Lefty's Got it Right

His triumphs? Not so much.

Lefty has long been a fan favorite, but he tends to be the guy you root for because you want to see him overcome long odds.

The underdog.

Much of Mickelson's career has been overshadowed by the emergence of Tiger Woods, arguably the best golfer to ever play the game.

And in keeping with that theme, Mickelson went into the first major tournament of 2010 - The Masters - as a bit of an afterthought as Woods made his season debut and played in his first tournament in nearly five months.

A slow start to the 2010 season didn't help Mickelson enter the pre-Masters conversation, and most oddsmakers had Woods as the man to beat at Augusta National Golf Club.

And why not?

Woods thrives under the spotlight, and he's won 14 major championships - four at The Masters - by playing with a chip on his shoulder, as if he has something to prove.

For the first time in a long time, he actually did have something to prove at The Masters.

The sex scandal that came to light after a car crash outside his Florida home early in the morning of Nov. 27, 2009, did what no golfer on the PGA Tour had been able to do since Woods burst onto the scene as a Tour rookie in 1996 - derailed his golf game.

After the accident, Woods took nearly five full months off for counseling, in-patient treatment and to attempt to patch back together his tattered personal life away from the ever-present cameras and the probing questions of reporters.

When he announced that he'd make his return to golf at the 2010 Masters, Woods naturally became the story, and the television cameras followed his every move - in practice, in the press tent, during the event, after each round.

Meanwhile, Mickelson did what he's done during most of Woods' career - continued going about his business away from the bright spotlight that shined upon Tiger.

Once Woods established himself as the next big thing in golf, Mickelson appeared destined to forever be the next-best thing in golf, an otherwise stellar career - which included a brilliant run in the amateur ranks, a superb short game and creative shot-making - falling victim to timing.

From 1999 to 2003, Mickelson finished second or third in a major six times. He now has 38 career tournament victories, but until 2004, none of his wins had come in a major. His five second-place finishes at the U.S. Open are a record.

The dam broke at the 2004 Masters, and with the monkey off his back, Mickelson added another major title at the 2005 PGA Championship. A second Masters victory followed in 2006, and suddenly, Mickelson had separated himself from the rest of the pack that was left treading water in Woods' wake.

Ahead of the pack, maybe, but still far behind Tiger.

Of course, Mickelson isn't the only player who has found himself hanging out in that immense and brutal shadow cast by the world's No. 1 golfer. Woods has 71 PGA Tour victories - third-best all-time. He's won each major at least three times, including four wins at The Masters and at the PGA Championship. He's first all-time among career money leaders with $93,192,539 in winnings. He is, according to Forbes, the first athlete to earn more than a billion dollars in winnings and endorsements.

So yeah, it's a cold place, this shadow.

And Mickelson isn't close to Woods' 14 major tournament titles, but with his victory at the 2010 Masters, the golfer who long wore that unwanted label of "best player to never win a major" claimed his third Masters trophy - one fewer than Woods - and the fourth major title of his career.

Mickelson's wife, Amy, continues a very public battle with breast cancer, the treatments for which made her too ill to come to the course to watch the first three rounds of The Masters.

But on Sunday, there was Amy Mickelson, waiting for her husband behind the 18th green, tears running down her face as Phil polished off another Masters victory.

The champion joined his wife and three children, and before heading off to sign his scorecard, Mickelson embraced his family amidst the late-day shadows near Augusta National's clubhouse.

They weren't cold, these shadows. For Lefty, they were just right.

Sources:
Phil Mickelson's Official Profile, PGA Tour
Tiger Woods' Official Profile, PGA Tour