April 13 (Bloomberg) -- A three-man playoff, blue skies and a birdie-filled duel between the game’s two top-ranked players helped bring the roars back to the Masters Tournament.

Angel Cabrera became the first golfer from Argentina to don the winner’s green jacket, while Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson traded shots in a battle over the closing nine holes that Augusta National Golf Club hadn’t seen since Woods won the last of his four titles in 2005.

“It was really fun,” Mickelson said after his round, which began with six birdies in eight holes and ended with a bogey. “To have a chance on the back nine, that’s what we always want as players.”

Mickelson, a two-time Masters winner, finished fifth at 9- under par, one shot ahead of Woods, who bogeyed his final two holes. Both began yesterday’s final round seven shots behind the leaders.

Before the tournament began on April 9, club Chairman Billy Payne asked media members to give the course a chance under ideal weather conditions before passing final judgment on the 450 yards (411.5 meters) that has been added to the layout since 2002. Patience would provide the payoff, he said.

Instead, it provided a playoff.

Cabrera, with the help of a fortuitous bounce off a pine tree on the first extra hole and Kenny Perry’s bogey one hole later, earned his second career major title two years after winning the U.S. Open. The victories are his lone U.S. PGA tour titles to go with 17 international wins. Chad Campbell was eliminated with a bogey on the first playoff hole.

Huge Crowds

As Cabrera and Perry plodded their way through the first nine holes in front of a sparse following yesterday in Augusta, Georgia, Woods and Mickelson garnered most of the attention as fans lined the fairways 20 rows deep in many spots. Those unable to catch a glimpse of the sport’s No. 1 and No. 2 ranked players gathered around the course’s large green-and-white scoreboards, waiting for results to be posted. With each birdie made by Woods or Mickelson, pine-tree shaking roars would ring out.

The atmosphere was the antithesis of two years ago, when Zach Johnson won with a 1-over par total score, marking only the third time the tournament’s winner finished above par. The high scores that year brought criticism from players and media that the course had been stretched too long, silencing the roars that typically accompanied the tournament’s final afternoon.

Rather than make dramatic changes, the club simply blamed the bad weather and predicted this year’s birdie barrage. Still, the criticism hurt, Payne said in his annual pre-tournament press conference.

Taking It Personally

Thirteen years ago, when Payne was charged with bringing the Centennial Olympic Games to Atlanta, he often said those who were critical of the city’s Olympic organizing committee might as well have said his own daughter was “ugly.” Although his analogy has aged, Payne’s message is the same.

“It’s like when you go to a piano recital of one of your granddaughters and you hear somebody say, ‘Boy, that’s the worst kid I’ve ever seen,’” Payne said of the tournament’s recent critics. “It hurts your feelings.”

As much as Payne praised Cabrera’s victory, it was Woods and Mickelson who brought the roars back to Augusta’s fairways.

Their play was reminiscent of a final-round battle between Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus during the 1977 British Open, a match dubbed the “Duel in the Sun.” Unlike when Watson turned to Nicklaus on the 16th tee that day and said, “This is what it’s all about”, there was little interaction between Woods and Mickelson, who have had a frosty relationship.

No Interaction

“I don’t think we were really paying much attention to what the other was doing,” said Mickelson, who made birdies on six of his first eight holes yesterday.

Woods, playing in his fourth tournament since undergoing reconstructive knee surgery in June, had an uncharacteristically inconsistent final day. It began on the driving range, where the 33-year-old said he hit hook shots to the left and blocked shots off to the right.

“You name it, I hit it all,” he said.

His struggles didn’t end when he reached the course. Woods’s opening tee shot came to rest on the eighth fairway, about 60 yards left of his intended target.

“It was one of the worst tee shots I’ve ever hit,” he said. “I fought my swing all day and almost won the tournament with a Band-Aid swing.”

As much as Woods faltered, it was Mickelson who might have made the biggest mistake of the day. Sitting just one shot off the lead at the 12th tee, the left-hander hooked a 9-iron, sending his ball into Rae’s Creek for a double bogey.

‘Terrible Swing’

“That was really a terrible swing,” he said. “To miss it that far right of where I was aimed, it was costly.”

He then missed a 4-foot eagle putt on the 15th hole that would have tied him for the lead at 11-under. One hole later, Woods sank a short birdie putt to pull within one shot of the lead. When he then yanked his tee shot down the left side of the 17th hole, he was left without a clear shot at the putting surface, ending his charge.

“I was pretty much dead from there,” said Woods, who posted his 10th top-10 finish in 15 Masters appearances.

About two hours after Woods and Mickelson departed, Cabrera was left as the last man standing from the first three-man playoff since 1987. Wearing the winner’s green jacket and a wide smile, the 39-year-old former caddie had nothing but praise for the tournament.

“It’s a course that you can make a lot of birdies, a lot of bogeys,” Cabrera said through an interpreter. “A lot of magical things happen. It’s simply the Masters.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Buteau in Augusta, Georgia at mbuteau@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 13, 2009 00:01 EDT