Masters Results 2012: Final Finishes for Golf's Top Stars

It was Bubba Watson's day at Augusta National, which left Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy short of their expectations at the 2012 Masters.

While Louis Oostuizen was making an albatross, Adam Scott hitting a hole-in-one and Watson winning a green jacket, some of golf's biggest stars struggled to the finish line.

Woods and McIlroy could not maintain a level of consistency that they both once had during last year's Masters. Mickelson started the day one off the lead, but an early mistake doomed his chances at a fourth green jacket.

Here is how the game's biggest names fared on the final day at Augusta National.

Tiger Woods (2 Over)

Woods had yet another uninspiring round to cap his worst Masters performance to date. Tiger’s two-over 74 included three birdies, five bogeys and a handful of shots he wished he had back.

Tiger’s final round reinforced the problems that he had been having all weekend. Augusta’s par-fives that had always been opportunities to gain strokes turned into holes he was lucky to save par. Ditto for the course’s back nine, where Tiger managed only three birdies there the entire tournament.

After so much buildup and anticipation for Tiger’s potential return to form, viewers were reminded that this is no longer the Tiger of old. The 2012 version of Tiger is still in search of that high level in which he ruled the golf world.

Perhaps the expectations were too high for Woods heading into a major tournament. After all, he had only won at Bay Hill; Augusta is a whole different beast in terms of stakes and pressure 

The 2012 Masters was not his weekend; Tiger had plenty to look forward to with an entire PGA season ahead of him.

Rory McIlroy (5 Over)

McIlroy concluded his 2012 Masters by continuing where he left off on Saturday: sliding down leaderboards.

Certain holes proved to be McIlroy’s kryptonite the entire tournament, including the first and the 11^th in which he had three bogeys and three double bogeys altogether.

It seemed McIlroy would be the one star golfer still standing between him, Woods and Mickelson after a solid third-round 69. The Irishman, though, could not get his bearings early on Saturday, which began a fall of epic proportions in the tournament’s second half. His last two rounds both featured poor starts and he just couldn’t crawl back from the large deficit.

McIlroy has not been able to keep pace as Augusta has winded down in two straight Masters. High expectations for this year were compounded by his second-round triumphs, but viewers were humbled after missing many makeable putts and more than a few fairways.

Phil Mickelson (Even)

Phil has been known for his back-nine heroics at Augusta, but it was a front-nine gaffe that would leave him two strokes behind the leaders.

It was a triple bogey on the fourth hole that would be Lefty’s undoing at Augusta. First a hook into the pine straw, then a pitch gone awry into the bunker, concluded with six strokes on a hole that Mickelson routinely pars. 

Phil would then be three strokes behind. The deficit would prove to be too lofty.

All together, Mickelson’s round was solid but not spectacular. Ultimately he needed more up-and-downs on the back nine like yesterday.

Other Notable Names

Luke Donald (4 under)

The No. 1 golfer in the world rebounded from a disappointing weekend at Augusta National, finishing with a round of four under. His final round shot him back up the leaderboards toward respectability with a 34^th-place finish.

Charl Schwartzl (2 over)

Last year’s winner finished two-over par in what was a modest performance from the South African. Schwartzl proved that last year was no fluke by making the second-round cut, but finishing tied for 50^th was not exactly the encore performance he hoped for.

Bubba Watson (4 under)

The world's 16^th-ranked golfer couldn't get it done today...just kidding. The 2012 Masters champion—congratulations Bubba.