By Mark Garrod, PA Sport Golf Correspondent, Augusta

Nick Faldo is hoping his strong showing at the Masters will lead to a special invitation to play the US Open in June.

Faldo finished joint 14th at Augusta and now must wait to see if the United States Golf Association look kindly on him just like the Masters did on his old rival Greg Norman this year.

The 44-year-old is not exempt for Bethpage in New York and said: "I've done some good things this week and one goal I had was to play well enough to get that invite.

"The leaderboard proves the advantage the long hitters have here now after the changes. I'm exhausted, but I'm pleased - I've learnt a lot from playing pressure shots."

Faldo has three Masters and three Open titles to his name. He lost a play-off in the US Open to Curtis Strange in 1988, was third in 1990, fourth in 1992 and seventh only two years ago at Pebble Beach.

Top European yesterday was Jose Maria Olazabal in fourth spot - the fifth top-five finish in America this year for the man who will not, of course, be part of Sam Torrance's Ryder Cup side at The Belfry in September.

On Woods' victory Olazabal said: "He's the best player in the world and doesn't give you any room for manoeuvre. You just have to play your best."

Dubliner Padraig Harrington, whose joint fifth place matched his best-ever performance in a major, commented: "Tiger seems able to build up for the big weeks, but I still think the gap between him and the rest is not as big as a year ago."

On his own performance Harrington, ahead by three on Thursday when he opened with six birdies in 11 holes, said: "Considering my grip drove me up the wall all week and I didn't hole that many putts I can't be unhappy."

The hole he wants to conquer when he returns next year is the 465-yard 18th. He didn't hit it in two all week and a third round double bogey effectively put him out of the hunt.

"That hole has me freaked out," he said. "I'll have to practise it a lot next time."

Colin Montgomerie had said a week ago a top-10 finish would be a good result for him. He tied Faldo for 14th.

"To finish one under after starting with a 75 was good," he said. "I putted much, much better and that's encouraging. I look forward to playing here again.

"Tiger's win is good for him, good for golf and good for all of us.

"We are witnessing something very unique here. The only way to Tiger-proof the course is to have 18 holes like the third (a 350-yard par four) - mind you, he birdied that as well.

"He is just very, very good. The best player right now. And you can do what you want (to courses) right now."

Paul McGinley was a creditable 18th on his debut, but needed top 16 to guarantee a return trip next April and missed that by one shot.

Darren Clarke, second in Houston two weeks ago, blamed "basic errors" on not doing better than 20th, but Lee Westwood's attempt to get his game back together clearly still has some way to go.

He made the cut, but was next-to-last of those that did after a closing 76.