No. 16: No heartbreak for Mickelson this time

<p>The last time Phil Mickelson stepped up to the 16th hole with the Masters in his grasp, it turned out to be as slippery as those Augusta National greens.</p><p>This time, he made sure it didn't get away.</p><p>Mickelson pushed aside the memory of 2001 with the shot of a lifetime _ a beautiful 8-iron over the pond that plopped down on the glasslike surface, curled ever so slightly to the right and stopped about 15 feet short of the hole.</p><p>Without the least bit of hesitation, Mickelson knocked it in for birdie, pumped his fist and saw his name join Ernie Els atop the Masters leaderboard.</p><p>Two holes later, Lefty was collecting a green jacket.</p><p>"I was very confident today that good things would happen," Mickelson said. "As I was walking to the green, it didn't seem overwhelming. I thought I'll make that putt and birdie one of the last two."</p><p>Contrast that with three years ago.</p><p>Playing in the final group with Tiger Woods, Mickelson made a birdie on 15 while the leader was three-putting the hole, cutting the margin to a single stroke.</p><p>Mickelson went to 16 with all the confidence in the world _ and promptly put his tee shot in the one spot on the green where it couldn't be. He grimaced as his ball came to a stop on the upper tier of the green, leaving a treacherous downhill putt.</p><p>It slid by the hole, and he missed the 7-footer coming back, the bogey costing him any chance of chasing down Woods.</p><p>It was a moment that helped solidify Mickelson's dubious distinction as the best player never to win a major. It was another compelling piece of evidence for critics who said he couldn't hit the big shots when the pressure was on.</p><p>Reflecting after the 2001 tournament, Mickelson knew where he had thrown it all away _ No. 16, the treacherous par-3 over water.</p><p>"I needed to step up, make a really good swing there, attack that pin and make birdie," he said at the time. "If I can go to 16 and hit a good golf shot, I think the whole momentum changes."</p><p>Mickelson went on to finish third, just as he did the last two years at Augusta National. He was on his way to being the Greg Norman of his generation, the one who kept coming close but never got fitted for the green jacket.</p><p>So, was that going through Mickelson's mind Sunday as he walked toward Heartbreak Hole?</p><p>Actually, he was reflecting on the past, but only back to the first round. His caddie, Jim "Bones" McKay, reminded Mickelson that he flew the tee shot over the green and wound up taking double bogey.</p><p>"The pin was 190 (yards)," Mickelson remembered. "I was trying to fly it 180 and hit a little 7-iron and it took off and flew well past where I wanted it to. That hole, for us, plays really short. For whatever reason, it just doesn't seem to play its yardage."</p><p>For the final round, the hole was at 178. Mickelson dropped down a club and took a nice, full swing. "Just a normal 8-iron, because we didn't want the ball to take off," he said.</p><p>Perfect.</p><p>He already had mastered the first par-3 on the back nine, the more-famous 12th. Ignoring Rae's Creek, the bedevling winds and the roar that went up when Els made eagle at 13, Mickelson went right at the flag, got to 12 feet and made birdie.</p><p>"Nobody goes after that pin, but I took a pretty aggressive line at it," Mickelson said. "When that putt on 12 went in, that's when I started to feel like I could make it happen."</p><p>And Mickelson caught a break. No. 16, the hole named "Redbud," didn't show its usual teeth in the final round.</p><p>Padraig Harrington and Kirk Triplett made holes-in-one just 10 minutes apart, quite a feat on a hole that had yielded only seven aces in the first 67 Masters.</p><p>Four of the top five finishers made birdie on their way through 16. Els was the lone exception, though he did make a nice two-putt from the top of the ridge to hold par.</p><p>If 16 was the key, the shot everyone will remember came two holes later, when Mickelson rolled in an 18-foot birdie putt at No. 18 to win his first major championship, beating Els by a stroke.</p><p>Mickelson shot 31 on the back nine and forever removed the stigma of being the guy who always folded down the stretch.</p><p>In his first 11 trips to Augusta National, he finished in the top 10 seven times _ four times in third place.</p><p>When combined with the rest of his major misery _ twice a runner-up in the U.S. Open, another second-place finish in the PGA Championship _ there seemed to be a black cloud over an otherwise commendable career.</p><p>Not anymore. The breaks finally went Mickelson's way this time.</p><p>At the final hole, he got a good look at the line for his winning putt when Chris DiMarco blasted long out of the bunker, just a few inches behind the mark for Mickelson's ball.</p><p>Lefty was standing to the side when his playing partner stroked the putt, but he quickly moved in behind DiMarco to see how the ball rolled.</p><p>"He hit it so slow and I was seeing every inch of the break," Mickelson said. "That was a huge benefit."</p><p>He then stepped up and knocked his putt in.</p><p>The best player never to win a major, no more.</p>

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