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.”

Danny Simpson: Delighted with Newcastle’s recent form

Danny Simpson has challenged Newcastle to record their fifth Premier League win in a row when Bolton visit St James’ Park on Monday.

The full-back has been delighted with the way the Magpies have remained in contention for a Champions League spot with the likes of Chelsea and Tottenham.

And Simpson believes the Easter weekend could play a decisive outcome in the season with just six games remaining.

He said: “With 10 games to go, the manager (Alan Pardew) said the season starts now.

“We’ve got four wins on the bounce and we’re keeping clean sheets so it couldn’t have gone any better.

“We’ve looked solid at the back and dangerous going forward.

“We’ve been good through the season but this is the best spell and the best we’ve looked as a whole.

“We feel strong and as if we’re going to win.

“This is a massive week for everyone in the Premier League and if you can get maximum points, you give yourself a good chance with five games to go.

“We’ve given ourselves a good chance to get five wins on the bounce.”

Mario Balotelli: sent off in Arsenal defeat

Manchester City have denied rumours of a post-match punch-up in their dressing room after the Barclays Premier League defeat at Arsenal.

The aftermath of City’s loss, which could spell the end of their title hopes, saw suggestions emerge of a physical confrontation between members of their squad at the Emirates Stadium.

But a club spokesman dismissed that, saying: “It is rubbish.”

The result left City eight points behind Manchester United, prompting manager Roberto Mancini to admit their title hopes were “probably” over.

The match also witnessed another meltdown from Mario Balotelli, who was sent off in the dying moments for a second yellow card after getting away with what looked a certain sending-off offence in the first half when he caught Alex Song with a knee-high challenge.

Nikica Jelavic: Praise from his new manager

David Moyes says Everton new boy Nikica Jelavic reminds him of Croatia’s all-time record goalscorer Davor Suker.

Jelavic has been nothing short of a revelation since he swapped Rangers for Everton in a £5.5million January transfer.

The Croatian has scored five goals for the Toffees, the latest two coming in Saturday’s 2-2 draw against Norwich at Carrow Road.

The 26-year-old opened the scoring with the cleverest of deft flicks in the first half and showed predatory instinct by turning home Steven Pienaar’s cross to score the Toffees’ second after the break.

Everton have longed for a regular goalscorer ever since Louis Saha went off the boil after a succession of injuries, and Moyes is so delighted with his new hitman that he admits he sees shades of France ’98 top scorer Suker in the former Rangers striker.

“He does (remind me of Suker),” Moyes said.

“He sees getting goals as part of his job, his role in the team, but he has helped link us up as well.

“He is a presence as a centre forward so he has been good for us.

“He wants to get a goal and he showed that against Norwich.”

No coincidence

Since Jelavic arrived at Goodison Park, the Merseysiders have leapfrogged bitter rivals Liverpool to reach seventh in the Premier League – an achievement which Moyes thinks is no coincidence.

“We couldn’t score at all in the first half of the season and he makes us look like we are going to do it more often,” Moyes added.

“He has adapted really well. At Rangers he probably had more of the ball than he has had here in the Premier League so he has to do a little bit more on the other side of the game, but overall he has done well.”

Everton would have registered their third straight league win for the first time in over two years had Jonny Howson and Grant Holt not taken advantage of some slack defending to equalise for the Canaries in an entertaining game at Carrow Road.

Moyes was disappointed to draw after taking the lead twice, but he must quickly eradicate thoughts of the stalemate and instead concentrate on tomorrow’s game against Sunderland at Goodison Park.

After that the Toffees face a huge FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool on Saturday and Moyes admits he may have to shuffle his pack given the importance of next weekend’s game against their neighbours.

“This is a difficult time of the year,” he added.

“I will have a look and try to see what I can do. I have a few ideas up my sleeve.”

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.”

Riaan Swanepoel: 15 points

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Riaan Swanepoel kicked all of Brive’s points as the French side booked their place in the semi-finals of the Amlin Challenge Cup with a 15-11 win over the Scarlets.

Scarlets full-back Liam Williams scored the only try of the game at Stade Amedee-Domenech but it was not enough to see off the hosts.

Brive built their victory on a staunch defence and dominant scrum, with Swanepoel stepping in to kick five penalties to reward the forwards’ hard work.

The sides had gone into the interval level at 6-6 after Swanepoel and Scarlets fly-half Stephen Jones had each kicked two penalties.

Swanepoel then gave the hosts the lead after the break with two more penalties as the Scarlets began to feel the strain.

Scarlets then scored a 58th-minute try through Williams but Rhys Priestland could not add the conversion as the French side remained narrowly ahead at 12-11.

With the Welsh visitors unable to put any more points on the board, Swanepoel sealed the victory with another penalty in the last minute to kill the game off.

The victory ensures the last four will be an all French affair, with Brive travelling to Biarritz on April 28 while Toulon will host Stade Francais on April 27.

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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.”