When he had twenty-two Tour wins and no major, that was the reality of Phil Mickelson walking into Augusta in April 2004.

The talent was never in doubt. But 46 major starts without a win, along with three straight third-place finishes at Augusta, only added to the pressure. The “best player without a major” label had followed him for years, and it wasn’t going anywhere.

Sunday, April 11, started badly. Two over through nine holes. Not where you want to be with Ernie Els right there, calm and experienced, with three majors already in the bag. He moved a shot clear heading into the back nine and looked completely in control.

For Mickelson, it felt familiar. And not in a good way.

Bernhard Langer was writing a completely different story that Sunday until the 15th hole took it away.

At 46, he was playing some of the most composed golf of the day, with the chance to become the oldest Masters champion still alive. Then came the double bogey on 15, and just like that, the door closed.

As it stood that day, no one expected what Phil Mickelson would do next.

The Seven-Hole Run That Won Phil Mickelson the 2004 Masters

Mickelson caught fire on the back nine. Five birdies in seven holes. That’s what swung the whole thing.

By the time he reached 18, Els had already finished, his 20-foot birdie putt to win sliding past the cup.

He stood outside the clubhouse with an apple in hand, watching as Mickelson faced an 18-foot, right-to-left putt, its line revealed by a bunker shot that had just rolled past the hole, the most important putt of his career.

It went left-centre, and Phil Mickelson left the ground. "I jumped so high I almost hit lightning that day," he said years later, via the New York Post.

Davis Love III didn’t need more than four words. "It’s like a coronation," Love told Sports Illustrated.

Nine-under 279, one stroke ahead of Els. The Green Jacket was twelve years of professional golf finally answered by one putt on one Sunday afternoon.

Two more Green Jackets followed in 2006 and 2010. Then, in 2021, he won the PGA Championship at 50, a record no one had come close to before and hasn’t since.

The 2004 one sits differently from all of them.

Twelve years of knocking on the door. Forty-six majors before Augusta finally said yes.

That putt on 18 didn’t just win a tournament. It ended something.

Written by

Sneha Abraham

Edited by

Pulkit Prabhav