Els produces his best round at Masters, but still is edged

Ernie Els had two eagles in his 67, but ended one shot behind Phil Mickelson.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) -- Ernie Els struggled to find the words to describe how he felt, a roiling mixture of pride, frustration and heartache.
He had just finished his best round at the Masters, making two eagles on his way to a 5-under 67. But it wasn't enough.
Els missed birdie putts on Nos. 17 and 18 and then had to watch helplessly while someone else won the tournament that he has dreamed of since he was a child in South Africa.
"It's disappointing," Els said Sunday night after finishing a stroke behind Phil Mickelson. "I don't know. I've got to take stock after this. It's very tough for me to explain what I feel right now."
Still six months shy of his 35th birthday, Els has already won three majors and is considered one of the best players of his generation.
Special place
But there is something about the Masters that holds a special place in his heart.
His boyhood home of Johannesburg is six hours ahead of Augusta National, but Els and his father would stay up deep into the night to watch the Masters. And after watching fellow South African Gary Player put on that coveted green jacket in 1978, Els hoped he would one day have one, too.
He's been in the top six the last four years, including a second-place finish in 2000. But he wound up second to Vijay Singh that year after squandering birdie chances on his final three holes.
"I had a sense that this was my year," Els said. "I just felt it from Thursday."
And for a time Sunday, it seemed as if it was.
Eagle gave him lead
Beginning the day three strokes behind Mickelson and Chris DiMarco, Els' game was sputtering until an eagle on the par-5 No. 8 gave him the lead. His second shot hit a ridge on the left side of the green and trickled down to settle 5 feet from the hole.
He had to scramble to save par when his second shot on No. 9 went six rows into the gallery behind the green, but he made it look easy with a chip shot a few feet below the pin.
He moved to 7-under -- two strokes ahead of Mickelson -- with another eagle on the par-5 13th, knocking the ball to 12 feet from 206 yards out. He followed with a gutty save on 14 after driving into the trees.
Then came what might have been the defining two holes in the tournament, had he won. On a slope behind the 15th green, Els chipped within 1 foot, tapping in for a birdie that put him at 8-under.
Saved par
At 16, he left himself 45 feet on a huge, breaking, right-to-left downhiller. He ran the first putt 10 feet past but made the comebacker to save par.
"I was trying to push," he said. "I was hitting the ball very solid. I was feeling so good out there, I felt I could have birdied every hole the way I was playing."
Instead, he two-putted from 17 feet on the par-4 17th. On 18, he drove into a bunker so deep he couldn't even see the flag. He blasted out and yelled, "Be right!" and it stopped some 25 feet behind the cup.
But his birdie putt turned just left of the hole. As the ball skittered away, a grim look crossed Els' face.
Making the agony worse was that Els had to wait 20 minutes before Mickelson approached the 18th green. Unable to watch, Els munched on an apple, then headed to the putting green in hopes of a playoff that never came.
"You've done what you've done. I played as good as I could," said Els.