Everyone knows where they were the moment Adam Scott won the 2013 Masters

It was a Monday morning in Australia a decade ago when Adam Scott sank a putt that brought the nation to a standstill.

It wasn’t the picture Adam Scott had in his dreams of how he’d win the Masters.

But the dark, cloudy and rainy early evening of April 14th, 2013 provided an iconic moment in Australian sport that if you ask golf fans, or sports fans, where they were, they can tell you.

They tell Scott all the time, and he said “the hairs do stand up on your arms” whenever anyone brings up that magic putt he sank in the rain on the 10th hole, the second playoff hole, which happened a decade ago.

It was a moment which changed not just Australian golf, but Australian sport, after enduring years of Greg Norman heartbreaks at Augusta, finally an Australian got to put on a green jacket.

“People still mention to me all the time, they know where they were when Adam Scott won the Masters,” Scott told the Chasing Majors podcast as he recalled that day.

“It was dark, it was rainy, it was cloudy. It was never how I thought I’d win the Masters, with blue skies and birds chirping.

“But I thought for me, it was even better. And the hairs do stand up on your arms when I go back and think about it.”

Adam Scott celebrates after making a birdie putt on the second playoff hole to win the Masters. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

It was a moment to inspire the next generation, guys like Cameron Smith, who will head to Augusta next week motivated to “be like him”.

As a teenager with high hopes of his own, doing a gym session on a Monday morning in Queensland with a bunch of other hopefuls, Smith said it was a “light bulb moment” for young bucks like him watching.

“It was awesome, everyone was yahooing, wanting him to win, especially being a Queenslander as well,” Smith said after the first round of the LIV event in Orlando, after which he’ll head to Augusta as one of five Australians in the field.

“It was a pretty cool little moment we had there, it probably lasted a little longer than he would have wanted, going in to a payoff, and a little bit longer than we wanted.

“It motivated everyone for sure. Once upon a time he was right where we were so it was kind of, I guess, like a light bulb moment for most of us.

“Scotty is obviously a really good role model on the golf course and probably even a better role model off the golf course. So I just I just want to be like him.”

Marc Leishman has his own place in that magic day.

Playing in the same group as Scott, having been a chance of winning himself, his fist-bump in the background as his fellow Aussie forced a playoff has become a significant part of the storyline.

While he revelled in Scott’s winning putt, he did it away from the course, having left Augusta National to contemplate his own missed opportunity that day, contemplation quickly overtaken by joy.

“I was in the back at the rental house,” Leishman, who finished in a tie for fourth in 2013, said this week as he recalled where he was.

“It was obviously pretty cool. I was there on it the green when he made that putt that we thought was to win.

Marc Leishman’s famous fist-pump on the 18th hole in 2013 .(AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)

“Then yeah, one more that was to win so to see a mate do that, I was obviously really happy for him.

“It was obviously a huge day for me to have a chance to win a major and until really late too.

“And then, you know, once I was sort of out of it to have, like I said before, we‘re really good mates and to be there to try and sort of help him over the line, it was a massive day for both of us.

“It was a life changing moment for him, but I think back about that occasionally and how cool that day was.”

Adam Scott celebrates with caddie Steve Williams in 2013 (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

Although 10 years have passed, and Scott is now 42 and with just one top-10 finish at Augusta since his victory, he goes back adamant the 10th anniversary of his win will work as motivation rather than a distraction.

There’s certainly extra attention on him, although he’s not among the 14-players set to do major media conferences ahead of the tournament. Cameron Smith and Jason Day are the only Australians on that list.

But Scott, who made a hole-in-one on the par three sixth hole during a recent practice round at Augusta, returns imbued with the confidence of so many positive memories, and good rounds.

He knows it’s going to be difficult to repeat that moment, and he conceded he’s “surprised I haven’t been close since”.

But reliving his magic moment is also acting as a pressure relief, allowing him to attack this year’s Masters with happiness to match his hope.

“There‘s always a special feeling, having won the Masters, going back every time. It’s a good feeling obviously,“ Scott said on a zoom call from the US on Friday.

“I was playing a little better week in and week out going in to 2013, the confidence was high.

Adam Scott with the Green Jacket after winning the Masters (Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)

“But I’ve managed to keep myself at the top end of the game ever since and I’m just looking for that week when I put it all together.

“I think (the anniversary) is going to be a motivation. I’m a little surprised I haven’t come close since winning but I feel like I have a lot of opportunities in front of me.

“I’ve been chipping away at a lot of things and if I put myself in the right headspace this week and get out of my own way a little bit and get on a run I can move my way to the top of that leaderboard.

“So I‘ve kind of got to catch fire to put myself in there with a chance.”

Originally published as Everyone knows where they were the moment Adam Scott won the 2013 Masters