Woods fails to finish job at Augusta

Augusta, Georgia, Apr 9: The biggest surprise on a Masters Sunday full of twists and turns was Tiger Woods failing to finish the job when in position to land his fifth green jacket.

Woods, who had never previously lost a major when starting in the final group, was last to tee-off but ultimately had to settle for a share of second place, two strokes behind fellow American Zach Johnson.

''I had a chance and looking back over the week I basically blew the tournament with two rounds when I had bogey-bogey finishes,'' said the world number one referring to his efforts on the first and third days.

''That's four-over in two holes. You can't afford to do that and win major championships,'' he told reporters after returning a closing level-par 72 for 291, three over.

Woods struggled with his form yesterday after spinning the ball off the green for an opening bogey.

A birdie at the second gave the 31-year-old maestro a share of the lead and he briefly led on his own midway through the front nine before he spun another ball off the sixth green for another bogey.

Woods also dropped a stroke at the 10th before losing a club at the 11th.

After hitting his tee shot behind a tree at the par-four hole, the 12-times major winner badly bent his four-iron when his follow through rammed the shaft against the pine and he finished off the job by snapping the broken club in half.

''I kept plodding along,'' he said. ''This course was playing very difficult. You just tried to give yourself as many chances for birdies as you could because they were hard to come by.'' Woods stirred hopes of an exciting finish when he put his second shot at the par-five 13th within three feet of the cup and sank the eagle putt to pull within two shots of Johnson.

The charge ended there though as the world number one found water in front of the green at the par-five 15th and no more birdies were forthcoming.

It was the first time Woods had failed to shoot at least one under-par round at Augusta since winning the 1997 Masters.

''It was a little bit frustrating,'' he said. ''I just made a couple of mistakes out there today.''

Reuters