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Golf- A new Mickelson is winning majors
(AP)
Updated: 2006-04-11 08:55

This time, he managed to make the Masters boring — which was fine with him.

"The stress-free walk up 18 was incredible. I had been wanting that," Mickelson said. "I had actually been wanting a four- or five-shot lead, but three was OK, too."

For a second — even though he was joking — he sounded like the Mickelson of old.

Lefty didn't endear himself to many people five years ago at the PGA Championship in Atlanta when he opened with a 66 and told CBS Sports that he not only wanted to win, but by a certain margin of victory. He was asked later what number he had in mind.

"I'm not going to say. Doesn't sound good," he said with a smile.

He wound up losing by one shot to David Toms, who laid up on the 18th and made a 10-foot par save.

It took Mickelson a dozen years and 42 majors, but he finally figured out how to win the majors. He strove to keep the ball in play, even using two drivers — the joke was he tried to help Callaway win the driver count — at this Masters. He also crammed for the majors as if they were final exams, spending eight hours in a practice round ahead of the tournament to study how to save shots.

Even on par 5s he could reach in two on the back nine of Augusta, he reminded himself that par was a good score (typical Phil, he birdied both of them, anyway, making him 13 under on the par 5s at the Masters).

The results — three majors in his last nine starts — have changed his reputation, if not his legacy.

"There's no doubt he's changed," Couples said. "He's an incredible player. He's got more talent than maybe anyone out here in his hands. You've got, obviously, Tiger. You've got Ernie Els and Retief, and those are great, great players. But I think Phil can overpower a golf course like Tiger can.

"He's a much better player than he was five years ago."

It's easy to get carried away with whoever just won the last major. Even with his second Masters title, Mickelson still only has as many majors as Els and Singh among active players, and he still lags seven majors behind Woods.