Tiger’s Bid a Round Trip to Nowhere

It was one of those days for Tiger Woods ... one he almost never experiences. Instead of closing the door on everyone else, Woods shot a 75 and had the door slammed on him.

Woods said goodbye to his chances to win a record third consecutive Masters title on a sunny Sunday afternoon at Augusta National, where he fell into a disappointing tie for 15th at two-over-par 290.

Three straight?

“It’s not easy, bud,” Woods said. “I guess that’s it. No one’s ever done it, so obviously it’s been proven it’s not easy to do.”

His score equaled his worst final round in a major since he turned professional. He also had a 75 at the 1997 PGA Championship and the 1999 Masters.

“You can’t win everything,” he said. “That’s our sport. We try to put ourselves in a position to win and you’re not going to win every time.

“It was one of those weeks where I couldn’t really get anything going for an extended period of time, day in and day out.”

Instead of a record performance, Woods was far off his usual game. He tied for 29th in fairways hit, tied for 44th in sand saves and tied for 16th in putting. Plus, he was four under on the par fives. Winner Mike Weir was 10 under on the par-five holes.

Woods actually got off to a decent start with a birdie at the second hole to move to two under for the tournament, but then it all fell apart at the seemingly benign third hole.

It measures only 350 yards, but the tees were moved up, daring anyone to go for it.

Woods did, and misfired.

Woods said his caddie, Steve Williams, convinced him to hit driver.

“Ultimately, it’s the player’s decision,” Woods said.

It was an error in decision-making. Woods blocked the ball to the right and it stopped under an azalea bush. His only shot was left-handed, flipping his iron over and punching out to the fairway, using the back side of the clubhead.

Woods chipped over the green, tried to bump his fourth shot into a bank and stop it on the green, but left it short in the fringe. His 15-foot downhill putt was short and Woods tapped in for a double-bogey six.

It was his first bogey or worse in 22 holes, but he also bogeyed the fourth hole with a three-putt, and then the seventh, and then took another bogey at the par-five eighth.

Woods played the third through fifth holes in seven over. He failed to birdie the eighth, the second-easiest hole on the course, in four rounds.

“He’s human,” Scott Verplank said. “Well, maybe just today.”

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He started with a 69, but Sergio Garcia played the last three rounds in nine over. Maybe that accounts for the level of sympathy Garcia showed for Woods.

“It’s not easy, the course is not easy,” Garcia said. “He’s human. He can miss. I know how good he is, but it’s tough out there.

“There are other players out there who can win.”

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History note: The only left-hander besides Weir to win a major is Bob Charles, who won the 1963 British Open.

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Nick Faldo, the three-time Masters champion, finished with a 73 and was satisfied with his seven-over total of 295.

“I had a long, hard struggle reading the greens,” he said. “There’s no such thing as a straight putt here.”

Faldo said he had larger issues than worrying about the greens. “I had enough trouble this week keeping my dry-cleaning bill down,” he said.

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Twenty-four hours later, the only remnants of Saturday’s protest along Washington Road were two orange portable toilets.

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This is what frustration looks like: Robert Allenby hits his tee shot into the water at the par-three 12th, reloads from the penalty area and knocks another one in the water. He doesn’t replace the divot, but he does bury his wedge in the ground, up to the hosel. Allenby made a seven, which looked bad until Jeff Maggert’s eight.

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Weir’s seven-under 281 total is the highest winner’s score at the Masters since 1989, when Faldo was at 283. Faldo beat Scott Hoch in a two-hole playoff.

Weir’s bogey-free final round was only the fourth by the Masters winner. The others are Doug Ford in 1957, Ben Hogan in 1951 and Jimmy Demaret in 1940.

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Triple Threats

Golfers with a chance to win a major three consecutive times, and what happened:

*--* MASTERS Years won Quest for three-peat TIGER WOODS 2001-2002 Tied for 15th in 2003 JACK NICKLAUS 1965-66 Missed cut in 1967 NICK FALDO 1989-90 Tied for 12th in 1991 U.S. OPEN Years won Quest for three-peat WILLIE ANDERSON 1903-04 Won in 1905# JOHN McDERMOTT 1911-12 Eighth in 1913 BOBBY JONES 1929-30 Did not play in 1931 RALPH GULDAHL 1937-38 Tied for seventh in 1939 BEN HOGAN 1950-51 Third in 1952 CURTIS STRANGE 1988-89 Tied for 21st in 1990 BRITISH OPEN Years won Quest for three-peat JAMES BRAID 1905-06 Tied for fifth in 1907 BOBBY JONES 1926-27 Did not play in 1928 WALTER HAGEN 1928-29 Did not play in 1930 BOBBY LOCKE 1949-50 Tied for sixth in 1951 PETER THOMSON 1954-55 Won in 1956## ARNOLD PALMER 1961-62 Tied for 26th in 1963 LEE TREVINO 1971-72 Tied for 10th in 1973 TOM WATSON 1982-83 Tied for second in 1984 PGA CHAMPIONSHIP Years won Quest for three-peat WALTER HAGEN 1924-25 Won in 1926### LEO DIEGEL 1928-29 Ninth in 1930 DENNY SHUTE 1936-37 Tied for ninth in 1938 TIGER WOODS 1999-2000 Tied for 29th in 2001

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# Finished fifth in bid for fourth consecutive title in 1906; ## Finished second in bid for fourth consecutive title in 1957; ### Won fourth consecutive PGA Championship in 1927. He finished fifth in 1928.