AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Years ago, a golf writer created a fictional meeting between God, Jack Nicklaus and Arnie Palmer.

"You will be champion," God told Nicklaus. Then, as He turned to walk away, He whispered in Arnie's ear, "But they will love you more."

It's hard not to apply the same analogy to Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. Through the past decade, Woods has been the undisputed champion but Mickelson, so often the No. 2 man in the world, has been the hard-luck public heart-throb, even when he so often authored his own demise.

Maybe it's something akin to the Charlie Brown Syndrome, the naive cartoon character sucked in by Lucy every year to try to kick the football.

Of course, Lucy would pull the ball away at the last second and Charlie would end up on his keister, just like Phil has don so many times on his way to yesterday's moment of glory by winning the Masters.

Tiger is revered and admired all over the world, just as Jack is and was, but it has been Mickelson whom the galleries gave their hearts to, as they did to Arnie. Each time Mickelson failed, it made the people root harder for him. There has been no greater proof than the gallery responses this weekend. Only Arnie himself, making his 50th and last trek around Augusta National, received the kind of response that Mickelson did as he marched to victory. Hootie Johnson even gave him the ultimate stamp of approval.

"I don't think anything could have made us happier than you winning your first major here at Augusta National," the club chairman said. It was a genuine sentiment, one echoed all over the golf course.

It is difficult to imagine the colossal gap between where Mickelson was in 2003 and where he stands today. About this time last year, he was dealing with the emotional fallout of a near tragedy in his family because of complications during the birth of he and wife Amy's son, Evan. Both the mother and child nearly died and Mickelson, naturally, was staggered by the potential tragedy.

Beyond that, Mickelson was already playing erratically. His game was ragged and his approach to competing was flawed. More than that, he refused to accept that there was any other approach to the game than the go-for-broke way he so often has chosen, even though it was this approach that had so often resulted in his hopes and dreams being shot down in flames.

Never was this more evident than at the 2002 Bay Hill Invitational, ironically Arnie's tournament, when he threw down the gauntlet after losing to Woods, in part because of a low-risk gamble late in the round.

"I don't care if I never win a major," Mickelson said that day. "I am not going to play this game without the enjoyment, without the fun that I have right now. The fact is, if I change the way I play golf, I won't even play to the level I have been playing.

"So I won't ever change ... not tomorrow, or at Augusta, or the U.S. Open or any tournament."

But after going winless last year, finishing out of the top 30 on the money list and losing all five matches at the Presidents Cup, Mickelson realized he needed to tighten up his game as well as his thought process.

All the criticism by fans, media and even from his peers finally struck a chord.

"First of all, I needed to get my short game back in order," he said. "I needed to get into better physical condition. And I needed to take a more tactical approach. I'll always be looking to make birdies but I also had to start appreciating that par is sometimes a great score."

Mickelson came out this year with a bang, winning his first tournament, the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, in part by refusing to give in to his natural birdie-seeking impulses.

Mickelson seems the only one surprised that golf played without the pedal to the metal at all times can be just as enjoyable.

"It's fun not to be anxious all the time, worrying about my swing or that I didn't make birdie last hole," he said. "All this week I felt quite at peace on the golf course. It just seemed like it was my time."

There are a lot of reasons this was one of the greatest Masters Sundays ever: The brilliant shotmaking under the gun coming down the stretch; the big names on the leaderboard, passing the lead around; two holes in one at the 16th in back-to-back pairings; and the fact that it came down to one last knee-knocking putt for the championship.

And the capper for the vast majority was Mickelson, because they love him more.