Phil Mickelson wins after 5 way playoff

Phil Mickelson won the rain-hit BellSouth Classic after being taken to a fourth playoff hole by Rich Beem at the TPC at Sugarloaf in Duluth, Georgia on Monday.

Masters champion Mickelson will head to Augusta with his 26th PGA Tour victory after sinking a birdie put on the 17th to see off the brave challenge of Beem, the 2002 PGA champion.

"I'm very excited at how I played the backside today and I'm looking forward to the Masters," said world number four Mickelson. "There were probably six to 10 people who could have won, should have won, this tournament."

The playoff began with five players -- Arjun Atwal, Brandt Jobe and Jose Maria Olazabal as well as Mickelson and Beem -- after they had tied on eight-under-par 208 after three rounds.

Atwal and Jobe dropped out at the first playoff hole -- the 18th -- after missing their putts for par while the other three parred the hole and moved on to the 17th.

Twice Masters champion Olazabal had blown two chances to clinch the title with birdie putts -- one on the 18th and another on the first playoff hole. He then bowed out after his fifth shot landed in the water on the third playoff hole.

With the first two days of the $5 million tournament wiped out by torrential rain, officials had been forced to shorten the event to 54 holes but an extra day was still required.

Now those qualified for the Masters starting on Thursday have to race across the state to the Augusta National, including Mickelson and Olazabal who was champion in 1994 and 1999.

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