AUGUSTA, Ga. -- After nearly winning the 73rd Masters with a charge that hasn't been seen in the Georgia pines since 1986, Phil Mickelson should write a book how he energized the crowd and brought the electricity back to the Augusta National Golf Club. The title should be, "One Magical Sunday."

Problem is, that title is already taken.

That was the name of Mickelson's book when he won the Masters -- his first major championship -- in 2004, a victory in which he birdied five of the final seven holes to beat Ernie Els. But even that performance almost failed to stack up to what he did yesterday in the final round on Easter Sunday, stunning the field with a front-nine birdie assault and creating a maddening frenzy that hasn't been heard, or even felt, since Jack Nicklaus' stirring victory in 1986.

And he did it while playing in the same twosome with Tiger Woods, a pairing that produced a gallery that could have filled PNC Park and left the rest of the field, even the 54-hole leaders, playing in relative obscurity behind them.

For 16 holes, they exchanged 14 birdies, an eagle and enough shots to shake the hills and valleys at Augusta National, producing a final-round showdown that may never be equaled again, not at the Masters, not at any major championship.

Mickelson tied a course record with a 30 on the front nine. Woods didn't make a bogey for 16 holes and finally caught Mickelson with three birdies in a four-hole stretch on the back nine. It was pistols at 20 paces, and nobody was firing blanks.

They just didn't bring back the roars to Augusta National. They had them imported by the truckload.

"That's the most fun I've ever had on a golf course," said Jim "Bones" MacKay, Mickelson's long-time caddie. "My ears will still be ringing tomorrow."

It didn't deserve to end the way it did, with bogeys by Mickelson and Woods on the final hole. The only more painful bogey was the one made by Kenny Perry at No. 18, costing him his first major championship

But when it did, it capped one of the most remarkable days in the history of the Masters, a final-round masterpiece that could almost rival Nicklaus' stirring victory in 1986 for thrills, chills and decibel levels.

"It was a very emotional day because it was up and down, up and down, a lot of highs and lows," Mickelson said. "The crowd, it made the highs even higher, and the moans made the lows even lower. It was just an emotional day."

Woods and Mickelson were paired together for the 24th time and the ninth time in a major championship, but they hadn't been together in the final round at Augusta National since 2001. And the pairing of the top two players in the world -- six green jackets between them -- had a large crowd gathering near the first tee even 30 minutes before their scheduled 1:35 p.m. tee time.

Once Mickelson began making birdies -- six of the next seven after a par at No. 1 -- the crowd grew, along with the decibel level. When he carved an approach under and around a tree from the pine straw to 12 inches for birdie at No. 7, the gallery began running -- an Augusta National no-no -- to the next tee, wanting to see the game's two titans attack the par-5 eighth.

They didn't disappoint. Mickelson bombed his tee shot over the fairway bunker, 15 yards beyond Woods, and made birdie, his sixth. But it was Woods who would steal the thunder, making a 25-foot eagle putt to get to four behind the leaders. When they left the green, the crowd stood and applauded wildly, as though they were watching Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in the Thrilla in Manila.

And yet, even that couldn't compare to what happened at the par-5 15th, when Woods hit his approach to 15 feet from 197 yards and Mickelson followed by hitting his to 4 feet from 187 yards. Neither made the eagle putt -- Mickelson badly pushed his attempt -- but the respective birdies moved Mickelson a shot behind Perry and Woods only two shots from the lead.

When Woods birdied the par-3 16th from 5 feet, he and Mickelson were tied at 10 under, a shot from the lead with two to play.

But the magic couldn't be sustained. Woods bogeyed the final two holes, each when his tee shot landed behind some trees. Mickelson, perhaps deflated by a missed 5-foot birdie at No. 17, also bogeyed the 18th, putting a blemish on their duel.

Still, as they walked from the green, the massive crowd that ringed the final hole stood and applauded, thanking the combatants for what they had just witnessed.

"I enjoyed the opportunity to play with Tiger, I enjoyed the chance to try to win a golf tournament and I love the fact that I shot 30 to give myself an opportunity to win," Mickelson said.