Phil Mickelson was unhappy when he walked off the 18th green on Sunday morning after completing his rain-delayed third round in the Masters.

As Mickelson was at the top of his backswing on the 18th tee, a photographer had snapped off several frames, and Mickelson went on to bogey the hole. Though he held a one-shot lead after 54 holes, Mickelson angrily complained, “A photographer should not affect the outcome of an event.”

It turns out the careless clicker never did.

Eight hours later in fading evening light, countless cameras were aiming at Mickelson as he walked up the 72nd hole, nodding appreciatively and beaming to the delight of the crowd.

Shrugging off the earlier incident, he played a nearly flawless final round on a sun-splashed April afternoon at Augusta National, making only one meaningless bogey at the 72nd hole and taking control of the 70th Masters with birdies on both par 5s on the back nine.

In the end, his closest pursuers ? most notably playing partner Fred Couples and defending champion Tiger Woods two groups ahead ? botched too many short putts to remain in contention.

Mickelson, carrying two drivers in his bag, opened a four-shot lead with four holes to play and become the first player since 1988 to win the Masters the week after he had also won a regular PGA Tour event.

Seven days after his 13-shot triumph at the BellSouth Classic in Atlanta, Mickelson’s second straight Major championship victory and third overall was not quite so easy. But his two-shot victory over South African Tim Clark was never particularly close down the stretch, and his victory this week will long be remembered for his ability to hold off some of the world’s finest players when it mattered most.

“The stress-free walk up 18 was incredible,” said Mickelson, who once had an 0-42 record as a professional in Major championships until he won here in 2004, and has now won three of the past nine.

On a day when he had to play 31 holes beginning at 7:45 a.m., the 35-year-old San Diego native posted a final-round 69 to go with his completed third-round 70 for a 7-under-par total of 281.

Clark, who holed out from a greenside bunker for birdie at the 18th, also came in with a 69 and ended with 5-under 283 for his best finish in a Major championship.

Woods (70) and Couples (71) were in a five-way tie for third with 36-hole leader Chad Campbell (71), Retief Goosen (69) and Jose Maria Olazabal (69) at 4-under 284.

Woods seemed beside himself after a week when he said, “I felt so in control of my ball, the best I’d hit it in years. But I’m probably going to snap this putter in about eight pieces... I putted atrociously.

“ As good as I hit it was as bad as I putted. It’s frustrating. Even this morning (completing the third round) I didn’t putt well. It’s the most three-putts I’ve ever had here (six). ”

Couples, paired with Mickelson in the final group, felt the same way.

The 1992 Masters champion and one of Mickelson’s good friends was only two shots behind Mickelson when they came to the 440-yard 14th hole. Couples put his second shot to within four feet of the cup, and Mickelson left himself a 25-footer for birdie.

But Couples drilled his birdie attempt five feet past the hole, then missed the par putt coming back for a three-putt bogey that allowed Mickelson, with a two-putt par, to open a three-shot advantage he never relinquished.