Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods put himself in position to claim a fifth green jacket and had huge galleries cheering him on as Sunday saw him at times become the Tiger of old.
When he started the back nine on the final day, with the pressure of Masters Sunday affecting all around, woods was perched in his customary position at the top of the leaderboard and on the prowl.
He was five under par for the day and had just eagled the eighth hole to join the leaders. With momentum and experience on his side, the green jacket was beckoning and the galleries at Augusta National roared with excitement.
But the Woods of 2011 is not the same man who dominated golf since 1997 while racking up 14 major titles. As hard as he tried, he could not conjure up any more of his old magic.
He could only manage par at the par-five 13th hole, which he had birdied in each of the previous three rounds.
At the 15th, another par-five, he reached the green in two and had a chance for a second eagle from six feet that would have given him the outright lead. But he missed and settled for a birdie, his last for the tournament.
He played the back nine in even par for a final round 67 for a 10-under-par total of 278. By most standards it was a great performance but it was only enough to leave him tied for fourth, four back of South African winner Charl Schwartzel.
"I got off to a good start on the front nine and on the back nine didn't putt well and hit one loose iron there at 13," Woods told reporters. "I should have shot an easy three or four under on the back nine and I only posted even."
Ultimately, it was his putter that let him down. He needed 33 putts on Saturday, 31 on Sunday and missed a handful of short putts that might have been tap-ins in years gone by.
Woods has not won a major since 2008 nor any tournament since 2009.
The golf world has been waiting patiently for him to resurface and continue his chase of Jack Nicklaus's record 18 majors.
As riveting as his latest charge was, the jury is still out on whether he can win the five majors he needs to pass Nicklaus but there have been some positive signs.
The 35-year-old has been working hard at rebuilding his swing and his performance at Augusta over the past four days showed that he is anything but a spent force.
"I hit it good all day. This entire weekend I hit it good," he said, with a hint of understatement and frustration. "So that was a nice feeling."
