Tiger thinks Rory can learn from nightmarish final round @ Augusta

Tiger Woods never suffered the kind of day during his younger days in a major that Rory McIlroy did on Sunday at the Masters, or Dustin Johnson did at last year’s U.S. Open or Nick Watney did at the PGA Championship. But as a 20-year-old in his first year on the PGA TOUR, Woods failed to nail down the 1996 Quad Cities Classic after leading by 54 holes.

Woods led by one stroke going into the final round but shot a 2-over 72 and finished tied for fifth behind Ed Fiori. Woods would not lose a 54-hole lead on TOUR again until the 2009 PGA Championship when he was 33 years old.

He thinks McIlroy can learn from Sunday’s results at Augusta National, when the 21-year-old blew a four-shot lead in shooting 80. Same goes for Johnson, who shot 82 in the final round at Pebble Beach after taking a three-shot lead after 54 holes, or Watney, who had a three-shot lead at Whistling Straits last August but shot 81.

"I had the lead going into the final round (in 1996) and blew it," Woods said during an interview on the Golf Channel’s Morning Drive on Thursday, "so I know exactly how they feel — not necessarily in a major championship, but to have that opportunity at that young age, it’s a significant opportunity.

"I think they have to take advantage of it and learn from it, learn from the mistakes, and apply them for next time."

Upon reflection of his own performance at Augusta National. Woods said he was pleased with the stretches in which he played well but knows he can get better.

Woods started Sunday’s final round seven shots behind McIlroy, but shot 31 on the front side to grab a share of the lead … only to fall back when his putter cooled off and he failed to sustain the momentum.

"I think that Sunday was a bunch of fun for about nine holes," Woods said. "I got into the mix a bit. I was kind of on the periphery. Rory was seven shots ahead of where I was and I had to get in it and going out in 31 put me right square into the mix and that part was fun, that part was a lot of fun — and next time hopefully I don’t start so far back or if I do start that far back maybe I can put together a whole 18 holes instead of just nine."

Woods bemoaned the short putts that he missed on the final nine, as well as "the bad iron shot on 13 with a 7-iron in my hand, not making three or four there."

Woods added: "I wasn’t able to post the number that I needed to post to put heat on the guys behind me who had two easy par 5s to play. Obviously every tournament we play in there are a bunch of shots we can go over and we always look at those opportunities to get better."