Patrick Reed put together one of the most impressive Masters performances of the decade, defending his lead on the field through the weekend to notch his first career major win at Augusta National.

Reed is the latest to win his first major championship at the Masters, just as Sergio Garcia did in 2017, Danny Willett in 2016 and Jordan Spieth in 2015. It was Spieth who pushed Reed the most on Sunday as the much-hyped head-to-head battle against Rory McIlroy became less about Reed and Rory and more about whether the rest of the world-class leaderboard would be able to catch the 27-year-old Texan. 

Spieth held a share of the lead for portions of Sunday and nearly tied the course record, but he bogeyed the 18th to finish with a 64 and a 13-under score for the tournament. Rickie Fowler went on his own birdie run late in the afternoon to finish in second place at 14-under and his playing partner, Jon Rahm, had his own push into contention prior to a bogey on the 15th hole. With Dustin Johnson in the mix as well, it was the best golfers in the world chasing for the lead, but Reed stayed solid to close out this career-changing win. 

Sunday's round wasn't as strong as the other three for Reed, but after every bogey, he responded with a birdie shortly after, none more pivotal than the long birdie putt on the par-3 12th hole to get back 14-under par. 

Reed followed that up with a birdie on 14 to push the lead to 15-under, the third-lowest winning score to par in the last 10 years at the Masters. 

Prior to last year's second-place finish at the PGA Championship, Reed, a five-time winner on the PGA Tour, had no top-10 finishes in majors. After his performance in Charlotte and now this win at the Masters, Reed has an argument to count himself as every bit a peer to the rest of the elite golfers of this generation.