Reed Wins His First Green Jacket

Patrick Reed made shots on the back nine – actually, the last seven holes – when he needed to the most and staved off challenges from Rickie Fowler and Jordan Speith to win the 82nd Masters Tournament at Augusta National.

Reed’s putt for par clinched his first victory in a major, though the 1-under 71 he posted Sunday was the highest for a Masters champion on the final day since Angel Cabrera in 2009. He had led by three strokes after 54 holes and played the last seven holes in 2 under.

Reed, 27, is the fourth straight Masters champion to pocket his first major. Spieth, who acknowledged late Saturday that he was likely out of contention, shot a 64 on the final day to create added excitement down the stretch. He won the tournament in 2015. Rory McIroy faded from contention with a closing 74.

“To win your first major is never going to be easy,” Reed said. “It certainly wasn’t easy today.”

NASCAR: Kyle Busch held off Kevin Harvick to win Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. The win was Busch’s first of the season after three runner-up finishes. This was his 44th career victory, tying him for 16th all-time with NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott.

ELSEWHERE: The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Dallas Mavericks 109-97 for their 14th straight victory, which also earned them a top four spot in the NBA’s Eastern Conference playoffs.

The New York Rangers missed the NHL playoffs and now they’re missing a coach. The team fired Alain Vigneault as its seven-year run of postseason appearances ended. The playoffs begin Wednesday.

Los Angeles Angels rookie pitcher/slugger Shohei Ohtani, who had previously starred in Japan, flirted with a no-hitter, pitched seven scoreless innings and struck out 12 in a 6-1 win Sunday over the Oakland A’s.

The Boston Red Sox scored six runs in the eighth inning to come from behind and beat the Tampa Bay Rays 8-6.

The Baltimore Orioles beat the New York Yankees 8-7 in 12 innings. Yankees free-swinger Giancarlo Stanton went 0 for 7, struck out five times and is hitting .167.

Justify won the $1 million Santa Anita Derby on Saturday and Vino Rosso won the $1 million Wood Memorial in Kentucky Derby prep races.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman