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The duo Jon Rahm and Ryan Palmer made an odd pairing but proved a perfect match in teaming up to win the PGA Tour's Zurich Classic by three strokes.

Spaniard Rahm and American Palmer carded an assured final-round three-under-par 69 in the unforgiving alternate shot foursomes format in demanding conditions on the bone-dry TPC Louisiana layout.

They finished at 26-under 262, while the team of Sergio Garcia and Tommy Fleetwood jumped into second place with an excellent 68.

It is the third PGA Tour victory for 24-year-old Rahm, and the fourth for 42-year-old Palmer, who ended a nine-year drought.

Australian Curtis Luck had his best finish on the PGA Tour as he paired with rookie Hank Lebioda to finish in a four-way tie for fifth at 20 under after a final round 71.

The 22-year-old Luck recorded his first top 10 to collect a cheque of $163,338 ($A299,642), which will go a long way to securing his status on the lucrative main tour.

Separated by 18 years - Rahm a fiery Spaniard and Palmer a laid-back Texan - would seem an unlikely pair, but the American could hardly have made a better choice when he asked the world No.11 to partner him.

"It's very special for Ryan and I'm really excited to share it with him," Rahm said in a greenside interview as Palmer teared up.

"He definitely earned it today. He's a great guy and I couldn't be prouder. He played a lot of good golf today."

Palmer played well early on, while Rahm clicked into gear on the back nine, sinking a 13-foot birdie putt at the 10th hole that prompted a round of applause from his partner.

Palmer returned the favour by coaxing in a seven-foot par-saver at the next and they were never headed after that.

"My putting was there today,"

"Man, what a day," Palmer said.

"It's so fun when you're playing with a guy who can hit it as good as he (Rahm) does and when I hit it as well as I can, it makes for a lot of fun golf."

Rahm and Palmer are both credited with an official victory but do not get any world ranking points due to the team format.

C.T. Pan watched the Masters last week with his wife and sometimes caddie, thrilled by Tiger Woods' stirring victory at Augusta National.

His wife, Pan recalled, told him point blank, "Hey, I'm not patient, so you better get me (to Augusta) as soon as possible."

Pan complied quickly and needed just 47 putts in his final 36 holes to take advantage of world No.1 Dustin Johnson's back-nine meltdown on Sunday to win the RBC Heritage for his first PGA Tour victory.

Along with $1,242,000 ($A1,735,000) winner's cheque, the title opens a world of opportunities for the 27-year-old Taiwanese Pan.

He's exempt on tour through 2020-21, in line to make the President's Cup International team this year and will have an opportunity he's dreamed about since taking up the game in the mid-1990s by playing at Augusta National.

"It's still really hard for me to believe," he said.

"I'm processing. My phone has been vibrating the last 10 minutes.

"I'm so happy I finally got it done."

Pan shot a four-under 67 to finish at 12-under 272, a stroke ahead of Matt Kuchar and two in front of Patrick Cantlay, Scott Piercy (both 69s) and Shane Lowry (70).

Top-ranked Johnson, a 20-time winner on the PGA Tour and the third-round leader in his home-state event, had a disastrous 77 to tie for 28th at four under.

He dropped seven shots in five holes after be made bogeys on the 11, 12th and 13th holes and double bogeys on the 14th and 15th.

Marc Leishman - the only Australian to make the cut - had an even-par 71 to finish at three over and tied for 58th.

Pan won twice on the PGA Tour Canada in 2015 when he turned professional and finished second twice in PGA Tour events, once at the Farmers Insurance Open in 2017 and last year at the Wyndham Championship.

Australia's Minjee Lee has shared third place as Canada's Brooke Henderson successfully defended the LPGA Tour's Lotte Championship title, winning by four strokes.

The 21-year-old Henderson shot a closing two-under 70 in windy conditions at Ko Olina Golf Club in Hawaii to triumph at 16-under 272, with South Korea's Eun-Hee Ji second after a 73

World No.4 Lee battled to a final-round 74, with two birdies and four bogeys, as she finished a shot further back and tied with Thai star Ariya Jutanugarn (73).

"Obviously, the wind was pretty tough today," Lee said. "Probably the windiest out of all the days."

World No.12 Henderson tied Sandra Post's record for LPGA Tour victories by a Canadian with eight.

"When I was younger it was just a goal to be on the LPGA Tour, to win my first event," Henderson said.

"And when that happened and I won my first major the year after, things kind of just started to fall into place."

Women's Australian Open champion Nelly Korda was tied with Henderson for the third-round lead but had a horror finish.

She made a quadruple-bogey eight on the final hole for a 77 that left her seven strokes back at 9 under.

She hit into the water twice on 18, then threw her ball in after finishing.

The 20-year-old American also had a double bogey on the par-4 seventh.

"Pretty bad," Korda said. "I mean, it was a tough day, but I ended really poorly and I'm pretty disappointed in that. ... It was an unfortunate final round, but there is nothing I can do about it anymore."

Dustin Johnson, known for length off the tee, has shown off his precise ball-positioning and hot putter to take the lead at the PGA Tour's RBC Heritage.

Johnson shot a three-under 68 for a one-shot lead over Shane Lowry, Ian Poulter and Rory Sabbatini.

The top-ranked Johnson, a South Carolina native who had not played his home state's only PGA Tour stop for nine years before returning in 2018, seems to have found a home on Harbour Town Golf Links' narrow fairways and smallish greens.

He had his sixth round in the 60s over the past two years to reach 10-under 203.

"I'm really enjoying playing in it," Johnson said.

"I really enjoyed playing in it last year after being away for so long. It's something I look forward to now.

"We have a really big fan base here and growing up in South Carolina definitely helps."

Ireland's Lowry led the first 48 holes before making three bogeys on his final six holes in a 71 on Saturday.

He was tied at nine under with England's Ian Poulter (67) and South African Rory Sabbatini (68).

Patrick Cantlay fired a five-under 66 to lead a group of six players at eight under and just two strokes behind Johnson.

World No.22 Marc Leishman - the only Australian to make the cut - had a triple bogey seven and a double bogey at the par-5 15th in a horror round of 77 to plummet to three over.

Johnson, who's won 20 PGA Tour titles, showed off other parts of his game that sometimes get overlooked by his booming drives.

He saved par out of the pine straw after a bad drive to the right and into the trees on the 12th hole, then made birdie on the par-5 15th after putting his tee shot in the woods. He hit just five of 14 fairways, yet had only 25 putts.

"The course played tough. It was very challenging," he said. "It was tough getting balls close to the hole."

So Johnson just made a bunch of long putts - including a 47-foot bomb that caught the lip of the cup and rolled almost all the way around before dropping.

Lowry was among 56 players who had to finish the rain-delayed second round in the morning.

The Tiger Woods major watch, stagnant for so long that it had almost been abandoned, is back on and Jack Nicklaus might yet be proved correct.

As the years ticked by from 2008 and an injury-riddled Woods got stuck for more than a decade on 14 major titles, four short of Nicklaus's record, the "Golden Bear" kept saying he still thought his mark was in jeopardy.

Such talk, while Woods battled a potentially career-ending back injury, was widely dismissed as little more than politeness from someone who could hardly say anything else.

But in winning the Masters at Augusta on Sunday to end an 11-year major drought, Woods crept within three of catching Nicklaus.

"Nobody wants their record to be broken, but I certainly wouldn't want Tiger to be hurt and not able to do it," Nicklaus told Golf Channel.

"He's got me shaking in my boots!"

Alhough the odds are still against 43-year-old Woods, who is racing against Father Time as well as a fused spine that could cause more problems, it is no longer inconceivable to imagine him winning three or four majors.

The next two are at venues well suited to his game and where he has won -- the PGA Championship at Bethpage and the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach where he triumphed by a massive 15 strokes.

Then it is the British Open, at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, where nobody in this year's field has played a tournament.

His peers think Sunday's victory could loosen the dam wall, if not completely open the floodgates.

Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas, neighbours in south Florida who often play with Woods, expressed a mixture of excitement and trepidation.

"It keeps 18 (majors) in play," Fowler told a small group of reporters amid what for Augusta National amounted to frenzied scenes outside the clubhouse as thousands of spectators congregated hoping to catch a glimpse of the new champion.

"I don't doubt that this is going to be his most special one yet.

"To get his 15th after a long wait, after a lot of years away from competitive golf, being in a position where he wasn't sure he was going to play again, it's cool stuff."

Thomas acknowledged he had needed to be convinced Woods could win another major.

"I thought today was going to be big in how he handled it," said the 2017 PGA Championship winner.

"He's been there a lot, more than anyone, but it had been a while since he had a chance to win here."

Joint Masters runner-up Brooks Koepka expects Woods to challenge Nicklaus's record.

"I think 18 is a whole lot closer than people think," he said.

More immediately, Woods can become the most prolific winner in PGA Tour history.

He now has 81 victories, one short of Sam Snead, whose record could be tied as soon as next month, when Woods is likely to make his next appearance, at the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Then it will be the PGA Championship from May 16-19, where the focus will be back on the pursuit of Nicklaus's record.

Tiger Woods has completed one of the greatest comebacks in sporting history with a come-from-behind win at the Masters at Augusta National.

The deafening roars at Augusta were cathartic for fans who feared they would never see Woods win another major after years of career-threatening injuries and off-course scandals.

But on an overcast Sunday at Augusta, Woods sent the sporting wold into meltdown by claiming a fifth Masters green jacket and 15th major title.

Aged 43 and now the world No.6, Woods' first major win in 11 years has him just three off Jack Nicklaus' record of 18.

Woods was glad to be wearing Augusta's green jacket over his trademark Sunday red shirt once again - 14 years after his epic 2005 Augusta triumph.

It will go down as a where-were-you moment.

"Well, I know where I was," Woods joked in a winning press conference beamed to the world.

The one-shot win from Americans Dustin Johnson, Xander Schauffele and Brooks Koepka marked two years since Woods underwent risky spinal fusion surgery which sidelined him for 10 months.

Woods reportedly said at the champions dinner at the 2017 Masters that he was "done" (retiring).

His fourth back surgery also led to an addiction to prescription drugs that resulted in Woods being arrested in Florida in May 2017 while asleep at the wheel of his car, before he completed "intensive" rehab.

But his comeback from oblivion is what makes his first major victory since the 2008 US Open so special.

All 14 of his previous majors came from at least a share of the 54-hole lead. But Woods started Sunday at Augusta two shots off the lead.

He bogeyed the last for a two-under-par 70 and a 13-under-par (275) total.

Big-hitting Johnson (68), Schauffele (68) and Koepka (70) tied second at 12 under.

Australia's Jason Day (67) tied fifth at 11 under with 54-hole leader Francesco Molinari (74), Webb Simpson (70) and Tony Finau (72).

The turning point came when Molinari was taken victim by Augusta's iconic par-3 12th, rinsing his tee shot for a double-bogey while Woods birdied to share the lead.

Woods was vintage when he took the outright lead with a two-putt birdie on the par-5 15th and never looked back.

He stiffed his tee shot at the par-3 16th for a tap-in birdie, before a regulation par on 17 allowed Woods to bogey the 72nd - and he did for an emotional victory.

Woods embraced his daughter, Sam, and son, Charlie, as well as mother Kultida, beside the 18th green.

Sam was 12 months old when Woods won his last major, while Charlie was born a year later, after his Torrey Pines triumph.

"To have my kids there, it's come full circle; my dad was here (when I won) in 1997 and now I'm the dad," a tearful Woods said in Butler Cabin.

Woods admitted his optimism at winning more majors has skyrocketed but was unsure if golf great Nicklaus was worried.

"Well, I don't know if he's worried but I'm sure he's watching ... I can win more majors now," Woods said.

Woods became the oldest champion at Augusta since Nicklaus captured his sixth and final Masters aged 46 in 1986.

He also moved to within three of Jack Nicklaus' all-time record 18 victories and one behind Sam Snead's record 82 US PGA Tour wins.

"Yeah, I do (think I'm back) because I just did it," Woods said.

Woods reached rock bottom since winning his 14th major.

His personal life unravelled in 2009 when reports of multiple extramarital affairs surfaced.

The scandal saw Woods crash his car, lose major sponsorship deals, spend 45 days in a clinic for sex addiction and undergo a divorce from wife Elin Nordegren.

He also conceded retirement was a possibility in late 2017 when he couldn't swing a golf club for almost 10 months and plummeted to 1,199 on the world rankings.

"But you never give up; you always fight," he said.

"Granted, pushing and being competitive got me into this position, but it's also what got me out."

Australians Aaron Baddeley and Matt Jones have failed to snatch the final spot in the field for the Masters after Canadian Corey Conners won the Texas Open to book his place at Augusta.

Conners claimed his first PGA Tour victory to become the first golfer in nine years to win on the lucrative circuit after qualifying on a Monday.

He made three birdies in his final five holes on Sunday to card a six-under 66 and finish at 20-under 268.

It was a wild closing round for 27-year-old Conners who followed four early birdies with four consecutive bogeys on the front nine before he stormed home with six birdies and three pars on the back nine.

"Definitely a dream come true. It was an amazing day," Conners told PGA Tour Radio.

American Charley Hoffman (67), the champion in Texas three years ago, was second at 18 under while Ryan Moore carded a sizzling eight-under 64 to finish third.

Baddeley (71) and Matt Jones (70) finished in a tie for 30th at seven under.

Next stop for Conners is a return to Augusta, Georgia, for the first major of the year starting on Thursday. He played the Masters as an amateur in 2015 and missed the cut.

Si Woo Kim, The Players Championship winner in 2017, led the opening three rounds but dropped to a tie for fourth with Brian Stuard (15 under) after an even-par 72 on Sunday.

Two of the top three finishers last year at Augusta missed the top 10 in Texas.

Rickie Fowler was tied for 17th at 10 under with a final-round 69, and Jordan Spieth (72) was seven under.

The last player to qualify on Monday and win a PGA Tour event was Arjun Atwal in 2010 at the Wyndham Championship.

That was the first time it had been done in 24 years.

HIGHS AND LOWS FOR AUSTRALIAN GOLFERS AT THE MASTERS

FIRST AUSTRALIAN AT THE MASTERS:

* Jim Ferrier, born and raised in Manly, New South Wales, became the first Australian to play at the Masters in 1940 when, as an amateur, he finished 26th. However, Ferrier became a naturalised American citizen in 1944

* Ferrier became the first Australian-born player to earn a top 10 when he finished tied fourth at the 1946 Masters

AUSTRALIAN CLOSE CALLS:

1972 - Bruce Crampton tied for second behind Jack Nicklaus; it was Australia's first runner-up and best result at the Masters

1980 - Jack Newton came within three of Seve Ballesteros with five holes to play, but Ballesteros hung on to victory and Newton finished tied second

2011 - Jason Day and Adam Scott posted the clubhouse lead on Sunday, only for South Africa's Charl Schwartzel to birdie the final four holes to win by two

AUSTRALIAN COLLAPSES:

1950 - Ferrier led Jimmy Demaret by five shots with six holes to play, but bogeyed five of the last six holes to finish two strokes back as the runner-up

1986 - Greg Norman was tied with Nicklaus going into the 72nd hole. But Norman pushed his approach right on No.18, made bogey and handed Nicklaus his sixth Masters and 18th major. Norman was joint runner-up

1987 - Norman entered a three-way sudden-death playoff with Seve Ballesteros and Augusta native Larry Mize. Mize miraculously chipped for birdie from off the green on the par-4 11th (the second extra hole) and won when Norman failed to make his birdie putt

1996 - Norman blew a six-shot lead after 54 holes, handing Nick Faldo the green jacket in one of the most iconic losses in golf and sporting history. "I let this one get away," Norman said. "I'll wake up tomorrow morning still breathing, I hope."

MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS AUSTRALIANS OWN OR SHARE:

Most eagles in a tournament - Crampton set the record for most eagles (four) in a single Masters in 1974, but it was later equalled by Dustin Johnson (2009) and Tiger Woods (2010)

Course record - in 1996, Norman shot 63 on Thursday to equal Nick Price's 1986 record for lowest 18

Lowest front nine - Norman went out in 30 in the final round in 1988 and shares the record with Jonny Miller (1975), KJ Choi (2004), Phil Mickelson (2009) and Gary Woodland (2014)

Lowest first round - Norman (63) owns the record outright for lowest ever first round

Lowest second round - With a 64, Day (2011) shares the record with Miller Barber (1979) and Jay Haas (1995)

Lowest final round - Norman closed with a 64 in 1988 and shares the record with five others including Hale Irwin (1975) and Gary Player (1978)

Inaugural Augusta National Women's Amateur champion Jennifer Kupcho believes the tournament will change the course of women's golf after her victory at the home of the Masters.

Amateur world No.1 Kupcho became the first woman to win an event at 86-year-old Augusta National Golf Club - which did not have a female member until 2012.

The first two rounds of the 54-hole event were played at nearby Champions Retreat before the top 30 contested the final day on the famed Augusta layout on Saturday.

Australian Julienne Soo missed the cut after rounds of 81 and 77 but still got the play Augusta on Friday, as the full field of 72 players had the opportunity to play a practice round.

"I actually wasn't that nervous and I ended up playing better than the last two days," Soo told Golf Australia moments after the hike up the 18th.

The event was seen as a landmark moment for women's golf and Kupcho's performance was equalling as special - as she duelled with final round playing partner Maria Fassi of Mexico.

Reigning NCAA champion Kupcho, 21, was two shots behind Fassi through 12 holes but she made eagle at the par-5 13th and added three late birdies to ice a four-shot victory.

"To be able to get the first win, it's a feeling I can't describe," Kupcho said after her five-under-par 67 gave her a 10-under total.

Fassi shot 70 to finish second at six under, while the Philippines' Yuka Saso (69) and Japan's Yuka Yasuda (72) tied for third at two under.

The event was lauded as a success by Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley, despite it coming under heavy criticism when announced at last year's Masters.

Australian seven-time major winner Karrie Webb was among those who questioned why it would clash with the LPGA Tour's ANA Inspiration - the first women's major championship of the year.

Four amateurs eligible to play at Augusta declined in favour of the ANA in California, whose third round was played on Saturday.

"Why put them with such a (tough) decision?" Webb posted on social media at the time.

Kupcho and Fassi both earned LPGA Tour cards from qualifying school last year but deferred their status until later in 2019.

Kupcho said future editions of the Augusta event would influence more women to delay turning pro.

"Yeah, I would think so. It said something that the top two players (at Augusta) were the two that decided not to turn (pro)," she said.

Kupcho was presented the winner's trophy by Ridley in the Butler Cabin - the room in which the Masters champion receives the green jacket.

"You are now a part of Augusta National's history, along with the great Masters champions," Ridley said.

Kupcho believes the event would strengthen women's golf.

"There were so many people (in attendance); it's really started a movement in women's golf," she said.

Unheralded Danish golfer Lucas Bjerregaard hopes his surname will no longer be mispronounced as "beer garden" after toppling Tiger Woods in the quarter-finals of the World Golf Championships-Match Play.

Bjerregaard, a 27-year-old who plays on the European Tour, came up with several big plays down the stretch to defeat 14-time major winner Woods one up.

Bjerregaard bagged an eagle on the par-5 16th hole to level the match, hitting his second shot from 236 yards to 29 feet and draining the putt, with Woods only managing birdie.

After both birdied the par-3 17th, Woods uncharacteristically flubbed his second shot at the short par-4 18th into a greenside bunker but recovered with a sublime sand shot.

However, Woods then missed a four-foot par putt to hand Bjerregaard a passage into Sunday's semi finals, where he'll meet American Matt Kuchar.

Bjerregaard says he grew up idolising Woods and was nervous on Friday night when he discovered he could meet his hero in Saturday afternoon's quarter-finals.

"I dreamt about playing against Tiger but I didn't think it was ever going to come true," Bjerregaard said.

"I definitely noticed Friday night, who I could potentially play against.

"It was an incredible experience for me to play with Tiger and see what he plays in front of every day."

A two-time winner on the European Tour, Bjerregaard said American fans were still learning about him.

He heard some entertaining mispronunciations of his surname from the galleries at Austin Country Club.

"I've heard, 'Beer Garden' and seen people lifting their beer up in the air and saying, 'This is you, man'," Bjerregaard said.

"I've heard all sorts of things, especially this afternoon, where I think they've had a few (beers)."

World No.14 Woods was visibly devastated at being knocked out of the $US10.25 million($A14.4m) event, which he has won three times, by an opponent 38 places below him on the world rankings.

"(Bjerregaard) played well in tough conditions; he played the last three holes pretty solidly," Woods said.

With the Masters at Augusta National less than two weeks away, Woods will take confidence from making it to the final eight in a match play tournament featuring 64 of the top 66 golfers in the world.

Even if the 43-year-old was too shattered to say it.

"It's a little hard for me to take that in perspective at this moment right now, I just walked off the golf course," Woods said.

"I don't know right now (about Masters preparation). You've got to give me a little time to calm down."