GOLF/US Master: Amid the craziness, Mike Weir exemplified sanity. When others were losing their heads, he kept his - and so it was that a calm, assured left-hander from Canada took the US Masters title, but only after a sudden death play-off win over American Len Mattiace.

In winning, Weir became the first Canadian to win a major, and the first left-hander since Bob Charles took the British Open title in 1963 to win a major.

On a day when strange and weird things happened to many in the field - including balls ricocheting off the lips of bunkers and hitting players - Weir, who had suffered the turmoil of a final day collapse in the US PGA at Medinah four years ago, was steadiness personified.

Ironically,  after going through an entire round without incurring a bogey, it was a bogey at the first play-off hole that proved sufficient to give him victory.

Weir had to go to the wire to win. After finishing level with Mattiace on seven-under-par 281, the two were sent down the 10th hole in the first play-off in the Masters since Nick Faldo triumphed in 1990. Both split the fairway with their tee-shots, but there the similarity ended - Mattiace pulled his approach iron to the left, missing the green and found himself blocked out by trees. Weir found the green.

Unable to go at the flag, Mattiace's chip found the right of the green, some 50 feet from the pin, and a green that had been so kind to him earlier in the day took revenge. He raced his par putt 12 feet by the hole, and missed the bogey putt.

So it was that Weir, who had putted up to six feet, had two putts to take his first major; and he took them.

The win gave Weir his sixth US Tour title and, in all of them, he has shown the character to be the pursuer, coming from behind each of them to take the crown. "I've worked hard for this," insisted Weir, "and I'm going to enjoy it." The route to a play-off had been a spell-binding one.

Mattiace did some outrageous, wonderful things in his round. Like pitching from a horrible spot on the eighth hole, sending the ball up and over a mound and into the cup from 20 yards for a birdie; like holing a 60-footer for birdie on the 10th; like grabbing an eagle on the 13th, and going bogey-free until his 72nd hole, where he suffered his first dropped shot of the round.

Competing in only his first Masters as a professional (he played in 1988 as an amateur), Mattiace had closed with a 65 for seven-under-par 281. Just over half-an-hour later, while Mattiace worked on the range, Weir calmly holed a six-footer for par on the last hole to join him on that make and force a play-off.

Weir held a four shot lead at the halfway stage, but started the final round two behind Jeff Maggert. In his final round, Weir was steadiness personified.

"A player of medium length like me can rely on his wedge play and great putting. There's a lot of ways to play golf," insisted Weir.

Weir's final round, a 68, featured four birdies and 14 pars with only the occasional need for a fluttering of the heart. Time and time again, he coolly holed out but his smartest play came on the 15th where his drive found the left rough and, blocked out by trees, he opted to lay-up leaving himself a 92 yards wedge approach over the pond. He hit it to three feet, and moved to seven-under to join Mattiace - who was simultaneously bogeying the last -  on that mark.

On a day that continued the crazy shenanigans and madcap antics of this 67th Masters, nobody endured more torment than Maggert. Having started the final round with a two strokes lead, Maggert suffered the slings of outrageous fortune on the third hole where, after driving into a fairway bunker, his recovery ricocheted off the lip of the trap and hit him in the chest. He incurred a two shot penalty on his way to a triple bogey seven.

Worse was to follow. On the 12th hole, Maggert's day disintegrated, suffering a quintuple bogey eight after putting his tee-shot into the back bunker and, then, sending the sand shot through the green and into the pond. After trudging back to the drop zone, he did the unthinkable - and plopped his next shot into the water too. He rallied with four birdies in the closing six holes to take fifth on his own.

Tiger Woods fell in to temptation on the third - a 350 yards par four, where the tee had been moved forward to entice long-hitting players to go for the green - and suffered a double bogey, the start of five dropped shots in six holes.   He finished with 75, for tied-15th.

By comparison, Mickelson's round was relatively calm, apart from the second where his tee-shot found a water hazard on the left. After taking a drop, he smashed a superb approach through the trees to the green and holed an 80-footer for birdie to go two-under. But wasn't to spark a charge. Instead, he had to wait too late - three birdies on his last six holes - to make his move, finishing with a 68 for 283.

It left him two shots behind Mattiace and Weir, and with the distinction of finishing third for the third successive year. "You can't look at it in winning or losing terms. I'd a successful day and thought I had a shot," said Mickelson.

Jose Maria Olazabal finished  as leading European, finishing in tied-eighth. Darren Clarke, meanwhile, finished in tied-28th.