It was Sunday at the Masters, and David Duval was on the back nine. The setting and the results were painfully and uncannily similar to his previous three disappointments here.

There was Mark O'Meara's putt in 1998 that negated a playoff with Duval. Next came Duval's double bogey on the 11th hole in 1999, which kept him from taking the lead. Last year, Duval bogeyed the 13th hole and Vijay Singh slipped by to win.

Duval's back-nine nightmares returned Sunday. The 29-year-old missed putts on the last three holes to pave the way for Tiger Woods' fourth straight victory in a major championship.

"I've been in this position before," said Duval, who shot 5-under-par 67 to finish second at 14-under 274. "I got beat by Mark, and a couple other times I may very well have beat myself. Today I didn't do that. I just came up short. It's not enjoyable sitting here under these circumstances."

Duval entered the 16th hole at 15-under, tied for the lead with Woods and one stroke ahead of Phil Mickelson. But his putting quickly deteriorated: He missed a 7-footer for par on the 16th, a 14-footer for birdie on the 17th and a 5-footer for birdie on the 18th.

The killer came last. Duval hit a fabulous approach from 101 yards to set up a promising shot at birdie, but the 5-footer broke left, and his hopes were broken.

"I guess I probably just pulled it a little bit," he said. "I had it breaking a little bit left. I don't see it, because I'm on top of it. I missed it."

The seeds were planted for Duval's breakdown when his 7-iron sent the ball past the green on the par-3 16th. He recovered well by chipping to seven feet but missed the uphill putt.

Apart from admitting that an adrenalin surge might have contributed, Duval couldn't explain how he missed the 16th green.

"You don't fly it 190-something yards over the green like I did," he said. "That hurts."

A few days before, few expected Duval to be in contention Sunday. A bout with tendinitis in his right wrist forced the Ponte Vedra, Fla., resident to miss a month's worth of events, but Duval insisted all week that 2001 was as good a chance as any for him to win his first Masters.

Duval shot a 1-under 71 in the first round, then a 6-under 66 on Friday catapulted him near the top of the leaderboard. After a 70 on Saturday left him at 9-under for the tournament -- three strokes behind Woods -- a brilliant performance on the front nine made Duval a threat.

He started with a bogey on No. 1 but birdied six of the next eight holes to make the turn at 13-under.

Duval birdied the 10th and, after saving par on the 11th and 12th, appeared to have vanquished his demons on the hole that spelled his demise in 2000.

Down a stroke to Singh last year, Duval got aggressive and aimed for the pin but absorbed a bogey after his ball tumbled into Rae's Creek. Singh birdied the 485-yard par-5, and Duval finished in a tie for third.

On Sunday, Duval hit the green on his second shot at 13 but three-putted for par. He birdied the par-5 15th to pull even with Woods, setting up an apparent back-nine duel for the ages that never materialized.

"He played a hell of a good tournament for being out for a month," said Mitch Knox, Duval's caddie. "He gave himself all the opportunities in the world."