Goosen finds himself in the trees once again

After all, this is a man famed for his mental strength, the man who could miss a two-footer for his first Major title yet come back to win a play-off the following morning.

Since that triumph at Southern Hills, he has also shown the sort of game that could win him another biggie.

Not on Sunday. While Woods took a comfortable par at the first, Goosen rattled his first putt 20 feet past the hole and dropped a shot.

Woods hit his stride and birdied the next two. From being level, Goosen was suddenly three shots down and slipping out of sight fast.

It was to get worse. At the short fourth, he three-putted horribly, unable to withstand the pressure being exerted by his unflappable playing partner.

He went to the turn in a three-over 39, title hopes behind him in tatters.

Vijay Singh

Champion two years ago, Vijay was the man who gave Tiger his second green jacket on the 18th green 12 months ago.

This year, he had virtually handed it over by the 13th.

Singh winces as another approach misses the green

At that stage, Singh was Woods' closest pursuer, three shots behind. A birdie or two would have given the leader something to think about.

Instead, he followed a perfect drive by belting his second into the stream which runs along the green.

Somehow he salvaged par, but the white flag had been raised.

At the 15th, he hooked his drive and was forced to lay up short. His pitch - not an easy shot, but one which a player of his calibre should make 999 times out of a thousand - landed straight in the lake.

As did his second attempt. A quadruple-bogey eight was the result - and he finished a disconsolate seventh.

Ernie Els

If not one South African, why not the other?

Ernie Els managed to hang on to be within three shots of Woods at the par five 13th, despite looking out of sorts all the way round.

Els digs out in the trees

Like Singh behind him, Els knew that taking the birdie chance on offer would have him breathing down Tiger's neck.

He did worse than the opposite. Aiming for a boomer of a drive, he hooked into the trees and then took on a highly ambitious rescue attempt which put him into Rae's Creek.

Taking a penalty drop, Els spanked his fourth straight into the water in front of the green. He took an eight.

"I got greedy, " he admitted. "I had been telling myself all week not to get greedy, and then I did just that."

Phil Mickelson

Positive-thinking sportsmen have a phrase to repeat to themselves when facing a do-or-die sporting showdown.

"If not you, who? If not now, when?"

Mickelson watches another putt slip by

Sadly for Phil Mickelson, there are two simple answers: "Someone else" and "Never".

Once again he worked himself into a position to win his first Major, only for his putting to put paid to his chances.

There were three birdies on the outward nine, but also three bogies. On the back nine, his putts just would not drop.

Finishing in third place, four shots off the lead, is no disgrace. It's just not as much as Mickelson's talent deserves.

Sergio Garcia

This was Sergio's last shot at winning a Masters title at a younger age than his childhood hero Seve Ballesteros.

Garcia's last-day charge never materialised

For three rounds, he had us thinking that it might, just might, be possible.

After all, who better to tame Tiger than the man often simplistically referred to as his European equivalent?

For all the hype, Garcia's final round of 75 was proof that that this dog is yet to have his day.

At no stage was there the scent of victory in Sergio's nostrils, nor more than a glimmer of the glamour golf he can conjure up.

Maybe one day Garcia will begin to challenge Woods' hegemony. But not yet.