Golf: Mickelson's Masters win is the most emotional

PHIL MICKELSON does not usually cry when he wins. But for very obvious reasons he made an exception last night on becoming Masters champion for a third time.

By the green waiting to greet him after his three-stroke victory over England's Lee Westwood at Augusta was his breast cancer-suffering wife Amy, who made it off her sick bed to the course.

They embraced for what seemed an eternity and afterwards Mickelson said: "I don't normally shed tears over wins, but that was a very emotional moment for us.

"I was just really glad she was there – I wasn't sure she was going to be – and it's something that I'll look back on and just cherish.

"I'll cherish every moment of this week. It's been very special."

With only one top ten finish all season entering the first major of the season Mickelson simply became inspired again among the azaleas and dogwood of his favourite course. And never was he more inspired than when he decided to go for an heroic six-iron off pine straw and through a tiny gap between two trees at the long 13th. Rae's Creek was lying in wait, but Mickelson flushed the 207-yard shot to four feet and although he then missed the eagle putt – it would have been his third there during the tournament – it gave him a grip on the title he never let go.

"I was going to have to go through that gap if I laid up or went for the green," he explained. "The gap wasn't huge, but it was big enough for a ball to fit through!"

Then the left-hander, now back to world No.2 and close enough to Tiger Woods (joint fourth yesterday in his comeback event) to think he could finally topple him one day soon, reflected on how he had turned his game around.

"When I get to Augusta I get very relaxed and feel very comfortable. I'm in love with this place and it brings out the best in me."

As well as winning three times in seven years he has only once finished outside the top ten in his last 12 visits.

Only Jack Nicklaus with six and Arnold Palmer and Woods with four have won more green jackets than Mickelson and on three he joins Nick Faldo, Gary Player, San Snead and Jimmy Demaret.

Some of his par saves were almost as dramatic as his birdies and eagles, but there was drama off the course too. His 11-year-old oldest daughter Amanda was taken for an X-ray on Saturday evening and it was discovered she had a hairline wrist fracture following a roller skating accident.

Mickelson's closing 67 gave him a 16 under par aggregate of 272 and it was the first of his four majors – he also won the 2005 US PGA – where he has come from behind on the last day to win.

The deficit to Westwood with 18 holes to play was only one, but that still enabled Mickelson to claim something that has so far proved beyond great rival Woods. All his 14 majors were won from the front.

Golf fans will have to wait again before discovering where and when Tiger Woods plays next. Woods is still not taking up a full schedule after returning from a lay-off of nearly five months following a sex scandal.

And after Phil Mickelson's success, Woods said: "I'm going to take a little time off and kind of re-evaluate things."

His first appearance post-Augusta last year was the Quail Hollow Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the same event is on 29 April - 2 May. It is expected he will play either there or at the following week's Players Championship at the US Tour's Sawgrass headquarters in Florida.

With total uncertainty about how he would fare and how he would be received after such a break – especially given the circumstances – onlookers will consider fourth at Augusta a superb achievement.

But Woods thinks differently. He said: "I finished fourth. Not what I wanted. I wanted to win this tournament, but as the week wore on I kept hitting the ball worse. I only enter events to win and I didn't get it done. I didn't hit the ball good enough and I made too many mistakes around the greens."

Yet Woods still equalled a Masters record. Only two other players in the tournament's history have also had four eagles in one week.

Two of his came yesterday when he holed his approach to the seventh and then made a 15-footer on the 15th, but three bogeys in the first five holes left him too much ground to make up.