'Hard to watch': Golf world stunned by Tiger Woods meltdown

Tiger Woods has mixed the sublime with the downright awful in his final round at the Masters, recording his highest score ever on a single hole at Augusta National.

The defending champion made an embarrassing 10 at the famous par-three 12th hole in the final round on Sunday.

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It was his highest score on the hole by four shots. In 89 previous rounds at Augusta National, he had never had worse than triple-bogey.

Woods problems started when his tee shot, an eight-iron from 155 yards, landed short of the green and rolled back into the tributary of Rae’s Creek that has gobbled up so many balls over the years.

After taking a penalty stroke, he pitched his third shot onto the green, but the soft putting surface repelled it and his ball again rolled back into the water.

Now playing five, he made sure of avoiding the water, only to end up in the back bunker, from where he knifed his sixth shot all the way across the green and back in the water.

He then pitched his eighth shot to the back of the green and two-putted to finally end his misery.

The disastrous hole left the five-times Masters champion languishing at four over par, well behind winner Dustin Johnson.

The way the former World No.1 played the hole was a far cry from last year, when Woods safely found the putting surface to seize control of the tournament while four of his nearest rivals ran into trouble.

The golf world was left in disbelief over Woods’ meltdown.

Remarkably, Woods birdied five of the last six holes after the embarrassing 10, finishing at -1.

Aussie falls short as Dustin Johnson wins

Aussie Cameron Smith heaped early pressure on Dustin Johnson but the American responded to regain command of the Masters.

Smith was three under par through his first 15 holes, which included two of the best birdies of his life on the par-four seventh and par-five 15th, to be four back of Johnson.

Facing what appeared a certain punch out to, at best, a greenside bunker on the seventh, Smith saw a tiny window up through the tree branches.

He took the gamble and flew the ball onto the green before converting a three-metre birdie.

Then, after failing to birdie the eighth Smith hit a brilliant approach from the pine straw on the par-four ninth to a metre and nailed the putt to be within two of the lead.

He was looking to become just the second Australian to win the Masters behind Adam Scott in 2013 - and the first-ever player in the 84-year history of the tournament to shoot four rounds in the 60s.

But Johnson, with successive birdies on the 13th and 14th holes, re-established control.

Johnson has previously held the 54-hole lead on four previous occasions in major championships and lost all four times.

with AAP

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