AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The rarest shot in golf can happen any time Bubba Watson has a golf club in hands. Watson was so deep in the woods late Sunday afternoon that he couldnt even see where he was going. With his golf ball nestled on a bed of pine needles, he hit a gap wedge that shot out toward the fairway and hooked some 40 yards and onto the elevated green. Nothing less than the Masters was riding on the outcome. Nothing else would do except for a page right out of "Bubba golf." And on a thrill-a-minute Sunday at Augusta National, where Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa made only the fourth double eagle in the 76-year history of this major, it made Watson a Masters champion. "Ive never had a dream go this far, so I cant really say its a dream come true," Watson said. "I dont even know what happened on the back nine. ... Nervous on every shot, every putt. Went into a playoff. I got in these trees and hit a crazy shot that I saw in my head, and somehow Im here talking to you with a green jacket on." His amazing shot in the playoff settled 10 feet from the hole, setting up a simple par for the win. Lost in all the commotion was Oosthuizen making what is commonly called the rarest shot in golf -- an albatross -- when his 4-iron from 253 yards on the par-5 second hole landed on the front of the green, took the slope and rolled some 90 feet into the cup for a two. Oosthuizen had never made a double eagle in his life. His Masters ended by watching a shot he didnt know existed. After hitting short of the 10th green in the playoff, he was in the fairway and could only see a trail of fans leading into the woods. "I had no idea where he was," Oosthuizen said. "Where I stood from, when the ball came out, it looked like a curve ball. Unbelievable shot. That shot he hit definitely won him the tournament." Watson, who made four straight birdies on the back nine and closed with a 4-under 68, made it all sound so simple. Maybe its because he has hit so many shots like that before. Maybe its because he is one of the few players who doesnt have a swing coach, and never has. "Hooked it about 40 yards, hit about 15 feet off the ground until it got under the tree and then started rising," Watson said. "Pretty easy." The hard part was holding back tears. He was blubbering hard on the 10th green, shoulders heaving and face contorted, for so many reasons. Just two weeks ago, he and his wife adopted a baby boy, Caleb. The first person on the green was his mother -- his father died right after the Ryder Cup in 2010. He held her tight and cried some more. As incredible as it all seemed, Gerry (Bubba) Watson, Jr., the powerful lefty with a million shots at his disposal, was a major champion. "I never got this far in my dreams," Watson said in Butler cabin, where defending champion Charl Schwartzel helped him into the green jacket. "Its a blessing. To go home to my new son, its going to be fun." Oosthuizen was trying to join Gene Sarazen in the 1935 Masters as the only major champions to win with a double eagle in the final round. The former British Open champion made one clutch putt after another on the back nine, none more important than a four-footer on the 18th for a 69 to force the playoff. Both had a good look at birdie at No. 18 on the first extra hole and missed. Watson, dressed all in white and using a pink driver, hooked his tee shot on the 10th into the trees, and it appeared he would have no shot at reaching the green. Walking down the fairway toward an uncertain lie, he and caddie Ted Scott recalled their credo -- "If I have a swing, Ive got a shot." Among his idols in golf are Seve Ballesteros, who built a career on magical escapes like this one. It was the first Masters since Ballesteros died last May. Watson also admires Phil Mickelson, who never saw a flag that frightened him. "I attack. I always attack," Watson said. "I dont like to go to the centre of the greens. I want to hit the incredible shot. Who doesnt? Thats why we play the game of golf, to pull off the amazing shot." They finished at 10-under 278, two shots ahead of four players who kept it close and made the Masters as compelling as ever. Mickelson, playing in the final group for the fourth time, recovered from a triple bogey on the par-3 fourth hole and still managed to stay in the game. He could only make two-putt birdies on the two par 5s on the back and shot 72. "Its disappointing that I didnt grab that fourth green jacket," said Mickelson, whose wife and three kids flew in from San Diego on Sunday. "Its disappointing that I didnt make it happen on the back nine and get the putts to fall, even though I felt like I was hitting them pretty good. I gave them all good chances. I just couldnt quite get them to go." Lee Westwood of England ran off three straight birdies, but the last one hurt. He had an eight-foot eagle putt to tie for the lead on the 15th and missed it, and a final birdie on the 18th gave him a 68 and only made it look close. "I dont feel like giving up just yet," said Westwood, who had his seventh top-3 finish in a major since the 2008 U.S. Open. Matt Kuchar tied for the lead with a short eagle putt on the 15th, then bogeyed the 16th for a 69. Peter Hanson of Sweden, who had a one-shot lead going into the final round, didnt make a birdie until the 15th hole. He closed with a 73. Watson, a 33-year-old from Bagdad, Fla., in the Panhandle, won for the fourth time in his career and moves to No. 4 in the world, making him the highest-ranked American in golf. He became the fifth left-hander to win the Masters in the last 10 years. And he created a legion of fans -- especially in Georgia, where he returned to school to get his degree -- who chanted, "Bubba! Bubba! Bubba!" as he hugged everyone he could find on the 10th green. "I dont play the sport for fame. I dont try to win tournaments for fame," Watson said. "I dont do any of that. Its just me. Im just Bubba. I goof around. I joke around. "I just want to be me and play golf." Tiger Woods used to play practice rounds with Watson at the majors because he was intrigued how a guy who has never had a coach could make the ball move any direction he wanted. Watson hasnt had a lesson since he was 10. His father taught him the basic grip and basic swing, and Watson took it from there. The challenge has always been figuring out the game by himself. "I just swing funny, and somehow it works," he once said. Woods was among those who congratulated Watson on Twitter before the trophy presentation. "Congrats (at)bubbawatson. Fantastic creativity. Now how creative will the champions dinner be next year?" he tweeted. Oosthuizen was trying to become only the sixth player to have won majors at Augusta National and St. Andrews -- two of the most revered courses in golf -- and almost got it done. He stayed in the lead with a tricky par putt from 10 feet on the 14th and a seven-foot birdie putt on the 15th, but Watson caught him by making his fourth straight birdie on the back nine, a tee shot into four feet on the 16th. Both hung on for pars the rest of the way. Woods went from the favourite to not even a factor on the weekend. He closed with a birdie on the 18th for a 74 and had his highest score ever at the Masters as a pro, finishing at 5-over 293 -- 15 shots out of the lead. This, from a guy who only two weeks ago won by five shots at Bay Hill, presumably signalling a return. "It was an off week at the wrong time," Woods said. He tied for 40th with U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, also favoured to contend. McIlroy was one shot out of the lead after two rounds, then had a 77-76 weekend. Woods and McIlroy were expected to be a big part of the show. This being Augusta, the show managed to go on. There simply is no greater theatre in golf than the Masters, and it lasted all day. An ace for Bo Van Pelt on the 16th -- the second straight year he has made two eagles on the back nine -- for a tournament-best 64. An ace for Adam Scott on the same hole, sending him to a 66. The loudest cheer was for Oosthuizens albatross. Hanson was sizing up a difficult chip from right of the first green when Augusta erupted in cheers from down below. No one was sure what it meant until Hanson and Mickelson hit their tee shots on the par-5 second, glanced over at the white leaderboard behind the eighth green and saw that Oosthuizen had gone from 7 under to 10 under ahead of them. Hanson made two quick bogeys and never caught back up. Mickelsons tournament might have ended on the fourth hole with one swing, one bad bounce off the bleachers, and two straight right-handed shots that led to triple bogey. "Oh, no," Mickelson said as his tee shot struck the grandstand and caromed into the woods. He could have gone back to the tee and played his third shot. Instead, he tried to chop out of the trees from the right side and barely moved it a yard. He tried the same shot again and slapped it to a muddy patch of grass. From there he went into the bunker, and triple bogey was the best he could do. Kuchar made a late run, but this back nine -- plus two extra holes -- ultimately belonged to Watson and Oosthuizen. And when it was over, austere Augusta National had a guy named "Bubba" in a green jacket. Nike Air Max 90 España . Theyre ready for a "street fight," if thats the route to the NBA finals. James came up big down the stretch to finish with 29 points, Dwyane Wade scored 24 and Miami beat the Chicago Bulls 85-75 Wednesday night to tie the Eastern Conference finals at one game apiece.WINNIPEG -- It took two tries but the Nashville Predators finally got the power-play goal they needed. Mike Fisher scored 42 seconds into the third period moments after another goal was waved off for goalie interference. Fishers goal proved to be the winner as Nashville held on for a 4-3 win against the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday. "We werent sure about the call but we knew we had enough time to get another one," said Fisher. "It was a similar play, just puck to the net, rebound and we were in the right spots." Both Central Division teams are desperate for points as they head into the Olympic break well short of what they need to make the playoffs. "We know we need to go on a tear to get back in it," said Fisher. "Its not going to be easy. We know there are a lot of teams right with us. . . . Thats what makes these games exciting. It felt a little bit more like playoffs tonight." The Jets (25-25-5) started the game a point ahead of Nashville (24-23-8) and finished it a point behind. It was disappointing for a team that has been flying high since new coach Paul Maurice took over. Even with the loss they have won six of their last eight, including wins over Chicago and Anaheim in their own buildings. "We were in the box maybe a little more than wed want to be," said Jets forward Blake Wheeler, who scored his NHL career-high 22nd goal. "It would have been nice to start the third 5-on-5 . . . From there we were looking at an uphill battle." Maurice wasnt happy about the penalty Devin Setoguchi took at the end of the second period that set up the power-play goal at the start of the third, but said the issue was addressed and Setoguchi was aggressive in the remainder of the third period as the Jets tried to generate offence. "The team gets one opportunity to learn from the mistake and then you expect a response like that, an understanding, a responsibility and respect for his teammates to do everything possible to get it back." Overall, though, Maurice said the team played hard. "Its just such a hard grinding game and it was a battle all the way through . . . you could see it in their faces coming to the bench, they gave it everything they have.dddddddddddd" Seth Jones, Roman Josi and Nick Spaling also scored for Nashville. Chris Thorburn and Mark Scheifele had the other goals for the Jets. On the downside, Nashville doesnt know yet how long they might be without the services of captain Shea Weber, who left the game with what was described as an upper-body injury. But coach Barry Trotz said it was encouraging to see the way the team rallied in the third period without him. "It gives a lot of the young guys some confidence. . . Its great for the learning curve," he said. Jones got things started with a perfect wraparound at 3:48 that slipped by Ondrej Pavelec but Thorburn tipped in his first goal of the season off the faceoff for the Jets just 22 seconds later. Josi put the Predators ahead 2-1 just 42 seconds into the second period on a slick one-two-three combo from Craig Smith and David Legwand. Winnipeg struggled at times to get the puck out of their own zone in the second period. They had a couple of legitimate scoring chances but the closest they came was a post on a long hard shot from Zach Bogosian. Instead, it was Spaling who snapped one in at 17:18 to put Nashville up 3-1. But the Jets made up for their early period struggles with two goals in just 27 seconds. The first was Scheifeles shot into the crowd in front of Nashville goalie Carter Hutton that bounced in off his one of his own defencemen and it was capped with Wheelers career-high 22nd of the season at the 18:40 mark. Notes: Forward Evander Kane was out of the Jets lineup again Tuesday with an infection in the hand he injured a fight with Tampa Bays Eric Brewer on Jan. 7. Kane initially missed four games but returned Jan. 21 to score a goal and three assists in the next four games. Now he isnt expected to return until after the Olympic break. ... For the pre-game skate the Jets all wore No. 11 jerseys to mark Bell Lets Talk Day and honour Rick Rypien, who signed with the team in 2011 but committed suicide at the age of 27 before reporting and wearing the number he had been assigned. He had a long history of clinical depression. cheap jerseys cheap jerseys ' ' '