Masters 2016: Danny Willett wins first Major title after Jordan Spieth collapse at Augusta

Spieth's double-bogey at the 12th saw him lose a five-shot lead and allow Willett to surge ahead to claim an incredible victory

(2016 Getty Images)

England has its first Masters champion for 20 years, Europe its first of the century, and Sheffield its finest golfer of all time. When fate beckoned, Danny Willett answered the call to claim the first major of his career.

Talk about a tournament beginning on the back nine on Sunday. A procession turned into one of the great collapses in Masters history, with Willett picking over the bones of Jordan Spieth to wrap a green jacket around the top he wore of that very hue.

Willett became a father just a fortnight ago, a development that at one point threatened to keep him out of the field. The baby’s early arrival changed their lives in a way none imagined, setting in trail a course of events that ended in tumult on the 18th green.

Danny Willett smiles after making a birdie putt on the 14th (Getty)

Zacharia Willett’s due date coincided with championship Sunday at Augusta. His wife Helen’s birthday coincided with championship Sunday at Augusta. This thing was obviously written in the stars.

Spieth began the back nine with a five-shot lead after slotting four birdies on the spin to the turn. Back-to-back, wire-to-wire wins at the Masters looked a formality, the eulogies were being written as he walked to the tenth tee.

Bogeys at the tenth and the 11th did not necessarily spell doom. It was the iconic par-3 12th that did for him, twice sucking his ball into Rae’s Creek. A quadruple seven affected an eight-shot swing leaving him three in arrears. That quickly became four when Willett birdied the 16th.

Jordan Spieth reacts after hitting into the water for the second time on the 12th hole (Getty)

He held his nerve to par the closing holes and walked into the loving embrace of his father-in-law before heading into the scorer’s hut to sign his card of cards. “It was nice to walking off 18 with everybody calling my name,” he said. “There is no better feeling.

“It was a weird one, really. He (Spieth) chucked in a number at 12. It was hard to understand. Luckily enough I was able to keep my head on coming home.”

Spieth’s late disintegration on Saturday to enter the final round with a slender one stroke lead invited the field to shoot for the stars, to put a name in lights. These are the moments that define a career, and on this property at least, grant an upgrade that endures for life.

Bernhard Langer, twice a winner here, is testimony to that. Sadly his dream of winning at 58 began to unravel early with an opening bogey. A double at the third and further bogey at the fifth sent him tumbling down the leaderboard.

Danny Willett celebrates winning the 2016 Masters Championship (Getty)

Rory McIlroy had demanded a fast start after the disappointment of a third round 77 that shunted him five off the lead. A free-wheeling McIlroy might have taken a stranglehold on this tournament but a round in which he did not register one birdie amounted to a career own goal and burned his confidence, which told over the opening holes yesterday, which yielded three bogeys in his first five holes.

With McIlroy treading water it was left to English duo Lee Westwood and Danny Willett to lead the chase, a Notts/Yorks pincer movement on the Texan atop the hill. Starting at one over par, Westwood reached the turn one under to move within three of Spieth’s lead.

Willett was also two under for his round after reaching the turn at two under. It was a question of holding station and hoping Spieth might err in the final group. Birdies at 13 and 14 took Willett into position but even he did not expect what happened next. Nobody did.

Though Spieth rallied with a birdie at 15 to close within two, his hopes were finally extinguished after a bogey at the penultimate hole. Cue rapture in the house of Willett.