AUGUSTA, Ga. – It turns out there is a time when Brandt Snedeker isn't smiling. That's when he's crying.

In a moving post-Masters press conference, Snedeker was reduced to quiet sobs after he'd shot 5-over-par 77 yesterday to finish tied for third, four shots behind winner Trevor Immelman.

Snedeker, 27, had been in tears from the time he left the scoring building behind the 18th green. He composed himself for the beginning of the press conference, but when a question came about the emotions he was feeling, he said, “I have no clue why I am so emotional. I was laughing outside. I'm crying in here. I couldn't tell you. You know, it's just . . . ”

At that point, the press conference was stopped and Snedeker cried into his towel before walking out.

It had been that kind of day for the second-year PGA Tour player. He began the fourth round only two strokes behind Immelman, and as the obvious crowd favorite. But after making bogey on No. 1 and a long putt for eagle on 2, Snedeker struggled badly.

He suffered nine bogeys in all, including three in a four-hole stretch from 11 through 14.

“Just a rough day out there,” he said. “It's hard to put that much effort into something and get so little out. But it's just part of life, part of growing up. Obviously, I need to do more of that.”

It was not as if Snedeker choked. He simply never found a comfort zone in the swirling wind.

“The wind could come up and affect your golf ball so dramatically, and it was the same way on the greens,” he said.

Mickelson disappointed

Before the Masters, San Diegan Phil Mickelson said he wasn't that concerned about three straight 20-something finishes on the PGA Tour. He said he was happy with his ball-striking and felt he could compete here. But Mickelson made far too many mistakes to give himself a good chance.

After a 68 on Friday that got him into contention, Mickelson shot 75-72 on the weekend and tied for fifth at 2-under 286. It was his ninth top-10 finish in his past 10 appearances at Augusta.

“I was hoping, obviously, to make more of a run than I did, but it was a tough day today, and I felt like I had to fight pretty hard to keep it around par,” said Mickelson, who made three birdies and three bogeys. “I certainly had some chances that could have brought it in lower. It doesn't look like it would have been enough anyways.”

Of all of Augusta's pitfalls, its par-3 holes can be the toughest. Just ask Mickelson. He shot 8-over on the short holes for the week, bringing his career total to 47-over on the par-3s in 62 rounds at Augusta National.

Asked about his play on the par-3s, Mickelson said, “Some of it might have been play, but some of it might have just been unfortunate (breaks).”

Casey's collapse

In four years playing the Masters, Paul Casey has had some great rounds and some poor ones. Yesterday, he suffered total disaster.

Four off the lead at the round's outset, Casey got to within two shots with a birdie at the third. Then he unraveled, making a double bogey at the par-3 fourth when he needed two shots to get out of a bunker. He followed with four straight bogeys, shot 41 on the front nine and eventually scored 79 and tied for 11th.

At the par-3 sixth, Casey called a penalty on himself when he set his putter behind the ball, and a gust of wind moved it.

“That took the wind out of my sails, because it was so difficult out there today,” Casey said. “That's out of your control, and that's very difficult to handle. It kind of threw me for a couple of holes and that was it.”

Chip-ins

Sacramento native Nick Watney, in his first Masters, holed out his 119-yard second shot on the 14th hole for eagle. “I just threw it out there to the left and got lucky,” said Watney, who tied for 11th at even par.

Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez made eagle-2 at the par-4 seventh with a 7-iron from the fairway. “That helped a lot, but the rest of the round was very difficult,” said Jimenez, who shot 68, joining Heath Slocum (69) as the only two among 45 players to score in the 60s yesterday. Jimenez finished tied for eighth at 1-under.

ESPN, in its first year of televising the Masters, said yesterday that Friday's second round was the most-watched cable golf telecast ever. The telecast averaged 3.1 million households, according to Nielsen data. CBS' coverage of the third round earned a 6.1 overnight rating, the highest in five years.

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Tod Leonard: (619) 293-1858; tod.leonard@uniontrib.com