Golf-Masters-Tiger's art of scoring well when playing badly

AUGUSTA, Georgia, April 13 (Reuters) - Tiger Woods has long demonstrated an uncanny ability to manufacture respectable scores when not at his best and he delivered another shining example of this talent at the U.S. Masters on Sunday.

Despite battling through his practice session before the start of the final round and hooking his opening tee shot through the parallel ninth fairway, he clawed his way into the title hunt.

Seven strokes off the pace overnight, Woods closed to within a stroke of the lead by sinking a five-foot birdie putt at the 16th before his challenge unravelled with bogeys on 17 and 18.

"I fought my swing all day and just kind of Band-Aided it around," the four-times Masters champion told reporters after signing off with a four-under-par 68. "I almost won the tournament with a Band-Aid swing."

Woods had started the week as overwhelming favourite to clinch his 15th major title, despite not having competed in a grand slam tournament since his extraordinary playoff victory at the U.S. Open in June.

After being sidelined for eight months while recovering from reconstructive knee surgery, he returned to the PGA Tour and triumphed in only his third comeback event, last month's Arnold Palmer Invitational.

However he failed to produce his best form at Augusta National and struggled with his putting, arguably the most important component of the game on Augusta's heavily contoured greens.

After taking 32 putts in the first round, the American world number one went on to tally 29, 31 and then 30 in the final round when paired with second-ranked Phil Mickelson.

Yet Woods was still occasionally capable of appearing to will the ball into the hole, the best example on Sunday coming with a 25-footer to eagle the par-five eighth.

LOSING MOMENTUM

After covering the outward nine in three-under 33, he birdied 13, 15 and 16 to challenge the lead before losing momentum over the last two holes.

At the par-four 17th, he pulled his tee shot into the left rough and failed to reach the green in two.

On 18, Woods drove into pine straw on the right, struck a tree with his second shot and failed to sink a downhill putt from 10 feet after manufacturing a clever approach over the trees.

"It was just terrible," the 33-year-old said of his faltering finish. "I don't know what was going on. It was just frustrating."

Woods ended up in a tie for sixth place at eight under, four strokes out of the three-way playoff won by Argentina's Angel Cabrera.

"I was just trying to post 11 (under), shoot 65, and I thought that would have been a good enough number to post," he said. "Obviously I didn't do it."

Yet barely four hours earlier, Woods had been fully aware he was in for a tough final round, telling his swing coach Hank Haney: "We got what we got" after his warm-up session.

He later added: "I hit it so bad warming up today, I was hitting quick hooks, blocks, you name it."

Poor warm-up or not, Woods somehow managed to play his way into contention for the opening major of the year. (Editing by Sonia Oxley; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)