A major relief

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Constant thunder rocked towering Georgia pines yesterday and still more thunder shook every precious corner of Augusta National Golf Club, a sports stage that has few rivals.

The thunder did not signal rain, however.

It marked the end of a reign -- Phil Mickelson's reign as the most scrutinized, snakebitten, and frustrated golfer of our generation.

Denied time and time again in his pursuit of one of golf's major championships -- some of those failures his doing, others his misfortune -- Mickelson stepped into the pulsating heat of a sports spotlight and chased away all the ghosts of past heartache with a Masters performance that is one for the ages.

His 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole of the final round capped off a scintillating back-side 31, put a series of exclamation points on a 3-under-par 69, pushed him to 9-under 279, and gave him a one-shot win over Ernie Els (67--280), whose own incoming dramatics plugged an electricity into this tournament that will rank with any of the classics.

Oh, and by becoming just the fourth player in Masters history to birdie the 72d hole to win, Mickelson was entitled to slip into a coveted green jacket.

"It's 43-long," he said, the grin so much wider than the margin by which that climactic putt actually fell. It was a putt from behind the hole, Mickelson's 8-iron approach from 162 yards having tracked the pin all the way and touched down nicely on a slope that funneled the ball to a distance that suited the lefthander. Downhill, slightly left-to-right. All touch. All feel. All right, let it go -- and then watch.

"You never know -- the ball is going so slowly -- if it's going to go in or not. It was on line all the time," said Mickelson, who for a brief time early in the back nine had been three shots down before he chased down Els with a four-birdie spurt between the par-3 12th and par-3 16th. "It had a chance the whole time. It just had to hang in there, hang in there, hang in there . . ."

It hung in there. Hung on the left lip, then touched nearly every other piece of the hole before it disappeared. Which is when Mickelson felt the shock.

"I finally did it," yelled Mickelson.

Indeed, he had, which is why the thunderous applause reverberated -- again, as it had for most of the afternoon. For Mickelson -- though victorious in 22 previous PGA Tour events -- had been 0 for 42 in the majors as a professional and the questions had dogged him repeatedly. He said it never bothered him, that "I expected it," but he would always add this: "I've got plenty of time. I ultimately knew or did not ever lack belief that I would ultimately win."

That he won in golf's most precious theater and after one of the truly great stretches of final-round competition that the sport has seen only made the victory that much sweeter, no matter that it was worth a cool $1.17 million.

It will be debated for years just where the 2004 Masters final round ranks in the annals of classic finishes, but surely it will have plenty of support as one of the best.

"It was fun, but very intense," said Els, who three times has won a major, so he could relate to the joy that Mickelson had now embraced. Only he had his own emotions to take hold of.

"I gave it my best shot, my absolute best," said Els. "Phil beat me. That's how it goes."

And just how did it go? Brilliantly, thank you.

Starting the day as the co-leader with Chris DiMarco, Mickelson was 6 under and two ahead of Paul Casey (74--286, T-6), three clear of Els, K.J. Choi (69--282, third), and Bernhard Langer (72--285, T-4). But Mickelson lost two shots to par going out, DiMarco -- who had played the front in 8 under through three days -- coughed up three, and as the humidity crept up and the threat of rain stayed well north, the leaderboard took on a new look.

Buoyed by an eagle at the par-5 eighth, Els got to the turn in 34 to push to 5 under, one ahead of Mickelson and Langer, though Choi livened things up by holing a 5-iron from 220 yards for an eagle at the par-4 11th. He was only 3 under, but it seemed to serve as an omen that this would be a day when the back nine at Augusta truly came to life.

"That is what makes Augusta so exciting on Sunday," said Els, who narrowly missed birdie chances at the par-4 10th and the 12th, but more than made up for it with three exquisite shots at the 510-yard 13th, the grandest of all the par 5s in the world. A fairway-splitting driver, a 6-iron approach to about 10 feet, and an eagle putt that never stopped until it was at the bottom of the cup.

He was 7 under and three shots ahead of Mickelson. But for only the briefest of time because as the lefthander played the 155-yard 12th, he heard the roars.

"I didn't know what had happened, but I figured he had just made eagle," he said.

It was no time to panic. But it was time to be aggressive, so he took dead aim at the pin and knocked his 8-iron to 12 feet, looked at the putt, and said to himself, "Make that putt and all I'd have to do is birdie 13 and I would be within a shot."

Mickelson made the birdie at 12, then the birdie at the 13th, too. He was 6 under, but so much for being within one.

"Maybe he'll lose one coming in," Mickelson would later say of Els. "But nooooo. He doesn't lose one. So I had to catch him with birdies."

Els refused to fall back, because after the eagle at 13, he got it up-and-down at the par-4 14th to save par, then made birdie at the par-5 15th with a splendid chip from behind the green, his ball resting inches from the hole.

"I was trying to push. I was trying to keep going," said Els, who was at 8 under, leading by two. Again, for the briefest of times because the lefthander drove it perfectly at the 440-yard 14th and hit a pitching wedge to a foot -- 7 under. One shot down and even though Mickelson didn't birdie the 15th, he was at peace -- even amid the roars and drama.

"I was very confident today that good things would happen," said Mickelson, and his faith was rewarded at the hole that so often decides the Masters -- the 16th. It is a 170-yard gem over water, the pin always cut well left on Sunday. Els had missed the ridge in the center of the green and been forced to two-putt from about 45 feet above the hole only minutes earlier, a task he accomplished. So as Els was missing a 17-foot birdie putt up ahead at the 17th, here was Mickelson sizing up the 16th.

Caddie Jim MacKay reminded his man that they had gone long on this hole with a 7-iron a few years ago -- one of those painful heartaching memories he has -- so "we just took a nice, stock 8-iron."

And stuck it to 18 feet below the hole. And made it. And got into a tie at 8 under. And created another avalanche of thunder that was heard all the way up at the par-4 18th, where Els lined up a 14-foot birdie putt.

"I heard the roar," said the man they call The Big Easy, who would miss that chance to go back ahead, so all he could do was sign his scorecard and head to the practice green.

"You know, you're there in another guy's hands," said Els, who was second in this tournament in 2000 and has been Top 10 six times in 11 starts. "There's nothing you can do."

So true, because it was all up to Mickelson now. He thought he had birdied the 17th, only the ball broke sharply at the end of its 20-foot roll. Par. Long walk to the 18th. Time to think of all things negative, only the lefthander didn't. "It really didn't seem overwhelming to me," he said.

Els had driven into the bunkers a short time earlier, a situation Mickelson negated by choosing 3-wood. He drove it perfectly, then took no time in deciding upon the 8-iron second shot. It is a scenario that has been played out only three times in Masters history -- Arnold Palmer in 1960, Sandy Lyle in 1988, Mark O'Meara in 1998 the only men to birdie the 72d hole to win -- but Mickelson embraced the opportunity.

His shot was superb. But so, too, was his good fortune, because DiMarco -- who had never recovered from his outgoing 39, shooting 76--296 and finishing T-6 -- hit his approach into the bunker, took two to get out, and had a putt for bogey that was on the same line as Mickelson's.

"I had a great look at his entire putt, every inch of break," said Mickelson. "I gave [my putt] about 6 inches of break and it just hung on the edge."

Until it dropped, that is. At which time the thunder of roars erupted one more time.

"Daddy won," said Mickelson, picking up his daughter Amanda. "Can you believe it?"

How can we not?