Woods unable to summon final round charge

Tiger Woods spent 20 minutes working his way through Amen Corner on Sunday. He didn't look up at the leaderboard once. Then again, he didn't really need to.

By the time he reached No. 11, he knew where he stood. He was five strokes off the lead and needed more than a courageous charge to win another Masters. He needed everyone else to completely collapse.

Neither happened.

On a day in which he played well enough to get into contention early, but not well enough to muster a heroic run at the leaders, Woods shot a 3-under-par 69. He finished at 4 under for the tournament, in fifth place.

That was six strokes behind champion Vijay Singh, who helped push Tiger's historic 1997 victory a little further into the memory banks.

"At least I gave myself a chance after Thursday," Woods said, referring to the opening-round 75 that proved too big a deficit to overcome. "For some reason, the golfing gods weren't looking down on me this week."

It was more than the golfing gods. It was the course architects at Augusta National, too.

They're the ones who began a campaign to Tiger-proof their layout after Woods blew through it in 1997. He set the record with a 270 and had many people thinking that nobody would ever beat him here.

Since then, some holes have been lengthened. The fairways have been tightened by a new cut of rough and some of the greens have been recontoured.

Woods went 10 rounds after his title without breaking 70. He shot 68-69 over the weekend to finally break that spell, but conceded that the Masters has changed.

"No doubt about it," he said. "It's a tough test now. I'm not saying it wasn't tough back then. But it's tougher now because obviously you've got to drive the ball better and you've still got to be tough with the irons."

His iron play was good enough -- he hit 71 percent of the greens over the tournament -- and naturally, Woods thought victory was possible until the end.

But there were no fist pumps, uppercuts or smiles. Just a beleaguered look, even when things went right.

After a birdie on No. 15, he plucked the ball out of the hole with the vigor of a player who had just made double bogey. His face looked pained.

Then, the clincher. His foot flew out of his backswing on No. 16. He dangled his leg above the ground and watched helplessly as the ball landed well left and in back of the green. He ended up with a bogey -- an end to his chances, but not his dreams.

"If I could somehow birdie 17 and 18, you never know," he said. "Vijay still had to play over some water on 15, and we had seen some pretty high numbers there."

The birdies didn't come. Neither did the collapse from Singh or anyone else.

Thus, Woods failed to capitalize on a sizzling start. He made his way around the front nine in 3 under -- his best nine holes of the tournament. He birdied Nos. 2, 4, 7 and 8 and bogeyed No. 6.

Each time those birdies were posted on the scoreboard at Amen Corner, a roar from fans in that gallery erupted, a new red number bringing a bigger reaction than the shots being played right in front of them.

They expected Woods to be on the prowl when he finally got there.

But by the time he arrived, the ardor had cooled -- and not just among the fans.

"I don't think he ever got to within three of me," Singh said. "I wasn't worried about that. I was just thinking about my own game."

Singh had a five-stroke lead over Woods by the time he finished No. 12, and suddenly, he was the toast of Amen Corner. Only David Duval and Ernie Els were challenging the leader by then.

Still, it was a spirited comeback from the best player in the world. Where others might have folded, Woods came back to contend, however briefly.

"I was very close, very close," Woods said. "I still gave myself a chance. I'm proud of that."