The Associated Press

AUGUSTA, Ga. - The short trip down Magnolia Lane ends with a circular drive in front of the Augusta National clubhouse, and that's where it all might finally sink in for Phil Mickelson.

Only the Masters champions are allowed upstairs in their private locker room.

Everyone else enters through a side door on the ground level. Suddenly, Mickelson's career is looking up.

Despite winning 22 times on the PGA Tour and routinely dazzling galleries with shots most guys can't even picture, Mickelson's record always carried an asterisk, if not a label: best player never to win a major.

Now, Mickelson is one of the best players, period. All it took was a back nine Sunday that ranks among the best performances in the 68-year history of the Masters. He birdied five of the last seven holes, including an 18-foot putt on No. 18 for a one-shot victory over Ernie Els. It was only the fourth walk-off birdie to win a green jacket, and it was the most dramatic.

"Having come so close so many times ... to have it be such a difficult journey to win my first major makes it that much more special, sweeter," Mickelson said. "And it just feels awesome."

Mickelson did not have the toughest or the longest road to his first major championship in his 47th try, 43rd as a pro.

Tom Kite was a 16-time winner with two PGA Tour money titles. He had the 54-hole lead at the '84 Masters and the '89 U.S. Open and collapsed both times, with final rounds of 75 and 78. He finally ended his 0-for-67 streak in the majors by winning at Pebble Beach in the '92 U.S. Open.

Mark O'Meara had 14 titles and was 0-for 56 in the majors until he won the '98 Masters, then added the British Open at Royal Birkdale later that summer. That became the pinnacle of their careers. Kite was 42, O'Meara was 41.

Mickelson turns 34 in June, approaching the prime of his career.

When he lost the 2001 PGA Championship in Atlanta by one shot to David Toms, the frustration was starting to show. Mickelson said he didn't want to win one major, but a bunch of them.

Draped in a size 43-long green jacket, still trying to sort through the raw joy of winning his first major, Mickelson wasn't ready to look too far ahead.

"Well, one isn't really a bunch, but it's a nice start," he said. "I hope it does lead to more, but right now I just want to cherish this one."

Tiger Woods already has eight majors, winning his first at age 21.

Els, who shot 67 and looked like the next Masters champion for the longest time Sunday, won the first of his three majors at 24. Mickelson still has some ground to make up.

Then again, Ben Hogan was 34 when he won his first major at the 1946 PGA Championship. Despite a car accident that nearly took his life, Hogan won nine majors and was more dominant than any other pro in the majors by winning six out of eight during one stretch. There are other similarities worth noting between Hogan and Mickelson.

Hogan realized he could never win majors, or become a great player, until he learned how to eliminate the hook. Mickelson, who had a lust for length off the tee, changed this year from a power draw to a controlled fade, and it paid enormous dividends at the Masters.

He was ninth-best in driving accuracy, and No. 1 in greens in regulation. "When I stood up on tee boxes, I just knew the ball was going to go in the middle of the fairway," he said. But this isn't a plodding Phil. He did not sacrifice excitement for the middle of the fairway. As Mickelson pointed out Sunday night, "You don't shoot 31 (on the back nine) playing for pars."

Next up is the U.S. Open in June at Shinnecock Hills, where Mickelson was close to winning in 1995 until a series of blunders on the back nine. But that was when people didn't know if Mickelson could win a major. Now they do.