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Neither Tiger Woods nor Phil Mickelson won, but both left Augusta National with their heads held high after putting on a show Sunday that brought the roars back to the Masters.
The world’s two top players stepped out together for the seventh time in a major tournament with both knowing they had to produce fireworks if they were to claw back the seven strokes that separated them from co-leaders Kenny Perry and Angel Cabrera.
For most of what turned out to be an enthralling day, they looked set fair to do just that.
Mickelson lit the fire with a record-equalling outward nine of 30 and Woods fed the flames with a superb eagle at the eighth as he reached the turn in 33.
The Augusta faithful flocked to the sides of world number one Woods and second-ranked Mickelson leaving Perry and Cabrera, playing an hour behind them, to grind out their rounds in relative piece and quiet.
But just when the miracle seemed within the reach of both men, the cracks started to appear.
Mickelson underhit his nine-iron at the glorious par-three 12th and found Rae’s Creek. He then missed five-footers at the 15th and 17th before bogeying the last.
Just as Mickelson was fading, Woods was putting his foot on the accelerator with birdies at 13, 15 and 16.
But he pulled his tee-shot left at 17 eventually costing him a stroke and when he clattered his tee-shot at the last into trees right of the fairway, his challenge was over.
“I hit it so bad warming up today, I was hitting quick hooks, blocks you name it,” he said.
“And then on the very first hole I almost hit it into the eighth fairway. It’s one of the worst tee shots I’ve ever hit starting out.
“I fought my swing all day and just kind of Band-Aided around and almost won the tournament with a Band-Aid swing today.
“It was just terrible. I don’t know what was going on.”
Mickelson, looking for a third win in the Masters, said the front nine which saw him stack up six birdies en route to equalling the Masters record, had been fun.
“I thought that there were some pins that you could get to and if you could get a little bit of momentum you could make some birdies and I was able to do that,” he said.
But his watery mishap at 12, Mickelson said, had been a shocker.
“I hit a nine iron over the bunker… but it was a terrible swing to miss it that far right of where it was aimed,” he said.
Still Mickelson said he had enjoyed the experience of playing with Woods for the first time at the Masters since the final round in 2001.
“It was fun,” he said.
“We’ve had some good matches in the past. I’m usually on the wrong end of it, but it was fun playing with him. I’ve always enjoyed it.”
The Masters was won by Cabrera, who took a three-man sudden death playoff agaist Americans Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell.