What a victory day for a man who suspended his PGA tour just last May because his 38-year-old wife, Amy, was diagnosed with breast cancer. The Associated Press noted: "Even sweeter than Phil Mickelson slipping into another green jacket was seeing his wife waiting for him behind the 18th green at Augusta National with tears streaming down her face.
"Amy Mickelson had not been at a golf tournament since being diagnosed with breast cancer 11 months ago." Mickelson wins Masters and gets long embrace
Sports.espn said, "According to a release from Mickelson's management company, his wife was to have more tests but begin treatment, with major surgery, as early as the next two weeks."Amy Mickelson, Phil Mickelson's wife, has breast cancer; There was the unbridled joy and enthusiasm of his first Masters victory in 2004. The satisfaction of doing it again two years later while engaging in a shootout with his friend Fred Couples.
But, when he walked off the 18th green at the Augusta National Golf Club Sunday, the fading Georgia sun splashing off his face and a three-shot victory warming his heart, there was little Phil Mickelson could say when he saw his wife, Amy, standing at the top of the runway.
So he didn't. He just cried. In her arms."I don't normally shed tears after a win," Mickelson said.
But he did, and it seemed as though a lot of other people did as well.
In a week dominated by the return of Tiger Woods to competitive golf, it was Mickelson who struck a chord for family values by winning the 74th Masters with an indomitable performance that saw him make four birdies in the final seven holes, one more indescribable than the other.
And, after watching the first three rounds from her bed in their rented house, Amy Mickelson came to Augusta National and watched her husband finish off his victory with a 10-foot birdie putt on the final hole -- a moment that thrilled and chilled the large gallery that framed the 18th green.
"To win this tournament is the most amazing feeling," Mickelson said. "This has been a special day I'll look back on as very memorable. It's something I'll always cherish."
With a performance as awesome as it was inspiring, Mickelson shot a bogey-free 67 that included four birdies in the final seven holes to pull away from England's Lee Westwood and become the eighth player to win at least three green jackets.
Wearing an all-black outfit as he did when he won in 2006, Mickelson finished at 16-under 272, three shots ahead of Westwood, the third-round leader who got ambushed by Mickelson on the back nine in each of the final two rounds.
After getting blitzed with two eagles and a birdie in a five-hole stretch in the third round, Westwood watched Mickelson make an 18-foot birdie at the par-3 12th and two, two-putt birdies at Nos. 13 and 15 for his fourth major championship. The only other active PGA Tour player with more major titles is Woods (14), who finished tied for fourth after a final-round 69.
"I needed to make birdies -- there were a lot of fireworks going on in front of us," said Mickelson, who was 13-under par on the back nine in four rounds. "The putt on 12 got me going."
Westwood, trying to become the first Englishman to win a major championship since Nick Faldo in '96, shot a final-round 71 to finish at 275, three shots back. In the past eight majors, he has finished third twice and second once -- missing playoffs at the '09 U.S. Open and '09 British Open by one shot.
Anthony Kim, who was trying to become the fifth player to win the Masters a week after a PGA Tour victory, shot a final-round 65 to charge up the leader board and finish third at 276, four shots back. Kim shot a back-nine 31 that included three birdies and an eagle in the final five holes.
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