AUGUSTA, GA. - The ease with which it all came together seemed to be everywhere around Phil Mickelson. The leader board showed he led the Masters by two shots. On the 18th green, he had a putt he's seen and struck countless times before, a little left-to-right breaker for a birdie he didn't need.
Source:Washington Post
- In the clubhouse and the locker room at Augusta National, taking off their spikes and moving on, were most of the men. Tiger Woods among them who charged at Mickelson on a sparkling Sunday afternoon, only to fall away.
- But when that final putt dropped, and Mickelson pumped his fist in celebration of his third Masters title, the ease of it all melted away. At the side of the green, at a tournament for the first time in nearly a year, was Mickelson's wife, Amy.
- The hug they exchanged lasted more than half a minute. They have shared such congratulatory moments before, but not under these circumstances. "It's been an emotional year," Mickelson said.
- At the tournament at which Woods made a much-ballyhooed return to golf after a sex scandal crushed his image and showed, particularly on Sunday, that he is unlikely to change on the golf course.
- Mickelson shot a final-round 67 to beat playing partner Lee Westwood by three shots. He marked the win with the kind of signature shots that usually define the Masters, none better than an iron from the pine straw on the par-5 13th, and became the eighth man to win as many as three Masters.
- Those kinds of stats and moments would be how to define Mickelson's Masters victories in 2004 and 2006. But not now. This one will be defined by that hug with Amy at the side of the green, because last year she had breast cancer diagnosed, and Mickelson's life in public and private has changed since.
- Mickelson is now, without question, a great player despite all the majors he has let slip away. Among his contemporaries, only Woods has more than four major championships. And more important: He did it with Amy at the side of the green.
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