Round 4 Reports "A tailored made Wealth Management Service for the privileged many." Halfway leader DiMarco earns return trip Tiger Woods exposes class gap Major disappointment for Duval & Mickelson Tiger Woods wins Masters by two shots

Mickelson took his second third-place finish at the Masters with a final-round 70 for a four-day total of 13-under 275. He played in the final group with Woods and as he stood on the 16th tee, Mickelson was only one shot behind the world's No. 1 player. Then the lefthander missed a five-foot par save and dropped two off the pace.

On Saturday, Mickelson birdied the final two holes to get into the final pairing with Woods. Mickelson couldn't conjure up the same magic on Sunday, instead closing with a pair of pars and another bitter loss in one of golf's major championships.

David Duval sizes up his birdie putt on the final holeAllsport.

"I missed some crucial putts throughout the day," said Mickelson. "I've got some issues with my own game. I made four bogeys again today. I'm just throwing shots away left and right. To try and compete against Tiger, it's just not cutting it. At this level, I've got to eliminate those mistakes."

Mickelson believed that the time was now for his first green jacket and with good reason. His game has improved to the point where there is no doubt he is No. 2 in the game. In the last two years Mickelson has improved his length off the tee so that he belongs in the group of bombers like Woods, Davis Love III and Duval. His amazing short game is certainly his strength, although sometimes he relies too much on the flop shot, which cost him at the the 14th on Saturday.

The problem that Mickelson has in big tournaments resides in his putter. On Sunday, Mickelson missed a 10-foot birdie at one, a three-footer for par at six and seven-foot par save on the 11th.

Coming down the stretch, Mickelson was no better with the blade. He missed a 12-foot birdie putt at 14, and when Woods left the door open after a two-foot miss for birdie at the 15th, Mickelson failed to even graze the hole from five feet at 16.

Mickelson has historically had trouble with the putter in big events. He missed two putts from inside of five feet in a span of three holes in a Friday afternoon Ryder Cup match in 1999, and suffered several miscues at the U.S. Open that same year.

Mickelson lost on the 18th green to the late Payne Stewart at Pinehurst, falling one shot short when Stewart rolled in an 18-foot birdie for the win. Mickelson, who has two other top-10 finishes in the U.S. Open, has four top-10s at the PGA Championship, but has never contended at the British Open.

This was supposed to be Mickelson's year. He was playing better than he ever had in his career, which includes 18 wins, the most by any active PGA Tour player without a major.

Mickelson tees off at the 1st. Allsport.

"I desperately want this. Very much so," said Mickelson after Saturday's third round. "I have been preparing not just this past year, not just this past 10 years, but since I was a little kid, picking up range balls at a driving range so I could practice as much as I needed to, dreaming of this day."

He was singing a different tune on Sunday.

Winning this tournament has been a dream for Duval, as well. Before the 2000 Masters, he went on an extensive fitness program and shed several pounds for the expressed reason of winning at Augusta. But in the final round of last year's event, he dumped his approach into the water at 13 and fell four shots short of Vijay Singh.

At Augusta in 1998, Mark O'Meara birdied the final two holes to snatch what looked to be Duval's first major. A year later, Duval tied for sixth, five strokes behind Jose Maria Olazabal.

Duval has a solid record in majors, finishing in the top-10 in six of his last eight starts in the Big Four. He also tied for 11th at last year's British Open, where he staged a mild run at Woods along the turn. But he took four swings to get out of the Road Bunker at 17 and dropped down the leaderboard and out of contention.

On Sunday at Augusta, Duval began the day three shots behind Woods and rallied early with five front-nine birdies. He shared the lead with Woods for a good portion of the afternoon and after birdieing the par-five 15th, was tied with Woods at the top. Then he showed Mickelson the appropriate hole on which to lose the tournament.

He blew a seven-iron over the green at 16 and hit a delicate chip to eight feet, only to miss the putt left and fall one back. At 17, he missed a 12-foot birdie putt to tie Woods, then missed a four-footer at the last.

"The first thing I want to do is congratulate Tiger. He's a friend of mine and to shoot a 68 under this pressure is outstanding," said Duval, who closed with a 67 to finish 14-under 274.

This year has been hard for Duval with a wrist injury that caused him to miss several events. He has also been mired in litigation with Titleist over his contract, and a few months back signed a lucrative agreement with Nike and now uses their clubs and balls.

Woods slipped into his second green jacket and might have completed the Grand Slam of golf, depending on who you ask. Whatever Woods does, Mickelson and Duval have their work cut out for them if they both want to shed the title "best player never to win a major."

They both have the talent to win the big one, but they tend to suffer mental blocks and putting woes, or perhaps it's simply the pressure of having to contend with the greatest athlete in sports right now. Whatever the case, Mickelson and Duval have to learn how to win a major, and with both coming so close prior to Sunday at Augusta, they probably should have won one by now.