In the months after his monumental British Open triumph last year, David Duval lost his swing and an engagement to his longtime girlfriend.

Duval lost something else Saturday - his ability to further contend at the Masters this year. The 30-year-old missed the cut by a stroke after shooting 4-over par in the first two rounds.

"It's just one of those deals that didn't work out for me," he said.

Forty-five players out of the starting field of 89 made the cut, which fell at 3-over-par 147. Paul Azinger, Jim Furyk, Scott Hoch, Matt Kuchar and Tom Lehman are some of the other prominent players who missed the cut.

Bernhard Langer and Fred Couples kept their cuts-made streaks alive. Langer is playing the final two rounds for the 19th straight time, while Couples has not missed a cut in 18 Masters appearances.

Duval came to the Masters without the swagger that accompanied his past visits. He described his fortunes on and off the course as "a train wreck" since he won his first major at the British Open in July.

But as bad as Duval's struggles were, they didn't appear to be anything a green jacket couldn't cure. He had come agonizingly close to leaving with one on his previous four trips, finishing second to Tiger Woods last year and tying for third in 2000, sixth the year before and second in 1998.

He shot a 2-over 74 in the first round to put himself in danger, and 12 straight pars Friday kept him on the brink of an early trip home to Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

After the rain suspended second-round play Friday, Duval regrouped and began on the 13th hole Saturday morning. Before long, he was probably wishing he had stayed in bed.

Duval three-putted the par-5 hole - the very hole on which he unraveled and paved the way for Vijay Singh's victory in 2000 - for bogey and followed with another on the 14th.

He birdied the par-5 15th to give himself a chance, but lost it two holes later with another bogey. Before Saturday, Duval's last - and only - missed Masters cut came in 1997.

"I just never hit it close enough to make birdies," said Duval, who entered the tournament having shot a combined 31-under at the Masters since 1998.

Duval said he is taking the next two weeks off, and he'll spend more time reassessing than resting. When asked whether he suffered more from exhaustion or frustration, he said, "It's probably the latter more than anything."

Still, Duval is holding out hope that his fortunes can take another U-turn - this time, for the better.

"I do feel like I'm close to playing well," he said. "I just couldn't get the ball in the hole."