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The shot that ended Tiger's title hopes

The shot that ended Tiger's title hopes

Tiger Woods was right in the hunt for a drought-breaking title at Bay Hill before a disastrous tee shot dashed any hopes he had of victory.

The Masters favourite said he is "extremely" pleased with his preparation for Augusta National having made a vintage final-round charge at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

In his final tournament before returning to the Masters for the first time in three years, Woods gave fans hope of ending an almost five-year winless drought on the US PGA Tour on a dramatic last day Bay Hill.

Woods came within a shot of the lead on Sunday but a three-under-par 69 saw him finish in a tie for fifth at 10 under, eight shots behind winner Rory McIlroy.

Five-under through fifteen holes in the final round, it looked like being one of those famous Sunday's for the 14-time major champion as he sat just one stroke off the leaders going into the third-last hole.

But rather than taking a conservative approach to the par-five 16th that commentators described as merely "a hard par-four," the American decided to go for broke with his drive.

The end result was a rushed swing that saw Tiger's ball spray off left and out-of-bounds - with Woods eventually having to settle for a bogey on the hole.

It effectively ended any chance of Woods ending his long wait for a US PGA Tour win, with the American bogeying the next hole to make matters worse.

Four-time major winner McIlroy blitzed the elite field with a Sunday 64 and an 18-under total, with Bryson DeChambeau (68) the nearest challenger three shots back.

Coming off a tie for second in his last start at the Valspar Championship, Woods earned consecutive top-five finishes on the US Tour for the first time since 2013.

That was when Woods tied fourth at the Masters before winning the Players Championship.

Having sat on the sidelines for 10 months last year while recovering form spinal fusion surgery, Woods said he didn't anticipate his comeback to be so successful.

"I'm very (pleased); extremely," Woods said of his return, having finished 12th at the Honda Classic and in the top-25 at Torrey Pines earlier this year.

"If you (told) me at the beginning of the year that I would have a chance to win two golf tournaments, I would have taken that in a heart beat."

Last week, four-time Masters winner Woods firmed as outright betting favourite for Augusta for the first time since 2013.

Woods said he would head to Augusta early having not been to the Masters as a competitor since finishing tied for 17th in 2015.

"I'm looking forward to it," Woods said.

"I need to go take a look at it; I haven't putted on bent grass in two years. So this is going to be new to me."

With AAP