Chris DiMarco just misses out again

But give him his due this time: He stared down Tiger Woods in one of the greatest duels in Masters history.

Matching Woods almost shot for shot in an epic showdown, DiMarco overcame a two-stroke deficit in the final two holes Sunday, nearly holing out a chip at No. 18 that would have claimed his first major championship.

In the end, it wasn’t quite enough. DiMarco forced a playoff but could only make par on the first extra hole. Then he could only watch as Woods rolled in a 15-foot birdie to win his fourth Masters and ninth major overall.

DiMarco keeps contending in the biggest tournaments — especially at Augusta. He’s led at the end of a round five times in five years, including both the 18- and 36-hole marks of this one.

For the second year in a row, he played in the final group at the Masters. For the second straight major, he was involved in a playoff.

“This was a good gut check for me,” DiMarco said. “I felt like I proved a lot to myself.”

Last July, DiMarco was matched against Justin Leonard and Vijay Singh in a three-hole playoff at the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits.

Singh won after a birdie on the first extra hole. DiMarco had to be content with a closing 71, the lone player in the last nine groups to break par.

DiMarco put up an even lower score Sunday, finishing with a 4-under-par 68 that had him pumping his fist, dropping to his knees and thoroughly enjoying the moment.

This is just the sort of chance that someone with DiMarco’s combative, gritty, emotional personality lives for.

One hole against the greatest player of the generation.

Winner take all.

“I told my caddie walking down 18, ’If you’re not having fun doing this, there’s something wrong with you,”’ DiMarco said. “Sure, my stomach was churning. But it’s nice to know when you’re stomach’s going crazy and you’re going crazy, you can still perform. That shows I can do it in any arena. If I can do it in this atmosphere, I can do it anywhere.”

Woods was certainly impressed.

“He never gives up. He never backs off,” Woods said. “I knew he wasn’t going to make any mistakes.”

DiMarco is the first golfer to lose a playoff in consecutive majors since Tom Watson at 1978 PGA and ’79 Masters. In fact, DiMarco is the first since then even to make back-to-back playoffs.

Ultimately, his hopes were ruined by what he did in the morning, not the afternoon. Coming back to finish the weather-delayed third round with a four-stroke lead, DiMarco double-bogeyed his first hole, went on to a 5-over 41 on the back nine and trailed Woods by three shots heading to the afternoon.

The margin grew as large as four early in the final round — a daunting deficit against Woods, who had never surrendered a lead in the final round of a major, and never one that large no matter what the setting.

Even when Woods made a stunning chip-in for birdie at the 16th for a two-shot lead with two to play, DiMarco didn’t flinch. He rolled in two testy par putts while Woods made back-to-back bogeys.

Again, it wasn’t enough.

It never is for DiMarco.

“I don’t think I was ready to win before,” he said. “This year, I was ready to win. I really felt like I could win it. I will be ready to win next year. I will feel like I can for sure.”