New York Post

MASTERS NOTES

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But that was as close as Mickelson would get as Spieth moved to 19under with his own birdie at the 15th before settling for bogey at the 18th. Mickelson finished with a 3underpar 69 to finish tied for second with Justin Rose at 14under.

“Iwould have taken 14 under at the start of the week and would have thought thatwould have won,” Mickelson said. “I just got outplayed.”

Still, itwas Mickelson’s best showing of the year. And easily his best performanc­e in a major since winning the 2013 British Open. The threetime Masters champion had only one top10 finish last year and none this season before the Masters. Of his seven previous events thisyear, he had missed the cut twice with his best showing being a T17 most recently at the Shell Houston Open.

Charley Hoffman, playing in his second Masters, was a factor all week, yet he ended up being a completely forgotten figure. Hoffman followed his 6768 start with 7174 on the weekend to fade from contention.

But Hoffman did not leave Augusta emptyhande­d. His tie for ninth earned him an invite into next year’s Masters. The top12 finishers and ties are exempt for next year.

“It’s nice to get a trip back here, but the position I was in I would have liked to have made a little better run at Jordan [ Spieth],’’ Hoffman said.

Among the other players in the top 12 to get to come back included Paul Casey, Hideki Matsuyama, Ian Poulter, Hunter Mahan, Kevin Streelman, Bill Haas, Kevin Na and Ryan Moore.

Spieth’s win made it 21 of the last 25 Masters winners coming from one of the final two pairings on Sunday.

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