporting nation, Scott said,and this is one notch in the belt that we had never got. He then paid tribute to Norman,his childhood idol. It was one guy who inspired a nation of golfers,and that is Greg Norman, Scott said. Part of this definitely belongs to him.

Woods,perhaps the only player on the tour with a purer swing than Scotts,was the prohibitive favorite after winning three titles in his first five tour starts this year. He began the final round four strokes off the pace,which meant he was not operating from a position of strength; in his 14 major victories,Woods held at least a share of the lead heading into the final 18 holes.

Woods would have been closer to the top,of course,if not for a two-stroke penalty he received retroactively Saturday for dropping the ball in the wrong place during his second round.

In the end,none of it mattered. Woods,whose putting was the key to his fast start this year,had trouble judging the speed of the greens,which were slowed by a steady rain that began falling right after the last group teed off. He played the first seven holes in two over. His back-nine 33,like many of his putts,came up short.

Woods closed with a 70 and finished in a tie for fourth,four strokes behind Cabrera and Scott.

Until Scotts putter got hot in the gloaming,it looked as if the winner would be Cabrera,a 43-year-old grandfather who in 2009 became the first golfer from South America to don the green jacket. Day held the lead,briefly,at nine under.

He was the Guan of his time,a prodigy who at 19 became the youngest winner of a PGA-sponsored event with a win in Ohio in a Nationwide event.

Para-norman activity

The responsibility of ending Australias Masters drought became Scotts alone after Day made bogeys on Nos. 16 and 17. At the start of the day,Norman,who in 1996 was on the verge of becoming Australias first Masters champion before he blew a six-stroke lead in the final round,was interviewed on the Golf Channel from his home in South Florida.

He said he would be cheering for an Australian victory.

If one of them completed the journey that he nearly finished,it would mean everything to me, Norman said. I dont have a jealous bone in my body. Im a big fan of people stepping up to the plate and being a success.