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It was like old
times for Tiger Woods at the Masters on Sunday as the former world
number one put himself in position to claim a fifth green jacket and
had huge galleries cheering him on.

When he started the
back nine on the final day, when the suffocating pressure of the
Masters separates the men from the boys, there he 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.

The drought

Woods has not won a
major since 2008 nor any tournament since 2009 when the sordid details
of his private life became public and his game began to implode.

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.”