They stuck together a little too much, actually.

Close to completing respectable rounds - especially in Wilson's case - in brutally difficult conditions at Augusta National Golf Club, they crumbled on the 18th hole with a matched set of drives into the trees far left of the fairway, leading to double bogeys and pretty much spoiling the day for the BYU twosome.

Weir joked with fans on the first tee about his old roommate, and the two of them did some talking and smiling as they walked the fairways. Generally, though, there was too much work going on for them to be treating this like a friendly practice round.

"We're fighting as hard as we can; we're not out there trying to have laughs," Wilson said.

Certainly, Augusta National was no place for frivolity Saturday. By the end of the third round of this Masters of Disaster, everybody was at least 2 over par for the tournament.

That's what made Wilson's finish particularly disappointing. With a nice birdie chance on the 17th green, he was on the verge of moving to 4 over. But he missed the putt, then hooked his drive into the woods along No. 18. The ball bounced off a tree and into a hazard that most Masters fans never knew existed, resulting in a penalty stroke that led him to shake his fists in disgust. The eventual double bogey left Wilson with a 76.

Which looked good, compared with his buddy's 80. Weir's finish was similar, only worse. Weir could have saved par out of a bunker at No. 17, but three-putted from 15 feet. Then, after Wilson drove into the trees, Weir did the same thing only he sliced the ball, as a left-hander.

Weir took an unplayable-lie penalty and matched Wilson's six on the hole, his third double bogey of the round.

So ended a cold, windy day that had held so much promise for the ex-Cougars, who started the round tied for 15th place. They may have looked more like Oklahoma State golfers with their black-and-white clothing (and the orange pullover Wilson wore for much of the day) or Michigan State players with TaylorMade green bags issued especially for the Masters, but they're proud Cougars, and the pairing accommodated fans who wanted to watch them both play.

"My two favorite golfers," said Wilson's mother, Grace, who's from Hawaii and dealt with the cold by wearing a towel under her visor.

"Serendipitous," said Jason Wight, who was a BYU freshman golfer when Weir and Wilson were seniors.

And then it became coincidence, how regularly the two of them had either good holes or bad holes. Each bogeyed the first hole, and later went bogey-bogey-par-birdie on Nos. 10-13. Wilson generally held things together better than Weir, until the terrible tee shot on the last hole.

Those closing double bogeys were absolutely their own fault, but the finish left them understandably upset about the course conditions, with the wind making the greens even firmer and impossible to deal with.

"I don't know what point they're trying to prove," Weir said. "Personally, I think they're missing the boat. I think it's a mistake, but it doesn't matter what I think."

Weir has some credibility as a former champion who will be invited back every year. Wilson, who called the tournament committee's apparent intentions "disappointing," is promised only this one opportunity.

If Wilson can finish in the top 16 today (he's tied for 16th at 7 over), he will qualify for the 2008 Masters. That's assuming he or any other player who staggered out of the scoring hut behind the 18th green Saturday would want to come back.