World No 1 Scottie Scheffler lived up to pre-tournament expectations by claiming his second Masters title with a four-shot victory at Augusta National on Sunday.
Scheffler arrived at the first major of the season as comfortably the best player in the world, with two victories and a runner-up finish in his last three tournaments. Add to that his experience of winning the Masters two years ago, and it made the American the firm favourite to claim his second green jacket.
So it proved as Scheffler won a record $3.6 million top prize after a drama-filled battle with fellow Americans Collin Morikawa and Max Homa and Sweden's Ludvig Aberg, who made an impressive major debut.
“I can't put into words what it means to win this tournament again,” Scheffler said.
He birdied three of the last six holes to fire a four-under-par 68 and finish 72 holes on 11-under 277, with Aberg shooting 69 to finish second on 281.
Two-time major winner Morikawa had a closing 74 to share third on 284 with Homa and England's Tommy Fleetwood.
“I did my best to stay calm out there. I tried to stay patient on the course,” Scheffler said. “Was able to make some key shots and key putts to keep my round going.”
Scheffler matched Tiger Woods as the only player to win the Masters twice while on top of the world rankings. He also became the fourth-youngest multiple Masters winner at age 27 behind Woods, Jack Nicklaus and the late Seve Ballesteros.
Scheffler, who hasn't played a round over par since last August, has the second-fewest Masters starts for any two-time winner with five. Only Horton Smith needed fewer, taking two of the first three Augusta titles in the 1930s.
The 27-year-old American had seized a four-stroke edge but made a bogey at 11 while Aberg moved within two with a tap-in birdie at the par-5 13th.
After Scheffler sank a three-footer for birdie at 13, Aberg answered with a five-foot birdie putt at 14 to stay within two.
“It was a dream come true to be in this situation, to feel the pressure coming down the final holes,” Aberg said.
Scheffler responded with a tap-in birdie at 14 and a nine-foot birdie putt at the par-3 16th to secure the victory. He was greeted at the 18th green by a standing ovation from spectators delighted by his skilled shotmaking.
A crucial streak of three birdies following a bogey at seven featured his most spectacular shot. After a 10-foot birdie putt at the par-5 eighth, Scheffler lofted an incredible 89-yard second shot at the ninth that rolled down a slope within inches of the hole to set up a tap-in birdie for the solo lead.
“It was nice to get that feeling of hitting a really well-struck shot and it set me up to have a really nice back nine,” Scheffler said.
He added a nine-foot birdie putt at 10, reaching 9-under and boosting his lead to two shots while rivals suffered double-bogeys.
Morikawa made a double-bogey at the ninth after finding pine straw and a bunker and another at 11 dropped him out of contention.
“I got greedy on nine and 11. When you're playing good you get greedy,” Morikawa said. “Greed got the best of us.”
Aberg plunked his second shot at 11 into a pond and made double-bogey, spoiling his bid to be the first Masters debut winner since 1979.
“I came out very nervous. I was shaking on the first tee,” Aberg said. “Hitting in the water on 11 wasn't ideal.”
Homa, seeking his first major win, hit an unplayable ball into the flowers over the par-3 12th on the way to his double bogey.
Second-ranked Rory McIlroy, who needs only a Masters victory to complete a career grand slam, fired a 73 to finish on 292. “Hasn't been my year this year but I'm going to keep coming back until it is my year,” McIlroy said, while third-ranked Jon Rahm, the 2023 winner, fired a 76 to finish on 297.
Woods shot 77 to finish 60th on 16-over 304. He said he plans to play the year's other three majors. “Hopefully the next three my body will co-operate.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Ruwais timeline
1971 Abu Dhabi National Oil Company established
1980 Ruwais Housing Complex built, located 10 kilometres away from industrial plants
1982 120,000 bpd capacity Ruwais refinery complex officially inaugurated by the founder of the UAE Sheikh Zayed
1984 Second phase of Ruwais Housing Complex built. Today the 7,000-unit complex houses some 24,000 people.
1985 The refinery is expanded with the commissioning of a 27,000 b/d hydro cracker complex
2009 Plans announced to build $1.2 billion fertilizer plant in Ruwais, producing urea
2010 Adnoc awards $10bn contracts for expansion of Ruwais refinery, to double capacity from 415,000 bpd
2014 Ruwais 261-outlet shopping mall opens
2014 Production starts at newly expanded Ruwais refinery, providing jet fuel and diesel and allowing the UAE to be self-sufficient for petrol supplies
2014 Etihad Rail begins transportation of sulphur from Shah and Habshan to Ruwais for export
2017 Aldar Academies to operate Adnoc’s schools including in Ruwais from September. Eight schools operate in total within the housing complex.
2018 Adnoc announces plans to invest $3.1 billion on upgrading its Ruwais refinery
2018 NMC Healthcare selected to manage operations of Ruwais Hospital
2018 Adnoc announces new downstream strategy at event in Abu Dhabi on May 13
Source: The National
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
More on Quran memorisation:
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
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MATCH INFO
What: 2006 World Cup quarter-final
When: July 1
Where: Gelsenkirchen Stadium, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Result:
England 0 Portugal 0
(Portugal win 3-1 on penalties)
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Zayed Sustainability Prize
Sri Lanka Test squad:
Dimuth Karunaratne (stand-in captain), Niroshan Dickwella (vice captain), Lahiru Thirimanne, Kaushal Silva, Kusal Mendis, Kusal Janith Perera, Milinda Siriwardana, Dhananjaya de Silva, Oshada Fernando, Angelo Perera, Suranga Lakmal, Kasun Rajitha, Vishwa Fernando, Chamika Karunaratne, Mohamed Shiraz, Lakshan Sandakan and Lasith Embuldeniya.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
