Eight players held a share of the lead in the last round including Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. McIlroy had at least a share of the lead for the first three rounds and had a four stroke advantage entering Sunday's final round, but shot an 80 to finish ten strokes behind Schwartzel.[5]
This was Ben Crenshaw's 40th consecutive Masters appearance. The top-ranked player in the world, Martin Kaymer, failed to make the cut, and Hideki Matsuyama was the only amateur to play on the weekend.[5][6]
The Masters has the smallest field of the major championships.[7] Officially the Masters remains an invitation event, but there is a set of qualifying criteria that determines who is included in the field.[8] Each player is classified according to the first category by which he qualified, and other categories are shown in parentheses.[9]
Golfers who qualify based solely on their performance in amateur tournaments (categories 6–10) must remain amateurs on the starting day of the tournament to be eligible to play.
McIlroy kept his lead with a 69 (−3), while Quirós shot a 73 (+1) to fall back to −6, four shots off the lead. Jason Day, in his first Masters appearance, shot a tournament-low 64 (−8) on Friday to move into second place. Tiger Woods shot a 66 to put himself back in the tournament at −7, three shots off the lead. Woods shot 31 on the back nine to charge up the leaderboard. K. J. Choi shot a 70 to move to −7, into third place along with Woods. Notable players who missed the cut were Graeme McDowell, Martin Kaymer, Pádraig Harrington, and Hunter Mahan.[6]
Rory McIlroy held at least a share of the lead for the third straight day. After playing the first 12 holes in one-over par, he birdied 13, 15 and 17 to gain a four shot lead. 2009 champion Ángel Cabrera stormed into second place with a 67 to play in the final pairing on Sunday for the second time in three years. Jason Day, who held the outright lead after hole 5, shot 72 and was also 4 shots back. Tiger Woods struggled to a 74 after a 66 on Friday. Cabrera, Bubba Watson and Adam Scott all shot 67, the round of the day.[12]
Eight different players had at least a share of the lead at one point during the final round, included five simultaneously on the back nine. Rory McIlroy, the 54-hole leader, shot 37 on the front to hold onto the lead, but made triple bogey on 10 and a four-putt double bogey on 12 to quickly fade with a final round 80. He finished ten strokes back in a tie for 15th place. Tiger Woods, who was seven shots back to start the final round, shot 31 on the front nine, including an eagle at 8, to tie for the lead, but a three-putt bogey on 12 and a missed 5-foot (1.5 m) eagle putt on 15 doomed his chance at a fifth Masters title. Woods had previously never come from behind in the final round to win any of his 14 major championships. Geoff Ogilvy, also seven shots back to start the day, birdied 12 through 16 to share the lead, but came up short of his second major. K. J. Choi tied for the lead with a birdie at the 9th hole, but struggled putting on the back nine and finished in a tie for 8th. 2009 champion Ángel Cabrera also shared the lead but bogeys at 12 and 16 led to a solo 7th-place finish.[13]
Adam Scott stormed up the leader board and after a birdie at 16 held a two shot lead. Jason Day made a 35-foot (11 m) birdie putt on 17 and another birdie on 18 to post −12, a share of the clubhouse lead with Scott. However, the day belonged to Charl Schwartzel, who chipped in for birdie at 1, holed out for eagle on 3, and birdied the final four holes to win by two shots; his 66 was the low round of the day. It was Schwartzel's first major win, and he became the third South African to win the Masters, along with Gary Player and Trevor Immelman. It was also the 50th anniversary of Player's 1961 Masters win, when he became the first international player to win the Masters.[5]
