Chris DiMarco

When Tiger Woods birdied the 1st two holes of Sunday's final round at the 69th Masters after steaming into the lead with a 65 that included a record-equaling 7 consecutive birdies in the delayed 3rd round, it seemed a forgone conclusion that he would win.

Besides, he had never lost a major when he had led heading into the final round as he was to do this time.

At the turn at beautiful but unforgiving Augusta National he was still three shots clear and looking near indestructible as he marched to what was going to be his 9th major victory and was to return to him the World No 1 ranking he had held for five years before Vijay Singh took it from him late last year.

After 10 majors without a win and five where he has not even been in contention in the last round, he finally looked set to move to the halfway point in his avowed quest to better Jack Nicklaus standout record of 18 major victories set 19 years ago.

The 29-year-old would also go to joint third in the all-time list of major winners alongside Ben Hogan and Gary Player, with Tom Watson left behind on eight and only Walter Hagen with 11 and Nicklaus ahead of him.

Moreover, four Green Jackets would be something he shared only with Arnold Palmer. Again only Nicklaus, inevitably, has more with six.

In the end Woods did win, but not before he had been forced into a sudden-death play-off by a never-give-and-inch DiMarco, who hit back with a closing 68 to the winners 71, Woods slipping back into a two-way tie with his "in your face" antagonist on 12-under 276 after bogeying the last two holes.

So dominant were the duo in fact, that Retief Goosen, who closed with a best of the day 67 to share third place with another strong finisher, Luke Donald (69), ended up 7 shots behind the leaders on 5-under.

They in turn were a shot too good for a group of five on 4-under that included the new World No 2 Vijay Singh, 2003 Masters champion Mike Weir, Australians Mark Hensby and Rod Pamling and South African young gun Trevor Immelman, who recovered from a double bogey seven at the long 13th by hitting an ace with a six iron at the par-3 16th, his magical shot raising a huge roar of applause as it spun back at least two yards and ran into the cup.

Phil Mickelson, the defending champion, finished a further shot back on one his less dynamic days, but Ernie Els, second by just one shot to Mickelson last year, had a miserable Masters, ending up 4th last on 10-over after avoiding the cut by just one shot,

But in truth Sunday's final round was all about the remorseless battle between Woods and DiMarco which Woods admitted he knew was never going to be easy.

And this in spite of DiMarco's apparent collapse on the back nine when the delayed third round was completed earlier in the morning - it included 3 bogies and a double bogey that dropped him from 13-under overnight to 8-under heading into the final round.

"He never lets up, said Woods of DiMarco . "He's gutsy and brave and is always in your face".

Disregarding Tiger's two opening birdies, DiMarco used his bull terrier tenacity to fight back with birdies at the 2nd, 9th and 11th, and at 3-under to Woods' 1-under heading for the 12th, had hauled himself back into the fight, just one behind Woods with six holes to go.

Woods swung the match back his way with an incredible chip at the 16th at a moment in time when DiMarco, in the centre of the green, looked like squaring the match.

Woods', who described the shot as one of the most important of his life, chipped from out of the rough, saw the ball make a planned right angle turn on the severe, sloping green, run up to the hole, stop dead for at least a second and then topple in for a birdie that, when the stunned DiMarco missed his birdie chance,  put the Tiger two ahead with two to play

And just as well for the 2005 champion, for he was to go on to bogey the last two holes and let DiMarco back into the battle.

Woods could have won at the 18th with a 12 foot putt for par after  DiMarco hit his approach short and saw his ball run back off the green, but a nervous Tiger, desperate to win again, missed his chance.

Ironically DiMarco made the same mistake at the first extra hole of the playoff, his approach once more running back off the green.

He recovered brilliantly, his chip finishing two feet from the hole, but this time Tiger found the centre of the green and not the rough with his approach, and when he nailed the 18 footer for a birdie, the heart-stopping duel was finally ended, Woods being the man who would have Mickelson help him into the Green Jacket.

Woods made a point afterwards of telling reporters that he was dedicating his victory to his father Earl who is battling severe illness and could not be at the course.

"He's was here in Augusta, however, and I could feel his presence throughout the four days, but especially today. I could almost hear him instructing me about how to play some of my trickier shots."

DiMarco, meanwhile, said that while he was naturally disappointed to come so close again - last year he also played in the final group at the Masters, on that occasion with Mickelson, and then went on to lose the play-off to Goosen at the US Open - he was very happy about the quality of golf he had produced in the final round.

"I though it was really good stuff and will take it as a big positive into future majors."

ALL THE FINAL ROUND SCORES

-12 (276) Tiger Woods 74 66 65 71, Chris DiMarco 67 67 74 68 (Woods won play-off at first extra hole. Woods wins £670,605, DiMarco £402,363)

-5 (283) Retief Goosen (Rsa) 71 75 70 67, Luke Donald (Gbr) 68 77 69 69 (£216,083 each)

-4 (284) Rod Pampling (Aus) 73 71 70 70, Mike Weir (Can) 74 71 68 71, Mark Hensby (Aus) 69 73 70 72, Vijay Singh (Fij) 68 73 71 72, Trevor Immelman (RSA) 73 73 65 73 (£125,497)

-3 (285) Phil Mickelson 70 72 69 74 (£100,590)

-2 (286) David Howell (Gbr) 72 69 76 69, Tim Herron 76 68 70 72 (£89,413 each)

-1 (287) Tom Lehman 74 74 70 69, (x) Ryan Moore 71 71 75 70, Justin Leonard 75 71 70 71, Thomas Levet (Fra) 71 75 68 73

E (288) Darren Clarke (Gbr) 72 76 69 71, Kirk Triplett 75 68 72 73, Chad Campbell 73 73 67 75

+1 (289) Jeff Maggert 74 74 72 69, Bernhard Langer (Ger) 74 74 70 71, Stewart Cink 72 72 74 71, Jerry Kelly 75 70 73 71, Scott Verplank 72 75 69 73

+2 (290) Joe Ogilvie 74 73 73 70, Craig Parry (Aus) 72 75 69 74, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 71 67 71 81

+3 (291) Jim Furyk 76 67 74 74

+4 (292) Steve Flesch 76 70 70 76, Kenny Perry 76 68 71 77

+5 (293) Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 74 74 73 72, Mark O'Meara 72 74 72 75

+6 (294) (x) Luke List 77 69 78 70, KJ Choi (S Kor) 73 72 76 73, Adam Scott (Aus) 71 76 72 75, Shingo Katayama (Jpn) 72 74 73 75, Casey Wittenberg 72 72 74 76, Ian Poulter (Gbr) 72 74 72 76

+7 (295) Fred Couples 75 71 77 72, Tim Clark (Rsa) 74 74 72 75, Ryan Palmer 70 74 74 77, Todd Hamilton 77 70 71 77

+8 (296) Jonathan Kaye 72 74 76 74, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 69 76 72 79

+9 (297) Stephen Ames (Can) 73 74 75 75, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 72 72 76 77

+10 (298) Ernie Els (Rsa) 75 73 78 72

+13 (301) Jay Haas 76 71 76 78

+16 (304) Chris Riley 71 77 78 78

+18 (306 Craig Stadler 75 73 79 79