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Bubba Watson salutes the Augusta galleries after his play-off triumph

An emotional and tearful Bubba Watson struggled to describe how he felt after winning the Masters.

“I never got this far in my dreams,” said the 33-year-old American, the fifth left-handed winner in the last 10 years at Augusta and the eighth successive major champion who had never previously tasted success at the highest level of golf.

Watson beat South African Louis Oosthuizen – Open champion two years ago – at the second hole of a play-off, producing a breathtaking hook out of the trees and onto the green for a winning par four.

“I was there earlier,” he said of his drive into trouble. “So I was used to it.

“I knew what I was facing. I had a good lie. I had to hook it about 40 yards, but I am pretty good at hooking it.”

Watson and his wife adopted their first child recently and he added: “To go home to my new son is going to be fun.”

Oosthuizen, who on the 575-yard second had produced the first albatross two in the tournament’s history, came up short of the green at the 10th after they had first of all parred the 18th at the start of sudden death, and he took three more as he missed out on a second major.

On 10 under par Watson and Oosthuizen finished two ahead of England’s Lee Westwood, Swede Peter Hanson and Americans Phil Mickelson and Matt Kuchar.

American Bubba Watson is the Masters champion after winning a play-off against Louis Oosthuizen at the second extra hole.

Watson started the day three shots off the lead and shot a closing 68 to earn a play-off against the 2010 Open champion.

Both men missed birdie putts on the 18th green at the first play-off hole, but a par at the 10th was good enough to earn the left-hander a Green Jacket.

Watson had seemed out of contention before making four straight birdies from the 13th to draw level with Oosthuizen.

The South African had led since the second hole when he became just the fourth man in Masters history to make an albatross, his two at the par five catapaulting him to the top of the leaderboard.

Final leaderboard

(US unless stated)-10 L Oosthuizen (SA)-10 B Watson-8 P Mickelson-8 L Westwood (Eng)-8 P Hanson (Swe)-8 M Kuchar

Click here for collated scores

He stayed there throughout the afternoon but his failure to get up and down from the front of the green at the second play-off hole ultimately cost him a second major title.

Overnight leader Peter Hanson started with three fives and never really recovered.

Three-time winner Phil Mickelson opened his challenge steadily with three pars but his hopes were almost fatally derailed by a six at the short fourth – his second triple bogey of the week.

Nobody has ever won a Green Jacket with one triple bogey on his card and Mickelson could not change that, although he battled bravely to shoot a level par 72 and finish in four-way tie for third alongside Hanson, Lee Westwood and Matt Kuchar.

Westwood birdied the last for a 68 and would have won comfortably had he found any form at all with the putter.

It was the Englishman’s sixth top three finish in his last 10 majors, but still he has not won one in 56 attempts.

Mickelson had crashed from one behind to four back on the third after hitting the grandstand on the left with his tee shot and rebounding into the undergrowth.

Rejecting the idea of going back to the tee, he then had two right-handed hacks and found a bunker.

Getting up and down from there at least limited the damage to three dropped shots, but after seven holes Mickelson was still searching for his first birdie of the day.

Challengers

Oosthuizen had bogeyed the same hole and parred his way to the turn, but then failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker at the 10th and the challengers were gathering behind him.

He birdied the long 13th, and was joined on nine under when Kuchar eagled the 15th from only three feet.

Kuchar followed that with a bogey, though, and instead, even with Oosthuizen adding another birdie at the 15th, it was his playing partner Watson who became joint leader after four successive birdies.

Both men made par at the final two holes then after Oosthuizen missed from 15 feet when they played 18 again, Watson failed to convert from eight feet.

Oosthuizen looked to have the advantage on the next when his tee shot was marginally less wayward than Watson’s.

But left with 240 yards to the green he came up 10 yards short and somehow Watson managed to carve a wedge 50 yards left-to-right through the trees to 12 feet.

Perhaps unnerved by that, Oosthuizen’s chip was clumsy and he did not lose his turn, with his par putt from the back fringe just shaving the right edge of the hole.

Watson had two putts for the title and he took them to complete another memorable Masters Sunday.

Sergio Garcia: Has played 54 majors without winning

Sergio Garcia did not mince his words after his closing round of 71 at the Masters.

The Spaniard is still waiting for that elusive first major title – and he has never come closer than in 1999 at Medinah when he finished runner-up to Tiger Woods in the USPGA as a teenager.

At 32, he is now 0-for-54 in the majors.

He finished in the top 12 at the last three majors of 2011, and went into the third round at Augusta National a stroke behind the leaders.

But he took himself out of contention with a 75 that left him eight strokes back, and then told Spanish reporters: “That’s the reality. I’m not good enough and today I know it. I’ve been trying for 13 years and I don’t feel capable of winning. I don’t know what happened to me. Maybe it’s something psychological.

“After 13 years, my chances are over. I’m not good enough for the majors. That’s it.”

Following a closing 71 for a two-under-par finish, just outside the top 10, he was asked if he really believed what he had said. “Do you think I lie when I talk?” he replied.

“Everything I say I say because I feel it. If I didn’t mean it I couldn’t stand here and lie – like a lot of guys do. If I felt like I could win I would do it.

“Unfortunately at the moment unless I get really lucky, I can’t really play much better than I played this week.”

Tiger Woods: never got into contention this week

Tiger Woods admitted he has a lot of work to do ahead of the US Open if he is to add to his 14 major titles.

The American never got into contention at Augusta and a closing 74 saw him finish on five over par.

So much of Woods’ success in winning four Masters titles has been built on playing the par fives well and he admitted that he let himself down on the long holes this week.

“If I look back on the week, I played the par-fives atrociously,” said Woods after mixing five bogeys with three birdies during his fourth round.

“This is a golf course you just have to dominate the par-fives, and I did not do that at all this week.

“I didn’t drive very good and didn’t hit my irons very good. I’ve got to go and do some work and be ready for the next one.

“What’s frustrating is I know what to do, and I just don’t do it.

“I fall back into the same old patterns again and I just need to do more reps. Thank God my short game was good this week and my putting was really good. Unfortunately they were all for pars, not for birdies.”

Rory McIlroy: 77 and 76 on the weekend at Augusta

Rory McIlroy attempted to laugh off another disappointing day at Augusta.

The US Open champion was right in contention at the halfway stage, but his chance disappeared with a third round 77.

He followed that with a 76 on Sunday to finish well down the field in on five over for the tournament.

However, the Northern Irishman was able to smile through his disappointment and was quick to point out that he had improved on his third round score.

“It’s one better than yesterday!” McIlroy joked. “It wasn’t great, I got off to another bad start and didn’t recover.

“It’s tough to take – coming into the weekend I felt I had a chance but the way I blew up on the first nine holes on Saturday (taking 42 strokes to the turn) wasn’t great.”

Adam Scott: closed with a 66 after an ace at 16

Adam Scott completed a mediocre Masters campaign on a high after making a hole in one at the 16th at Augusta National.

The Australian carded a 66 to finish on four under for the tournament and admitted it was the highlight of his four days by some distance.

“It was one of those days,” he said. “I was playing quite nicely but not much was going on.

“I just hit a full seven iron and held it right on my line. – it was just long enough (to clear the water in front of the green).

“I didn’t see it go in but the reaction of the crowd told me all I needed to know – I was pretty pumped. Everything went my way – it was a great way to finish.”

Meanwhile, Defending Masters champion Charl Schwartzel admitted his short game “let me down badly” after a disappointing final round at Augusta.

The South African carded a 74 to finish on eight over for the tournament and was left to reflect on what might have been.

“I had high expectations after last year,” he said. “I know the course so well. I was up for the challenge but my game let me down – especially my putting, that let me down badly.”

Lee Westwood: Still ‘in with a sniff’ heading into final round

Lee Westwood insists he has not given up on landing his first major title, despite ending Saturday’s third round five strokes off the lead.

The British world number three carded an even-par 72 at Augusta, briefly holding a share of the lead, but his momentum stalled with untimely bogeys, one of them after a missed putt from just 18 inches at the ninth.

And Westwood, who trails leader Peter Hanson by five shots heading into the final day, admitted his putting woes could prove costly.

“I didn’t quite have it today. I made too many mistakes,” he said. “That was a bad bogey at nine, missed a short one left.

“I bogeyed some holes that should have been birdie and missed a couple of short putts.

Control

“But four under with the lead at nine still has a slight sniff, if I get it going early on and make a few birdies. I’m just going to hit a few balls now and find a bit of a swing.”

Westwood, who has finished in the top three on six occasions at majors, was especially frustrated by his bogeys at the par-three 12th and the par-five 13th.

“Those were bad bogeys,” said the 38-year-old, who led by one shot after shooting a five-under 67 in Thursday’s opening round. “One of them you’re trying to birdie, the 13th, and the 12th is the easiest flag.

“I wasn’t hitting it too solid today which makes it difficult if you haven’t got the distance control.”

Westwood finished second at Augusta in 2010 and is now hoping to replicate the storming finish displayed by Charl Schwartzel which saw the South African win last year’s Masters.

“This golf course gives you a chance if you’re playing well,” the Briton said. “You’ve got the par-fives, especially the par-fives on the back nine. They’ve got the flags set so you can make a couple of eagles.”

Rory McIlroy snd Sergio Garcia had a day to forget at the US Masters.

Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia were left to reflect on luckless third rounds after a “tough day” on day three of the Masters at Augusta.

McIlroy in particular had a nightmare, taking 42 shots to get to the turn and eventually carding a 77, with Garcia marginally better off after his 75 put him one under for the tournament.

“We both dragged each other down,” said McIlroy. “We didn’t get off to the best of starts (McIlroy hit two double bogeys on the front nine) and couldn’t get it together after that.”

“I’m pretty drained,” added Garcia. “It was a tough day. I couldn’t get any momentum – until the 12th but then we both three-putted at the 13th.

“We couldn’t really feed off each other’s good energy because there pretty much wasn’t any. Our bad holes were really bad and our good holes were bad.”

McIlroy and Garcia, who hugged on the 12th green, are both likely to be in Europe’s Ryder Cup team later this year and the Irishman joked the pair might have had more luck in a matchplay format.

“We probably would have been better playing foursomes,” he added. “I hit the tee shot, Sergio hits the second – it was one of those days.”

McIlroy did not have the worst round of the day as former Open champion Stewart Cink shot 81 and fellow American Gary Woodland an 85 before withdrawing through injury.