Sandy Lyle took comfort in finishing in front of triple major winning Padraig Harrington after carding a closing round 71 yesterday.
Sandy Lyle took comfort in finishing in front of triple major winning Padraig Harrington after carding a closing round 71 yesterday.
Lyle, the lone Scot in the Augusta National field, recorded three birdies and two bogeys, including a dropped shot at the last to end with a two under par tally in his 28th US Masters.
Lyle walked from the course in superb spring conditions delighted also to finish two shots clear of Harrington who carded a third straight 73 for an even par tally.
Harrington's effort left him trailing in the mid 30s on the leaderboard and ended all hope of him becoming just the third golfer to win three majors in succession.
Lyle commenced his round at one under par but it was an up-and-down start for the 51-year-old who birdied the third but then dropped a shot at the fourth before getting back to two under par with a fifth hole birdie.
He then moved to three under par, and the high water mark of his week when he superbly birdied the infamous par three, 12th hole. He then parred the next six holes before dropping a shot at the 72nd. "Overall I am pretty pleased considering I double bogeyed the opening hole of my first round," he said.
"So to start two over par and finish four days later at two under par is really nice.
"It was disappointing not to make par up the last but at least I finished ahead of the current Open champion."
It was the third straight occasion Lyle had played all four rounds of Augusta National and his first 286 tally in 17 years.
Lyle produced a 302 fourth- round score last year and 303 a year earlier while his 286 total matched a similar effort in 1992 when he was placed 37th. Lyle's score this year was just five shots shy of his 1988 Augusta winning mark of 281.
"I am happy to take two under but it was a day today that should have been a low 68, and I really just needed to make putts," said Lyle.
"My longest putt all day was a five-footer for birdie at the fifth hole. But I've always known that I can still be competitive around here, and I know things haven't been going well the last couple of years but last year I made a few little changes to my swing and hit the ball a lot tidier.
"Overall I feel as though Augusta National has done a very good job this week with the course playing pretty good."
Lyle was then asked to single out his highlight of the week and he chose the annual Champions Dinner on Tuesday night but more so for the emotion when Jose Maria Olazabal read out a note from the ailing Seve Ballesteros.
Lyle said: "The Champions Dinner is always my highlight every year, and there's never been a bad one. But this year was especially touching when the note from Seve was read out."
