Phil Mickelson's 3-under round not enough Sunday

Phil Mickelson knew exactly what he had to do to try to track down Jordan Spieth in Sunday’s final round of the Masters.

“I needed to do something spectacular,” said Mickelson, who began the day five shots off the lead in search of his fourth green jacket.

What Mickelson got was merely pretty good, shooting 3-under 69, which ranks among his best final rounds ever at Augusta. But pretty good wasn’t going to cut it.

Not when Spieth proved unflappable, capping his wire-to-wire win with a 2-under 70 that tied Tiger Woods’ tournament scoring record at 18-under 270. Instead, Mickelson tied for second – his 10th runner-up finish at a major – finishing at 14-under 274 along with Justin Rose.

“It was a solid round,” Mickelson said. “But it wasn’t exceptional, which is what I needed to do today.”

Though it was Mick­el­son’s second-best performance at Augusta Natio­nal, topped only by the 16-under 272 during his 2010 victory, he never was able to put any serious pressure on the 21-year-old Spieth. Mickelson came only as close as the final four-shot margin and never was able to string together birdies to gain momentum.

His front-nine birdies of both par-5s were offset by a bogey from the fairway bunker on No. 5 and a three-putt for bogey on No. 9. Even when he gained a little steam on the back, making birdies at Nos. 10 and 13 before holing a bunker shot for eagle on the 15th, Spieth was waiting with an answer in the group behind him.

“I thought my best chance was if I was in the group in front of him and could get out to a quick start and make some birdies and have them have to follow suit,” Mickel­son said. “But I didn’t birdie (No.) 1 and they did. They also birdied two or three, so you knew they were under par and getting some momentum. Birdieing a few holes early like that just gives you a little confidence the round is going to go smoothly and you don’t have to press or force the issue.

“I thought that made for an uphill battle. … He played extremely solid golf and didn’t make those mistakes. If he made a mistake, it was a bogey and he usually followed it up with a birdie. And that’s what you need to do to win major championships.”

The bogey on No. 9 was particularly costly. After making a routine birdie on No. 8, Mickelson gave himself a birdie chance, albeit a lengthy one of 35 feet, on the ninth. But he blew the putt 7 feet past the hole and couldn’t
make the comebacker.

Instead of making the turn at 2-under for the day, Mickelson was back to even par. He then hit his approach on No. 10 to 3 feet for birdie, gained another stroke with a two-putt birdie on No. 13 and followed a bogey on No. 14 by holing out from the right bunker on No. 15 for an eagle.

He parred his way home but left No. 18 knowing he had missed out on a big opportunity.

“I thought 14 of the 18 holes were the easiest birdie pins out there, and the other four were still susceptible,” said Mickelson, who now has 15 top-10 finishes in 23 Mas­ters appearances. “It was set up for an exceptional round and unfortunately, I didn’t do it.

“The fact is, I would have taken 14-under at the start of the week. I would have been happy with that. I’ve played really well to shoot 14-under, and I just simply got outplayed by a young player who played some incredible golf.”