Poor finish doesn't dim week Appleby calls uplifting
Stuart Appleby chose not to focus on his final-round stumbles Sunday evening. Instead, the third-round leader was pleased to have even been in the Green Jacket mix down the stretch after starting out 5 over after his first 10 holes on Thursday.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) -- There was a time during the first round when Stuart Appleby was simply worried about making the cut at the Masters.
So blowing his lead with a double bogey on the very first hole Sunday wasn't as crushing as it could have been.
"I was 5 over after 10 holes (in) the first round," Appleby said. "Here I am, the meaty end of the tournament and I almost got my nose across the line. From a stage where I didn't think I was going to get my nose across making the cut. So yeah, that was good."
He shot a 3-over 75 Sunday to finish at 5 over, tied for seventh with Padraig Harrington and four strokes behind winner Zach Johnson.
Appleby has contended at a major before. He finished in a tie for second at the 2002 British Open after a four-man playoff, and tied for fourth at the 2000 PGA Championship.
But he'd never finished better than 19th at the Masters. And this is the one major an Aussie has never won. For a time in the 1990s, Greg Norman getting his heart broken was as much a tradition at Augusta National as the green jacket.
If Appleby was feeling the pressure, he didn't show it.
"The lead meant nothing to me, it just meant nothing," he said. "It's just such a golf course. There was just too many players too close to even care whether you were one shot ahead, one shot behind, or three shots behind or three shots ahead."
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Good thing, too. Because Appleby's lead was gone after the first hole.
His tee shot sailed into the woods on the right side of the No. 1 fairway. He thought he had a good second shot but he pulled it and "it was tough from then on."
He recovered well enough from the double bogey to climb into a four-way tie for the lead on the back nine. But he dunked his 7-iron into Rae's Creek on No. 12 for another double bogey, and was never a factor again.
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved.