AUGUSTA, Ga. — Paul Casey, who barely made the cut Friday, nearly shot the Masters course record Sunday.

Casey missed the record of 63 after trouble on the final two holes.

Casey shot 3-under on the front nine Sunday. The course record became a real possibility when Casey shot 6-under between hole Nos. 11-15 with four birdies and an eagle. He just needed to par the final three holes to tie the record of 63, set by Nick Price in the third round in 1986 and Greg Norman in the first round of 1996. One birdie on the closing holes could have set the mark. Casey got the par at No. 16 but bogeyed Nos. 17 and No. 18.

Casey went from making the weekend at 5-over to 5-under for the tourney and tied for 15th.

“That was fun, wasn’t it?” Casey said. “Birdie, birdie eagle on Amen Corner, I’m going to remember that for a long time. I’m obviously disappointed. I got out of position horribly on 17 and 18, which was kind of reminiscent of how I played this week. Haven’t been very good until that streak today. But to shoot 65 today, it would have been hard to turn that down. And it was fun thinking, I was fully aware of what was going on.”

WEBB SIMPSON became the fourth player in Masters history to record back-to-back eagles. Simpson recorded the 2-under pars on Nos. 7 and 8.

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Simpson holed out from the fairway on the par-4 seventh from 166 yards. He eagled the par-5 eighth with a chip-in from 20 yards off the green.

Simpson joins Phil Mickelson in 2010, Dustin Johnson in 2009 and Dan Pohl in 1982. All three eagled Nos. 13 and 14.

Simpson started the final round at 3 over. He shot a 31 on the front nine with the help of the eagles.

Simpson shot 5 under in the final round and finished 2 under for the tournament.

TIGER WOODS ended his two-year hiatus from the Masters with a 1-over par for the tournament. Woods started his final round at 4 over. He got back to even after a birdie on the 17th but bogeyed the final hole.

Woods’ final round included an eagle at the 15th.

“I felt I hit it well enough off the tee to do some things, but I hit my irons awful for the week,” Woods said. “I did not putt well today. I three-putted 7 and three-putted 18. I didn’t put it together when I needed to for the entire week.”

It had been 1,089 days since Woods played his last round at the Masters as he battled injury, including spinal fusion surgery. Back to do more than eat at the Champions Dinner, the four-time champion missed competing for major titles.

“Now to be able to play this golf course and to be able to tee it up and play in the Masters, this is one of the greatest walks in all of golf,” Woods said. “And I had missed it for the last couple of years I hadn’t been able to play in it. I missed playing out here.”


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