Tiger Woods Wins His 5th Masters Title, Marking A Career Comeback

Tiger Woods won his fifth Masters title on Sunday, marking an incredible comeback from injury and personal hardship that ended a nearly 11-year-long championship drought.

Woods finished the final round of his 22nd Masters appearance 13 under par, winning the tournament by a single stroke over Xander Schauffele, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, who were tied for second place.

Sunday's win at Augusta National — where Woods won his first major in 1997 — was his 15th time winning a major. Prior to Sunday, Woods hadn't won a major championship since his victory at the U.S. open in 2008.

With five Masters titles, he is now just one victory away from tying the record for most Masters wins held by American Jack Nicklaus, who has six. The victory also brought Woods closer to tying Nicklaus' record of 18 major championships.

The win capped a stunning professional comeback for Woods, who has faced crippling back and leg injuries that led to multiple surgeries and nearly ended his professional golf career. In 2017, he underwent a spinal fusion, his fourth back surgery, with hopes of alleviating the pain.

It was also his first victory at a major since a series of personal troubles that began in 2009 pushed Woods to take a break from the sport.

As the final round of the tournament got off to an early start Sunday morning due to bad weather, it wasn't clear that Woods would come back from two strokes behind, but he did.

"I was just trying to plod my way along the golf course all day, then all of a sudden I had a lead," Woods said after his victory. "Coming up to 18, it was just trying to make a five. When I tapped the putt in — I don't know what I did. I know I screamed."

As the ball went in, the crowd erupted into applause and chants of "TIGER! TIGER!" [Copyright 2019 NPR]