The People's Choice

Mickelson rips his tee shot from the 18th tee during the final round.
Photo: Devin Black

For a man whose career has been stunted by miscalculated gambles, this one paid off. "I knocked it in there to about 12 feet and made the putt," Mickelson added. "I knew if I made that one and birdied 13, I'd be one shot back with five holes to go."

It set up one of the most unforgettable finishes in Masters history. Having yielded just seven aces in 67 tournaments, the par-3 16th produced two in back-to-back groups (Padraig Harrington and Kirk Triplett). Els made a spectacular par save at the 14th, but Mickelson almost holed out from the same fairway, tapping in from less than a foot for his third consecutive birdie. Els had picked up a stroke by getting up and down for birdie at No. 15, but it was the last he would make. Mickelson, meanwhile, was just getting started.

"You would think a [bleeping] 67 would be enough," snapped Els' caddie, Ricci Roberts. "My man did all he could do. This wasn't meant to be."

The boy could not have been more than 7 or 8 years old, but from his vantage point on a mound near the 16th green in the Friday twilight, with the late-afternoon sunshine casting diagonal rays through a stand of towering Georgia pines, the kid could see all there was to see. Unlike his previous Masters encore in 2002, when rain pushed Arnold Palmer's last good-bye into a gloomy Saturday morning, this was a setting worthy of a king.

"C'mon Arnold!" the boy yelled, oblivious to the fact that Palmer was 23 over par.

It was a touching moment transcending several generations of golfers, the kind of stuff you don't see anywhere else. "I'm through," Palmer said. "I've had it. I'm done. Cooked. Washed up. Finished. Whatever you want to call it."

Gone but never forgotten, of course, Palmer's grand exit made this a Masters full of reflection, not objection. Play began Thursday morning under heavy gray skies and news far gloomier than any passing shower--the death of Bruce Edwards, 49, Tom Watson's caddie for most of 30 years. Arriving at Augusta National shortly before 6:30 a.m., Watson received a call on his cellphone. A bad connection prevented him from receiving any immediate details. It was the only poor reception he received all day.

Watson needed almost an hour to empty his heart at a post-round news conference. "I saw Bruce three weeks ago, and he was in pretty good shape," he said. "He had a little problem breathing, but once again, we had our normal bet on the NCAA tournament. He beat my butt again. I owe him $100. I'm gonna take that $100 bill and frame it."

Both the 18- and 36-hole leads were the sole property of Englishman Justin Rose, who hit 32 of 36 greens on a golf course where two yards often meant the difference between birdie and bogey. Mickelson, Els, Davis Love III and Fred Couples all had gathered on nearby branches of the leader board, which could explain why Rose needed 42 strokes to play the front nine Saturday. Woods, meanwhile, resumed his bad-round, good-round trend, following a hideous 75 with a tidy 69. "Just have to take baby steps," Tiger cautioned Friday. A third-round 75 turned Woods' forward movement into a backward crawl. He finished tied for 22nd at 290, 11 strokes back and never a factor.

Caddie Jim Mackay, who has shared his boss' ups and downs since 1992, savored the win.
Photo: J.D. Cuban

Mickelson has shot hundreds of scores lower than the 69 he posted Saturday, but few rounds in his career have been better executed or more appropriately timed. Love and Couples checked in with 74s. Two-time champ José Maria Olazábal, two strokes off the pace heading into the weekend, turned in a 79. You could feel the buzz surrounding Mickelson as early as the third hole, where a 15-footer for birdie earned him a share of the lead (at four under) for the first time all week.

Amid his own problems--an error-filled, putt-starved 76--Charles Howell III spent much of the afternoon inspecting golf's latest extreme makeover. A high, controlled fade frequently left Mickelson a full club behind his playing partner, but he was hitting shots and giving himself opportunities, playing percentage golf on a course where the margin for error had become frighteningly slim. "He's not hitting it as far, but he's making aggressive swings," Howell noted, sounding as though he'd just witnessed a boxer, not a puncher.

The bogey-free performance earned Mickelson a share of the 54-hole lead at 210, and thus, a spot alongside DiMarco in Sunday's final twosome, from which the last 13 Masters winners had emerged. Dunking hunks of prime rib into a bowl of salsa Saturday evening, Els, three strokes back, did not sound all that keen on a history lesson. "I'm ready for this more than I've ever been ready for it," he said. "I can handle the disappointment. I've felt it before."

Nothing, however, could prepare him for Sunday's photo finish. "Nobody could figure out what happened to [Mickelson] last year," said Nick Price. "He's got such a wonderful short game--he got away with [inconsistent ball-striking] for so long. Maturity is one thing. He's maturing as a golfer." A perfect example came at the par-5 eighth. Mickelson grabbed his driver and sent Mackay up the fairway, then had second thoughts and made his man walk all the way back to the tee to exchange it for the 3-wood. You think that would have happened a year ago?

A drive into the left rough at the par-5 15th forced Mickelson to punch a layup through the trees. It was a shot very similar to the one he tried to hammer through the timber (and over water) at the '02 Bay Hill Invitational, a ridiculous play that took him out of the tournament. He settled for par this time around, knowing the back-left pin at the 16th was a perfect match for his ball flight. A stock 8-iron left him 10 feet below the hole. "When the putt on 16 went in, it made for an awesome experience," Mickelson said. "There were a lot of people around that green, an awesome variance of emotions and intense fan [reaction]. It was very different than, say, the putt on 12, where there was nobody around."