Mike Celizic

The greatness of Tiger Woods is undeniable and impossible to diminish. But there remains a hole on his resume that has to be filled to complete the mythology. Some day, the man who would be the greatest golfer ever has to come from behind to win a major.

Sunday in Augusta would have been the perfect time. He was in the final pairing with an affable Aussie — probably a redundancy — Stuart Appleby, who gave up the lead on the very first hole. On the second, Woods took the lead with a birdie, and at that moment, most of us watching thought we knew that a fifth green jacket and 13^th major title were his.

Had he pulled it off, it wouldn’t have been much of a come-from-behind win, not with the lead in his pocket walking to the third tee. But it would have fulfilled the one requirement for immortality he had yet to tick off his to-do list.

As things turned out, he would have needed to shoot 69 to beat Zach Johnson, an appealing young man who kissed his oblivious infant son after walking off the 18^th green and then revealed that he had won because Jesus was walking the course with him.

Tiger didn’t agree, saying he lost the tournament because he was four-over par on the final two holes on Friday and Saturday.

This was a world-class example of rationalization. It is true that Woods butchered 17 and 18 in the second and third rounds, but as a golfer he knows that didn’t matter on the first tee in the fourth round. All that mattered then was that he was a stroke off the lead and, after his birdie on two, held his destiny in his talented hands.

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And he blew it. There’s no nice way to say it. When he needed to make great shots, he made indifferent ones. He bogeyed the par-three sixth, fluffed a chance for a birdie on eight, bogeyed ten.

But he still had a chance, and when he eagled the par-five 13th to get within two, you felt for the first time in more than an hour that he could still do it. He needed another eagle — or at least a birdie — on 15, but he cut his drive into the right rough and cut his approach into the water. One hole later, he missed a putt you know he would have made if he’d had a one-stroke lead instead of a two-stroke deficit.

After the miss on 16, he needed birdies on 17 and 18 to tie, and you knew that would take a miracle. When he hit his approach on 17 into a bunker and then bellowed, “What the hell is that all about!” it was officially over.

After 13, he had six holes, including a reachable par five, to make up two strokes. The greatest golfer in the world should be able to do that. And when he’s had the lead, he’s done it often. But when he’s been behind, he becomes mortal.