Brandt Snedeker's hard work undone by double bogey at 18

Needing something to happen to ensure himself of making the Masters cut, Brandt Snedeker found it.

A hot putter started a back-nine birdie binge where Snedeker made three in a four-hole stretch to seemingly pull himself safely off the bubble.

Then the bubble burst. A double bogey on No. 18 wiped out all the work he had done.

“It was a tough finish,” said Snedeker, who tied for 15th last year and tied for third in 2008. “(No.) 18 is playing like a par-5 right now. Webb (Simpson) hit a great drive and had to hit 3-wood in, and Mike (Weir) had to hit 3-wood in. I hit a bad tee shot there, but you can’t hang your head about it. You have to go on and hope I can shoot something low tomorrow morning if I’m still around.”

After an up-and-down front nine that saw Snedeker post two birdies and three bogeys to make the turn at 1-over, his round began to go sour. His chip from the front of the green on No. 11 stayed in the right fringe, and he couldn’t make the par putt.

On No. 12, Snedeker sent his tee shot well left of the green and had to take an unplayable lie. After pitching on, he missed the bogey putt, dropping him to 4-over for the day.

“I really wasn’t playing that bad, I just really wasn’t getting anything out of it,” Snedeker said. “I was a little bummed out (about No. 12) obviously because that was a dumb double to make because it’s a pitching wedge today. I had a couple bad breaks – a few lip-outs on the front nine and then had that unplayable ball on No. 12 in the weeds.”

A slight adjustment in the putter, however, erased those troubles. Snedeker ran in a 30-foot birdie putt in No. 13, then recorded another when he ran in a 10-footer on No. 15. After sticking a wedge to eight feet on No. 16, he chalked up his third birdie in four holes to get back to 1-over.

“If you’re going to birdie some holes, there’s that stretch there from 13 through 16 where you can really go after it,” Snedeker said. “That’s where I knew I had to make my hay if I was going to.”

At No. 18, Snedeker pushed his drive right into the trees and wound up hitting his second shot into the gallery well right and short of the green. He plopped his pitch into the front-right greenside bunker, left his next shot in the bunker and then got up and down from the sand, walking off with a double bogey.

“I made some putts coming in, which was nice,” Sne­de­ker said. “I played well, just had a couple double bogeys that cost me, and 18 was just a tough way to finish.”