2016 Masters: Danny Willett surges to claim green jacket after Jordan Spieth meltdown

Englishman Danny Willett has played flawless golf to win the 2016 Masters.

Danny Willett was the only player on the leaderboard to play bogey-free golf on Sunday to claim the green jacket and win his first-ever major championship.

Willett’s final 5-under 67 was exactly what was required from someone in the chasing pack behind Spieth.

But in the hours after the concluding stages of the 2016 Masters, it;s tempting to suggest the tournament will equally be remembered for Jordan Spieth’s meltdown at the par-3 12th hole.

Spieth was in cruise control of the tournament as he made the turn at 7-under par, opening up a clear six shots on the chasing pack and looking odds on to claim his third major victory from the last five.

Spieth made bogey at the 10th and 11th hole but the defending Masters champion still held a string lead, but he has shown all week he can bounce back from bogeys with a birdie and most people assumed he would follow it with birdie.

Spieth dropped two tee shots into Rae’s Creek that guards the front of the par-3 at Amen Corner to card a quadruple-bogey 7 and drop to one over the card.

The gasps of the crowd were audible throughout the pines of Augusta and being part of the patronage, I’ve never experienced as atmosphere like it at a golf tournament.

To Spieth’s credit he managed to bounce back to grab a couple of more birdies on the way home but the damage was done. It’s quite amazing to think that someone can lead the tournament, make seven birdies in a round of golf, four at each of the par-5s and still lose the tournament.

Spieth’s collapse opened the door for Willett who made birdies at the 13th, 14th and 16th holes to surge into the lead.

It also opened the door to Lee Westwood and Dustin Johnson who also were now within a shot of the lead but neither could match the perfection of Willett.

Willett becomes the first European player to win the Masters since Jose Marie Olazabal in 1999 and the first Englishman to claim the green jacket since Nick Faldo in 1996.

Willett now climbs in the top-10 in the world rankings for the first time in his career.