The final twosome of the third round of the Masters Tournament finished the 18th hole at Augusta National Golf Club, signed their scorecards and walked quietly away, four hours after a day that began with the brightest of promise.

Tim Clark looks at his missed birdie putt on the third green. He finished at 6-over-par 222. (Andrew Davis Tucker/Staff)

Most of the fans were walking to the exits. The media was busy interviewing leader Stuart Appleby and his closest pursuers.

But there were no such demands on 36-hole co-leaders Brett Wetterich and Tim Clark, who both had a dreaded "8" as the first number of their score.

As in snowman. Ball game. And, most likely, the end of their chances to win the Masters, after they both started the day tied for the lead at 2-under par.

"I made too many stupid mistakes," said Wetterich, a Masters rookie whose 83 included a triple bogey at the par-4 third hole, bogeys on both par-5 holes on the front nine and not a single birdie.

Wetterich went from holding a piece of the lead after the first and second rounds to a tie for 23rd at 9-over-par 225.

Clark, who was the runner-up to Phil Mickelson last year, shot 80. He bogeyed his first two holes, stopped the bleeding with a par while Wetterich was botching the third hole, then bogeyed two more.

Though Clark stayed away from disastrous scores on any one hole (he did not make a double bogey), he still never got anything going, making no more than four pars in a row.

Clark is at 6-over-par 222 and in a tie for eighth.

There is a bright side to their days, which they might realize when the sun comes up today. Clark, despite his 80, is still in the top 10 and, amazingly enough, only four shots off the lead.

History isn't in Clark's favor, however. Only one time in PGA Tour history has a player shot 80 on a weekend round and still won the tournament. That was Kenny Knox in the 1986 Honda Classic, hardly the same pressure-packed situation as a Sunday at Augusta.

Wetterich can at least play for the top 16 today to punch a return ticket to Augusta next year.

At the very least, he said he learned from his disaster at No. 3, in which he blew his second shot 20 yards over the green, then got greedy with his third shot and tried to aim at the flag.

Big mistake. The ball rolled off the front. He needed two more chips and two more putts to get down.

"The goal is to get up as far as I can," Wetterich said. "I don't want to move back any farther. I learned to be a little more patient than what I was today."