It is reasonable to expect Reed will feature on many more major leaderboards and there is no reason to believe that McIlroy will not do so as well.

Looking across at the preparations for the green jacket presentation as the sun began to set Sunday, Spieth looked very comfortable.

Reed became the fourth American in-a-row aged 27 or below to win a major championship, so at 27 he was below the average age of a US Masters victor of 32.5 but he continued the fantastic run of first-time major winners.

But once again McIlroy's putter cooled off and he fell flat when it mattered most.

He tweeted: "Congratulations to Patrick Reed on his great and courageous MASTERS win!"

He was so close that he had a short eagle putt that could have tied him for the lead on the second hole.

"He never looks at the scoreboard", said Justin Thomas, his longtime friend and his playing partner on Sunday.

His tee shot on the 18th clipped the last branch in his way, dropping his ball some 267 yards from the green.

"I just didn't quite have it", he confessed. He closed with a 74 and tied for fifth. But when things go bad for him he seems incapable of grinding out a decent score. He is a year younger than the frustrated McIlroy. But I don't think you return to your baseline of before.

If it wasn't 2011, it was another huge opportunity frittered away. McIlroy was supremely confident ahead of the final round at Augusta that he would reverse that defeat but instead Reed dusted him by three shots.

It was something of a odd scene as the leading group took to the first tee on Masters Sunday.

Going into the first major of this year, was it going to be another repeat for Fowler?

Body recovered near California cliff crash site
Court documents there show that one of the couple's daughters had come to school with bruises on her back and stomach. In a statement, the Mendocino County Sheriff's office said the body appears to be that of an African-American female.

"It's going to be fun", he added.

"I knew it was going to be tough", Reed said. I'm out here to do my job, and that's to play golf. But at the 3rd everything shifted when McIlroy missed a 10ft putt for par and Reed made one for birdie from half as far again. It's my favorite four days of any year.

Reed wasn't even distracted by the collapse of his popular rival, Rory McIlroy, who, on Saturday night, had put out quotes about how "all the pressure is on Reed" and that Patrick would have to "sleep on the lead" while thinking about all the "big-time players" right behind him.

"I have no idea and honestly I don't really care what people say on Twitter or what they say if they are cheering for me or not", Reed said.

Since playing in his first major 11 years ago at the British Open, McIlroy has proved to become one of the greatest drivers of all-time, while he also gets incredible height with his irons. He missed four putts inside 10 feet on the front nine, and he missed a 3-foot par on the 14th.

"He took a deep breath, let it out and then went and made the putt". "I feel like this is a year to knock off our first". "I pushed myself pretty hard to get ready". Patrick and I didn't at all. "The rest of us just need two hours". I had a bit of a shaky drive off the first but it was a really good up and down for par, and I hit some good shots.

Remember that he is not the first golfer to be accused of cheating - it didn't do too much harm to the careers of Vijay Singh and Colin Montgomerie. But it will likely damage his psyche.

Dudes, who didn't win, hit shots that most normal humans can't make.

"When I finished on 18 and (finally) looked at the board, I could have been in the lead by two and I could have been down four - and neither one would have surprised me". Said the pressure was on him.

"Some of us old-timers always talk about Patrick", Margeson said, "and I think all of us follow him when he's in a tournament".

He was the first victor in eight years to be drawn in the morning on day one but he teed off late in the morning at 11:15 and he was one of only a few early starters to thrive on Thursday.

Reed, Rory, Rickie, Rahm and rain turned moving day at the Masters into the kind of spectacle supposedly dependent on the presence of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.