HEAVEN & HELL: Adam Scott celebrates his winning putt that beat Angel Cabrera on the second sudden-death playoff hole yesterday at Augusta National. Cabrera nearly made a long birdie putt on the same hole (inset), but missed by less than an inch.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Down Under shot straight to heaven last night at venerable Augusta National.
Seventy-six Masters had passed without an Australian player being fitted for a Green Jacket.
Greg Norman, the country’s greatest player of all, had shoved one arm into the most coveted garment in the sport on more than one tantalizing occasion, but he was never able to force in the second one, suffering several historic heartbreaking setbacks.
But, with a two-hour stretch of some of the most clutch golf ever played in the shadows of the tall Augusta pines, Adam Scott, a Norman protégé, ended all the angst for his proud sporting nation of rabid and loyal fans.
Scott defeated Argentina’s Angel Cabrera, the 2009 Masters champion, on the second playoff hole shortly before darkness fell on a dank day in Augusta.
His 12-foot birdie putt on the 10th hole, where last year’s Masters ended in Bubba Watson’s playoff win, Scott ended the Masters drought for his country.
Moments before, Cabrera’s 15-foot birdie attempt came within an inch of dropping. That’s how cruelly close this game is. But then, the Aussies are all too familiar with cruel close calls.
For the deserving and patient Aussies who have been tormented all these years by the cynical gods in green jackets, the Scott victory exorcised the demons that have been lurking around Augusta for decades — the ones that snickered when Norman faltered all those times.
The victory putt on the 10th buried the ghosts of the Larry Mize playoff chip-in to beat Norman in 1987 and of Nick Faldo steamrolling Norman and his fragile psyche in that epic 1996 collapse.
“It’s amazing that it’s my destiny to be the first Aussie to win,’’ Scott said.
About an hour before Scott won, he was sure he’d captured his first major championship when he drained a 25-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole in regulation to get to 9-under par and take a one-shot lead over Cabrera, who was playing one grouping behind.
Scott said later only one thought ran through his mind when he stood over the putt: “Show everyone how much you want it. This is the one.’’
So he did. And when he did, the usually stoic Scott and his caddie, Steve Williams — who was on the bag for three of Tiger Woods’ Masters wins — went ballistic, breaking into a wild high-fiving celebration while Cabrera and his caddie son, Angel, Jr., stood in the fairway and watched.
Undaunted, Cabrera calmly stuffed his 7-iron approach shot to a 3-foot tap-in to tie Scott and force the playoff.
“For a split second, I thought I’d won,’’ Scott said. “That was a putt we’ve seen so many guys make to win and I thought it was time for me to step up and see how much I want this.’’
Scott said he did everything he could to block out the burden of being Australia’s hope to win its first Masters.
“I tried not to think about anything along those lines,’’ he said. “The thing I did well was stay right where I was wherever I was on the golf course.’’
When it was over, though, Scott was overcome with emotion and pride for his Aussie nation — particularly Norman.
“Australia is a proud sporting nation and this was one notch in the belt that we never got,’’ Scott said. “There is one guy who inspired a nation of golfers and that was Greg Norman. Part of this definitely belongs to him, because he gave me so much time and inspiration and belief and I drew on that a lot today.’’
The win also represented delicious redemption for Scott, who had one hand on the Claret Jug at last July’s British Open at Royal Lytham before a series of late-Sunday missteps opened the door for an Ernie Els win.
Yesterday’s final-round back-nine drama did not disappoint the Masters masses despite the game’s biggest stars (Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson) not involved in the final outcome.
For that gift, give thanks to the riveting theater at the finish provided by Scott and Cabrera.
Their clutch play in the last two hours helped golf fans forget the clumsy and ugly flap involving Woods and the two-shot penalty for an illegal drop and the silly one-shot penalty assessed to 14-year-old amateur Tianlang Guan for slow play.
Instead of being known for the two embarrassing and poorly handled incidents by the green jackets that had nothing to do with the outcome, the 77th Masters will forever be known as Australia’s Masters.
Drink up, Aussies.
mark.cannizzaro@nypost.com