| 
Sunday, April 14
Els pays price for mental error
By David Kraft
ESPN.com
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Ernie Els had a simple game plan. Don't be a hero on the lengthened 13th hole at Augusta National. Hit driver, but hit it to the right. If you can't get to the green in two, lay up.
For three days, he stuck to it and made two birdies and a par. On Sunday, he deviated from it and lost the tournament.
|  | | Ernie Els knew his chances to win were gone as he stood on the 13th green. |
A triple-bogey 8 on the par-5 13th took Els from 9-under to 6-under and effectively ended his hopes of catching Tiger Woods. Els finished with a 73 and tied for fifth with Padraig Harrington.
"I blew it on 13," Els said. "I scrambled for pars on 10, 11 and 12 to set me up for a good drive on 13, and I blew it. That's the only way I can describe it."
Els tried to draw a 3-wood around the corner at the 13th, the shot of choice for years until Augusta National added 25 extra yards to the hole. But he drew the ball too much and ended up on the left side of Rae's Creek.
He was lucky to find his ball. But his luck ran out.
Els' caddie suggested playing out sideways. But Els, who was thinking eagle but would settle for a birdie, thought he saw an opening in the trees and bushes. So he decided to play forward.
The ball hit a tree and fell into Rae's Creek. Now playing his fourth shot, Els had 194 yards to the green, and hit a second ball into the water. Laying 6, he pitched onto the green from the drop area and two-putted for an 8.
"It was the wrong decision right off the bat," Els said.
Els got himself in contention with a sizzling back nine Saturday morning as he completed his second round. That day, he birdied the 13th, and followed with birdie-eagle-birdie to race up the leaderboard. But he made just one birdie on the back nine in the final two rounds, and made three bogeys.
And a triple.
"If I had played my normal game, I would have been 11- or 12-under," said Els, who birdied the first two holes and got to 10-under with a birdie at the eighth, only to bogey the ninth after watching his approach shot spin off the front of the green.
"I just hit one very bad shot at the wrong time," he said. "I thought I saw a shot."
He didn't. And after nine tries, he still doesn't have a green jacket.
|
|  | 
|
Unlucky 13