Kenny Perry

AUGUSTA, Ga. — On a beautiful Easter Sunday afternoon, more than one player had his Masters’ prayers end at Amen Corner.

The Corner — the picturesque three-hole stretch of the 11th, 12th and 13th — was at its most glorious. And its most dangerous.

“It’s hard out there,” 1987 Masters champ Larry Mize said, “but you can make some birdies.”

The 505-yard, par-4 11th is widely know as one of the most difficult holes at Augusta National. It’s long, and the relatively small pond left of green forces any unsure player to bail out right of the green. None of the players that finished in the top nine made birdie at the 11th, and Chad Campbell made a bogey there.

The par-5 13th is almost a must-birdie hole on Sundays for any player that wants to have a chance to win. Of the top five, only Kenny Perry did not make birdie at the 13th — a lost stroke that could have won the tournament.

Perry and Campbell lost to Masters champ Angel Cabrera in a sudden-death playoff.

“I three-putted 13,” said Perry, who shot 71 Sunday. “I can always look back — it’s not 17 and 18 that cost me the tournament. I should have, I could have been far enough ahead to where I could have bogeyed the last two holes and still won this golf tournament, and I just didn’t do it.”

While Perry dropped a shot to the field at the 510-yard 13th, he gained one No. 12. His birdie there was rare — there were only four Sunday. The 155-yard par-3 12th may look relatively harmless, but it can change everything.

“I made a terrible swing there,” Phil Mickelson said of the 9-iron at No. 12 that rolled into Rae’s Creek and ended his longshot hopes. “That one hurt.”

Mickelson was not alone. Despite most of the field going at the green with either an 8- or 9-iron, the 12th played as the second-hardest hole on the course Sunday at 3.40. Only the 460-yard ninth — which played back into the wind most of the final round — played harder.

“I hit the wrong club there,” said Graeme McDowell, who made double at the 12th but recovered to shoot 3 under Sunday on his way to finishing 17th at 4 under. “It’s actually very difficult to judge the wind back there.”

Said Mickelson: “If I get through 12 with par, I’m right back in the tournament.”