AUGUSTA, Ga. >> Tiger Woods beat back a generation of golfers he helped create to win another major championship few imagined possible. Perhaps, not even him.

Close to quitting the game he loved a couple of years ago because of searing back pain that eventually required fusion surgery, Woods won his 15th major and fifth green jacket to complete an improbable comeback that had the Masters patrons jumping for joy on every hole on the back nine.

Not even the weather could put a damper on this Sunday afternoon as tee times were moved up in anticipation of thunderstorms and tornadoes that never arrived. There were so many people surrounding the 18th green as Woods made his way up the final fairway, you couldn’t have moved them with a pitch fork. His final-round 70 left him one shot clear of Brooks Koepka, who is arguably one of the future stars of the game.

But like his fellow 20-somethings — Xander Schauffele, Tony Finau, Jon Rahm, Patrick Cantlay — Koepka couldn’t quite match the moment that accompanies all golfers walking the famed Augusta National course.

Those who claim the Masters starts on the back nine on Sunday couldn’t have been more right as golfer after golfer tried to pull the sword from the stone. Current British Open champ Francesco Molinari made the turn for home with a two-shot lead, but watery graves at Nos. 12 and 15 dropped him down the leaderboard and out of contention.

The same thing happened to Koepka at the famed par-3 12th, where Rae’s Creek has claimed more golf balls in defining moments than any other hole in the world. Just ask Jordan Spieth. He still has nightmares of his monumental collapse here in 2016.

Koepka had several chances to spoil the show, much like he did last summer when he out-dueled Woods to win the PGA Championship, but a missed eagle putt at 15 and makeable birdies on the two closing holes that didn’t find the bottom of the cup kept the two-time U.S. Open champ from being fitted for his first green jacket.

Cantlay and Schauffele, who tracked down Gary Woodland to win the Sentry Tournament of Champions on Maui three months back, joined in the fun. An eagle by Cantlay at the 15th gave him the lead outright, but the UCLA lad bogeyed two of the last three to make way for Woods. Schauffele was part of a five-way tie with Woods after he birdied the 14th, but he parred in to finish in a three-way tie for second that included Dustin Johnson, who let a birdie putt at the last slip by.

That left it up to Woods, who began and ended the back nine with bogeys, but had birdies at Nos. 13, 15 and 16 to keep him one shot clear of the field. After his tap-in on 18, a roar went up that even Bobby Jones could hear as it echoed off the hills of Augusta on this humid and blustery afternoon. Woods chomped gum like the late Payne Stewart, trying to calm his nerves long enough to win for the 81st time on the PGA Tour. A routine birdie on the 15th followed by a near hole-in-one on the 16th that had Woods saying, “Come on, come on” as the ball trickled down the slope and just past the hole provided the margin of victory.

Woods needed this. Golf needed it even more as the man who moves the needle like no other joined the media in the interview room to give his take on things. It was packed as Woods spoke with a group of men and women who have not always been as accommodating as he might have liked.

Not since capturing the U.S. Open in 2008 on basically one leg has Woods won a major. During that lost decade of injuries and personal issues that included misuse of pain medications that many believe is plaguing this country, Woods said the only thing his kids knew about him and the game of golf is it caused him a lot of pain.

Having his family, including his mom, waiting for him at the back of the 18th green reminded him of the hug he got from his father after he won his first Masters 22 years ago. All of these things filled Woods with emotions and memories of a sport he has played as well as anyone. He was glad his two children were there to see it. So were the 50,000 or so patrons lining the closing hole, who can say they were there when Tiger Woods completed one of the greatest comebacks this game has ever seen.