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April 14 (UPI) -- Tiger Woods won his fifth Masters and 15th major title on Sunday in Augusta, Ga., completing a comeback from major surgeries and personal scandal that derailed his career. It is Woods' first major championship since capturing the U.S. Open in June 2008.
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"It's overwhelming because of what has transpired," Woods said. "It's unreal for me to be experiencing this. I'm kind of at a loss for words really."
Woods' mother, children and girlfriend were all in attendance to watch him complete the comeback.
"When I tapped the putt in, I don't know what I did, but I know I screamed. And then I was just looking for Joey," Wood said about his caddie Joey Lacava. "I shook the guys' hands and then found Joey, and it was a pretty big embrace. To have my kids there, it's come full circle. My dad was here in 1997 and now I'm the dad with two kids there."
Woods, who finished 14-under par, shot a final-round 70, edging Dustin Johnson (68), Brooks Koepka (70) and Xander Schauffele (68) by one stroke each at 12-under.
The last time Woods won the Masters tournament was in 2005 when he shot 12-under, defeating Chris DiMarco in a playoff.
His first Masters win came in a record-setting performance in 1997 when he won the tournament by 12 strokes at the age of 21. His other Masters victories were back-to-back in 2001 and 2002.
Woods' previous victory on the PGA Tour was last September, when he won the season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
Sunday's final round saw Woods trailing Italy's Francesco Molinari by two shots, sitting three behind after 11, but Molinari shot a 74 Sunday to end the tournament tied for fifth.
"I was just trying to plod my way around the golf course all day, then all of a sudden I had the lead, and coming up 18, it was just trying to make a 5," said Woods.
Winning in the Masters puts Woods one behind Jack Nicklaus ,who has the most victories at Augusta. He also is now three behind Nicklaus' 18 in major championships.
The victory for Woods makes him second oldest to win a Masters at 43 years, 3 months and 15 days. Nicklaus remains the oldest Masters champion at 46 years, 2 months and 23 days.
The green jacket ceremony was canceled because of the threat of severe weather.
A green jacket presentation took place in Butler Cabin and was televised by CBS.
"There will not be a Green Jacket Ceremony on the terrace putting green this afternoon in order to expedite gate closures," a representative for the club wrote in an email to golf.com.
Thunderstorms were expected to move into the area as early as 2 p.m. EDT, and tournament officials wanted to avoid extending play to Monday.
The Masters has not ended on a Monday since 1983, and that also was due to heavy rain.
Officials adjusted the tee times for the final round to try to avoid issues with the weather, with golfers teeing off as early as 7:30 a.m.
On Saturday, Molinari shot a 6-under-par 66 to take the lead after three rounds, two strokes ahead of Woods and Tony Finau. They were in the final group Sunday with a 9:20 a.m. tee time. Normally, only two golfers are paired up.
Woods has suffered with a number of injuries throughout his career that took him off the golf course. The issues started in 1994 when he had a benign tumor removed from his left knee.
In 2008, the knee issues continued, as he had arthroscopic and then reconstructive surgery, both within a matter of three months.
While the knee continued to bother Woods, he also sustained a torn Achilles' tendon in his right leg late in 2008.
Woods' back started another set of issues, and he had surgery to treat a pinched nerve by cleaning out a disc fragment in 2014, and in 2015 had a second microdiscectomy.
In April 2017, Woods had his fourth back surgery, this time after back spasms, sciatica and other pain since withdrawing from the Dubai Desert Classic in January 2017.
While injuries set back Woods' body, a high-profile sex scandal in 2009 ruined his image as well as his marriage to former Swedish model Elin Nordegren. Reports came out that Woods had a number of extramarital affairs with a number of different women.
At that time sponsors, including AT&T, Gillette and Accenture, all parted ways with doing business with the golfer.
In 2017, Woods was arrested on charges of driving under the influence in Jupiter, Fla., near his home. Officers had found him asleep at the wheel of his 2015 Mercedes. He claimed it was a cocktail of prescription drugs. He pleaded guilty, and received probation and entered a DUI diversion program.
