Missing a four-foot putt on the final green has left Ernie Els with a mountain to climb again if he is to play in The Masters.
Els moves up only six spots to 62nd in the world after his fifth-placed finish at the Transitions Championship in Florida. He was leading until he bogeyed the last two holes.
The sport's top 50 are invited to Augusta at the end of this week, but the former world number one, twice a runner-up there, can still make it back by winning either the Arnold Palmer Invitational starting on Thursday or next week's Houston Open.
"It's going to be tough," he said. "I'm pretty hot now and it's difficult to talk with a straight head here."
Compatriot Retief Goosen, who led with a round to play at Innisbrook, dropped to 20th with a 75 and slips a place on the rankings to 53rd.
That ends his chances of playing The Masters because he is having back treatment these next two weeks. A top-10 finish would have put him into the top 50.
France's Julien Quesne, surprise winner of the Andalucian Open, moves up from 322nd to 183rd on the rankings.
