AUGUSTA, Ga. — As he walked up the 18th fairway at Augusta National Golf Club, another Masters title stuffed in his back pocket, Phil Mickelson could have been thinking about more than just this moment, as sunshine filtered through the stately pines.

For instance, imagine how much the questions directed at him have changed. Instead of being grilled if he was ever going to win a major, now Mickelson needs to be asked if he intends to win every single one he plays.

Mickelson bagged his second Masters title on a long Sunday that stretched from morning until night and held off the rest of his peers in golf's Big Five. He closed out his third major championship with a fourth-round 69 that beat Tim Clark of South Africa by two shots.

After going winless in the first 42 majors he played, Mickelson has now won the last two, including the PGA Championship last August.

"A long day, but a wonderful day," he said. "To win a few, it's just an amazing feeling."

It's a victory streak that has vaulted the 35-year-old Mickelson into some exclusive company. The only other players to win the PGA Championship and the Masters back-to-back are Sam Snead in 1951-52 and Tiger Woods in 2000 and 2001. Mickelson also is the first player other than Woods to win consecutive majors since Nick Price in 1994.

Mickelson played the four signature par-five holes at beefed-up, 7,445-yard Augusta National in 13 under par, only one shot shy of Ray Floyd's record set in 1976. He birdied the eighth and 15th each time.

His rounds of 70-72-70-69 and seven-under par total of 281 matched the highest winning score at the Masters since Nick Faldo's 283 in 1989. Mike Weir's winning score in 2003 was 281.

The way it's going, Augusta National is becoming Mickelson's personal playpen. He's had eight straight top-10 finishes at the Masters, made $4.3 million and won twice. He has played 28 of his last 32 rounds at par or better. Mickelson pocketed $1.26 million out of the $7 million Masters purse.

Not only did Mickelson rank first in driving distance at 299.25 yards, he also tied for fourth in greens in regulation.

Mickelson, whose strategy of carrying two drivers, one to hit a draw and the other to hit a fade, paid off handsomely, said he couldn't think of another course he would use the same strategy.

Clark's fourth-round 69 featured a birdie at the 18th when he holed a bunker shot, but Mickelson still had a three-shot lead when he made that stroll up the 18th fairway.

"I'm sure I'm the last guy he was worrying about out there," Clark said.

Clark was one shot ahead of Tiger Woods, who headlined a group of five at 4-under 284, three shots behind Mickelson. Fred Couples shot 71 and joined Woods, Chad Campbell, Retief Goosen and Jose Maria Olazabal, whose 66 was the low round of the day.

Mickelson made the turn with a one-shot lead over Couples, but when Couples three-putted the 11th for bogey, it was the beginning of the end. Couples, 46, the 1992 Masters champion, was in it until his three-putt bogey at the 14th dropped him three shots behind Mickelson.

"I watched a great player win his second Masters," Couples said. "He hit the ball solid, where he was looking and it was an easy, easy 69."

Just reaching the final act was gut-wrenching enough. The top 11 players who had their third round stopped Saturday night because of darkness played a total of 133 holes yesterday morning to finish the round and they were a combined 16 over par.

Only Mickelson and Couples were under par in the 13 holes they had left over to complete their rounds.

So when the fourth round finally began, Mickelson's one-shot lead was so precarious, eight players were within two shots of him. That's the most in 11 years, when Ben Crenshaw and Brian Henninger also had eight players within two shots.

Mickelson's 54-hole total of 212 matched the second-highest third-round score since 1966.

Woods knocked a 4-iron from 185 yards at the 18th and then steered in a five-foot putt for a birdie to end the third round with a 71. He was fortunate to be within two shots of Mickelson after making three consecutive bogeys at the Masters for the first time as a pro, at the 14th, 15th and 16th, twice on three-putts and the other when he knocked it into the water at the 15th.

Campbell rolled out of bed and played his last 14 holes in 3 over to close out his third-round 75 and fall into a tie for second with Couples at 3-under 213.

By the time the Big Five ate lunch, hit the driving range, then walked back through the clubhouse to start the last round, there wasn't much separating them — Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Woods, Goosen and Ernie Els were all within four shots of one another, the first time that has happened in four years at the Masters.

What happened next was surprising, when it probably shouldn't have been. After all, Mickelson won the BellSouth last week by 13 shots at 28 under. Still, Mickelson's display of grace under pressure was very much like Woods, who dominated in 2002 when his peer group couldn't stay with him.

Woods missed too many putts to make a difference and never seriously challenged, his three-putt bogey at the 11th dropping him five shots behind Mickelson. Not even birdies at the 13th and 15th cut deeply into Mickelson's advantage. He had putts for eagle at both holes.

"I absolutely putted so bad," Woods said. "I couldn't fix it. I didn't know what was going on."

Goosen never got close enough and Singh took himself out of contention when he three-putted the 16th for a bogey and fell four shots behind Mickelson. As for Els, his fourth round wasn't something he wanted to discuss, so he left without speaking to reporters after a four-over 76.

Rocco Mediate, who was 3 under as he stood on the 12th tee, made a 10 and wound up with an 80.

"My back went psycho," Mediate said. "I almost had to quit, but I couldn't do that."

Meanwhile, nothing could stop Mickelson from his 29th PGA Tour victory.

And as for the controversial remodeling of Augusta National, lengthened 155 yards this time to become the second-longest venue in major championship golf, Mickelson offered one final critique.

"I'd like to say one thing about all the changes," he said. "I really like 'em."