Georgia, April 10:

Once known as the lovable loser who went a dozen years before he figured out how to win golf’s biggest tournaments, Phil Mickelson captured his second straight major at the Masters on Sunday.

He closed with a 3-under 69 for a two-shot victory over Tim Clark and his second green jacket in three years.

This was nothing like the others. He holed an 18-foot birdie putt two years ago at the Masters. Then there was Baltusrol last summer at the US PGA Championship, when he hit a flop shot out of deep rough to within 2 feet for a birdie to win by one shot.

Instead of a heart-stopping finish this time, he methodically built a lead that forced Fred Couples, Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh to try to catch him. But they stumbled with three-putts and a litany of other mistakes, the kind Mickelson used to make.

The rest of the Big Five was lined up behind him, all within four shots going into the final round.

Mickelson finished at 7-under 281 and earned $1.26 million. The victory moved him up to No 2 in the world behind Woods.

This was the third straight year Mickelson has won a major — Woods is the only other player to have done that in the last 20 years. Only five others have won majors in three straight seasons since the Masters began in 1934. Clark holed a bunker shot from across the 18th green for birdie that left him alone in second with a 69.

Woods, who was trying to become the first player to twice defend his Masters title, could only blame his putter. He had two eagle putts inside 15 feet on the back nine and missed them both, and he had six three-putts this week. He holed a 25-foot birdie on the 18th hole that just about made him curse, although it gave him a 70 and a tie for third.

Joining Woods at 4-under 284 were Couples (71), Retief Goosen (69), Chad Campbell (71) and Jose Maria Olazabal, whose 66 was the best score all week on the super-sized course.

There was a five-way tie for the lead early in the final round - Mickelson, Couples, Campbell, Rocco Mediate and Miguel Angel Jimenez - all at 4 under before making the turn. But it didn’t last.

Mickelson took the outright lead with a long pitch to the par-5 eighth hole that checked up two feet behind the hole for birdie, and everyone else either stalled or spiraled, none worse than Mediate. He hit three balls into Rae’s Creek on the par-5 12th hole — two from in front of the green, one from the bunker behind it — and made 10.