"My scorecard," he deadpanned, "looked more like a phone number than a golf score."

There wasn't much else Maggert, who turned in 3-over-par 75 on Sunday, could do. He played brilliantly for most of the final day of the Masters Tournament, notching five birdies and 11 pars.

When he made a mistake, though, it was amplified fivefold. Or in the case of No. 12, eightfold.

Triple-bogeying the par-4 third hole and turning in an 8 on the par-3 12th, Maggert lost the chance to win his first major.

But he didn't lose his humor.

"I'd really like to play those two holes over again," said Maggert, who shot 2-under 286 for the tournament. "I've never had a round of golf like that. I'm encouraged by my play, but I'm disappointed with the finish. It was a very strange day."

The peculiarities began early. Entering Sunday with a two-shot lead, the 39-year-old Houston resident drove his tee shot into the bunker on No. 3.

When he tried to blast out with a sand wedge, the ball hit the lip of the bunker, bounced back and hit him in the chest, which gave him a two-stroke penalty.

Maggert, though, figured he was still in contention.

"I guess my reflexes aren't what they used to be," said Maggert, who birdied Nos. 5 and 10 to grab second place temporarily, one shot off the lead. "But the golf tournament wasn't anywhere close to being over at that point. I was playing well and putting well. I knew I could make birdies and come back."

Then came the real disaster - the eight shots on No. 12 that took Maggert out of the tournament.

On his tee shot, Maggert's ball hit the underside of the lip on the back bunker, ricocheted to the other side and began rolling to the bottom of the trap.

But the ball hit a rake divot, then stopped, giving him a tough lie. He dunked his next two shots into Rae's Creek.

Maggert certainly wasn't laughing then.

"I was angry at the time," he said. "It's something that's getting to be a little bit of a habit with some of the caddies - not finishing the job, so to speak.

"There is a little bit of an art to raking the bunker. You have to pay attention to what you're doing. You have to keep the bunker how you found it. The bunkers are so perfect around here that you notice the imperfections even more."

Masters champion Mike Weir, who played in the final group with Maggert, could sympathize.

"It was difficult to watch," Weir said. "Jeff conducted himself very well under difficult circumstances. He just tried to hang in there. Unfortunately, in this tournament, things like that sometimes seem to happen."