Third One’s A Charm: Phil Mickelson Wins The 2010 Masters

Curious as to how much money Phil Mickelson took home for winning his third Green Jackson on Sunday? What about Nathan Green, who finished last of the 48 players making the cut? The answer to those questions is $1.35 million and $21,750, respectively.

You can see here is how the rest of the $7.5 million prize purse is divided up. Tiger Woods took home $360,000 for his efforts, which is quite literally pocket change compared to the billion dollars he has made from endorsements since 1997.

SB Nation’s Ryan Ballengee reflects on this Masters win for Phil Mickelson, and what it means for Lefty. Specifically, what it showed us about the type of person Mickelson is, as compared to the other great golfer of this era, Tiger Woods:

Head to Waggle Room to read the rest.

We mentioned it earlier on Sunday, and many were calling it the shot of the 2010 Masters as soon as the ball bounced down on the green, but it’s worth directing our attention to it once more: Phil Mickelson’s shot on the 13th truly was remarkable, amazing, gutsy, and about a 17 other adjectives. If you missed it, here’s the video:

I guarantee you I would have found a way to hit both of those trees on that shot.

Golfsmith, the golf supply megastore, recently held a promotion in conjunction with Callaway Golf: certain Callaway drivers would be free if Phil Mickelson won the Masters. We don’t know if you heard--there wasn’t much media attention around the Masters this year or anything--but that’s indeed exactly what happened. Golf clubs for everyone, right? Well, according to Waggle Room, sorta:

Okay. So you don’t get to just bum-rush Golfsmith and yank 10 Callaways off the rack tomorrow morning. And what would you need 10 of the same driver for, anyway? That would be foolish. “This driver is my 5-iron!” (skulls approach shot about 60 yards)

Anthony Kim shot his best round of the 2010 Masters Tournament on Sunday, turning in a seven-under 65, tying him with Nick Watney for the best single day at Augusta this weekend. When he finished 18, he sat two shots back of the leader, Phil Mickelson.

Kim was 1-under on the front nine, but then really caught fire on the back, going birdie-birdie-eagle-birdie on holes 13-16, putting himself up near the top of the leaderboard (and that doesn’t include the times he used the putter to save some rather amazing pars).

Phil Mickelson has dominated the 13th hole in Augusta this week. Two eagles and one birdie. SWERVE! His tee shot landed behind a tree:

DOUBLE SWERVE! Incredibly, he managed to shoot from behind the tree and land five feet from the hole, putting him in position to convert his third 13th-hole eagle of the 2010 Masters.

Practically speaking, the race for the green jacket is down to four men. Phil Mickelson and Lee Westwood have been joined by K.J. Choi and most recently by Anthony Kim, who just followed up two birdies with an eagle in the 15th hole and a birdie in the 16th. This puts Kim at a remarkable 7-under for the round.

However, Kim is a few holes ahead of Mickelson and Westwood. For a share of the lead, he may have to watch and wait for his contemporaries to catch some bad breaks. However it ends, this is an inspiring effort on Kim’s part.

It’s been a surreal run for Fred Couples all weekend long; the pentagenarian has been staying in contention, delighting fans at Augusta. Even with his pedestrian putting, Couples stood at -10, just two back of the leaders at the turn.

So much for that, though; Couples is now completely out of serious contention. The culprit? Amen Corner. Couples bogeyed 11, then put his tee shot in the drink at 12, leading to a two-putt double bogey. From -10 to -7; from two shots back to five. Thanks for playing.

Nick Watney shot a solid 68 in Round 1 of the 2010 Masters, but a Round 3 score of 76 seemed to bury his hopes for a high finish.

Enter Round 4 Nick Watney. The man shot a 65 today -- the best single-round score of the tournament -- to vault him all the way up into a tie for sixth. Counter-acting one bogey with eight birdies will do that.

As the last pairings near the turn on this final day of Masters action, the endgame is starting to come into some sort of focus.

Phil Mickelson broke a streak of seven straight pars to open the round with a birdie on the eighth hole; he’s now tied with Lee Westwood, who’s been at even par for this round.

Noted golfing enthusiast Tiger Woods began Round 4 of the Masters four strokes behind the lead, and pulled himself further from the lead after bogeying three of his first five holes.

All of a sudden, though, he’s pulled the gap back to three. He followed up a seventh-hole eagle with birdies in the eighth and ninth hole.. Woods is in fifth place, so he still has quite a hill to climb, but remember: this is noted golfing enthusiast Tiger Woods we’re talking about. He is in video games.

Through five holes in the fourth round of the Masters, Phil Mickelson is still a stroke behind Lee Westwood. Mickelson could very well have entered a share of the lead were it not for a freak incident: as Mickelson’s short putt on the second hole was rolling, a piece of debris hopped right into its path, slowing down ball and ruining his birdie bid.

Meanwhile, K.J. Choi has shot 2-under through his first six holes to move within two strokes of the lead. Fred Couples is within three.

If you look at the scorecard when today’s action is all said and done, you’ll see that Phil Mickelson parred the second hole. That doesn’t really begin to tell the story.

Mickelson absolutely bombed his tee shot on the par 5, sending it 376 yards and leaving himself just 199 yards to the pin. Up and down for an eagle, certainly not out of the question. He’d put his approach in the sand, however, and his bunker shot was a competent-if-unspectacular save that gave him a short putt for birdie.

The final round of the Masters is underway. Lee Westwood, (tee time at 2:40 ET) the tournament leader, is looking for his first majors win. One stroke behind him is Phil Mickelson (also 2:40), who is in pursuit of his third green jacket. The PGA’s Twitter feed notes that of the past 19 Masters winners, 18 have come from the final group, which bodes well for these two.

Also in contention for the green jacket are K.J. Choi and noted golfing enthusiast Tiger Woods, who tee off at 2:30.

Here are the tee times for Round 4’s action at the 2010 Masters. All times Eastern.

10:40 a.m.: Chad Campbell and Nathan Green

Entering Round 3 of the 2010 Masters, Lee Westwood shared the tournament lead with Ryder Cup teammate Ian Poulter. At the conclusion of the round, Westwood has the lead outright, but just barely.

Phil Mickelson very nearly made Masters history by becoming the first player to shoot three consecutive eagles. His first two eagles fell on the 13th and 14th holes, and on the 15th, his remarkable shot missed by a matter of inches. He enters the final round of the Masters one stroke behind Westwood.

Late in Round 3 of the 2010 Masters, Phil Mickelson is going house. Mickelson has shot back-to-back eagles in the 13th and 14th holes, and is now only one stroke back of tournament leader Lee Westwood.

The PGA Tour’s Twitter feed points out just how briskly Mickelson has eaten into Westwood’s lead:

England’s Lee Westwood endered Round 3 of the Masters tied for the lead with fellow countryman Ian Poulter. While many of Westwood’s neighbors at the top of the leaderboard have shot even so far, Westwood has birdied three of the first eight holes to take a three-stroke lead.

South Africa’s Trevor Immelman is having a fantastic third round so far. Two birdies and an eagle have vaulted Immelman into a tie for sixth place.

Tiger Woods, noted golfing enthusiast, had some choice words for Tiger Woods after Tiger Woods shot a poor drive. Here he is at the sixth hole of Round 3 of the Masters Saturday:

(NOTE: Cussing abounds. Cover your ears if you’re so inclined.)

Phil Mickelson, who teed off his Round 3 at 2:15, has immediately set to work by scoring birdies in each of his first three holes. Mickelson is now tied for the tournament lead with Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter, both of whom have just recently taken to the course.

Meanwhile, noted golfing enthusiast Tiger Woods has birdied his first hole. As of this writing, he sits only one stroke behind the lead.

I’ve had one bone to pick with online golf tournament leaderboards: why isn’t there a color-coded system to keep track of players I despise?

Thankfully, CBSSports.com has remedied this issue. A feature on their leaderboard allows you to mark players as “favorite,” “preferred,” and “despised.”

SB Nation’s resident golf expert, Ryan Ballengee, previews the last five groups of Round 3. These groups start teeing off at 1:55 Eastern.

Here’s Mr. Ballengee’s take on the Ian Poulter-Lee Westwood pairing, slated for 2:55:

It’s 1:00 PM in Augusta, and although the likes of Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Phil Mickelson, and noted golfing enthusiast Tiger Woods haven’t hit the course yet, there are still a couple of developments to note.

Heath Slocum, who entered Round 3 back in the pack, has birdied the second, third, and fourth holes to sit at 3-under entering the sixth hole. He’s still a far cry from the tournament lead, but at this point in the day he’s certainly worth keeping track of. Slocum is no relation to Heathcliff Slocumb, the pitcher who was infamously traded for Jason Varitek and Derek Lowe. Bad trade. Bad trade!

Round 3 of the 2010 Masters Tournament tees off at 10:45 AM Eastern. Many were hoping that noted golfing enthusiast Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson would be paired together. Sorry, friends. Almost as compelling, though, we have fellow countryman Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood, who are tied atop the leaderboard, teeing off together at 2:45 PM.

Some other highlights: Matteo Manessero, the youngest player ever to make the cut at the Masters at age 16, will tee off at 10:55. Ernie Els tees off at 12:25. Tom Watson, the surprise of Day 1, is slated for 1:55. Phil Mickelson tees off at 2:15, and at 2:45, noted golfing enthusiast Tiger Woods takes to the course.