Imperfect 10 for Tiger at Augusta's 12th hole

AUGUSTA, Ga., Nov 15 (Reuters) - Defending champion Tiger Woods made an ignominious 10 at the famous par-three 12th hole in the final round at the Masters on Sunday.

It was his highest score on the hole by four shots. In 89 previous rounds at Augusta National, he had never had worse than triple-bogey.

Woods' problems started when his tee shot, an eight-iron from 155 yards, landed short of the green and rolled back into the tributary of Rae's Creek that has gobbled up so many balls over the year.

The way the former world number one played the hole was a far cry from last year, when Woods safely found the putting surface to seize control of the tournament while four of his nearest rivals ran into trouble.

After taking a penalty stroke, he pitched his third shot onto the green, but the soft putting surface repelled it and his ball again rolled back into the water.

Now playing five, he made sure of avoiding the water, only to end up in the back bunker, from where he knifed his sixth shot all the way across the green and back in the water.

He then pitched his eighth shot to the back of the green and two-putted to finally end his misery.

The disastrous hole left the five-times Masters champion languishing at four over par, while Dustin Johnson led at 16 under par after seven holes.

(Reporting by Andrew Both, editing by Ed Osmond)