Mickelson, long saddled with the title "best player never to win a major," threw off that mantle with a sizzling 31 over the back nine at Augusta National, including a birdie on the final hole of the tournament to beat Ernie Els by one stroke.
What does this mean for Mickelson? What does it mean for golf?
His Masters championship means that Phil Mickelson is now guaranteed a place in the World Golf Hall of Fame. The win was the 23rd of Mickelson's career; with perhaps 10-12 good years left in his career, it seems reasonable to think Mickelson will finish his with at least 30 victories (only 7 to go). Thirty-five doesn't appear an outlandish number to reach; 40 is unlikely but not impossible.
If Mickelson hits 35 wins, he'd rank 13th all-time. As it stands, with 23 victories Mickelson moves ahead of Raymond Floyd on the all-time list, just one win behind Gary Player and just two behind Johnny Miller and Tommy Armour.
Perhaps more importantly, at least to Mickelson, finally breaking through for that first major - silencing the critics who said Mickelson couldn't stand up to the pressure - could bring Mickelson several more majors.
And winning in the fashion he did should make it easier next time around. A runaway victory would surely have been a boost to his confidence. Chasing down, catching and then beating Ernie Els under the tremendous pressure of a Sunday at the Masters, on a golf course as difficult as Augusta ... well, there's no measuring what that might do for Mickelson's makeup.
The changes he's made to his game this year - playing more conservatively, picking his spots to go for the heroic shot, managing his game and the course better - have paid off royally. That should convince Mickelson to keep doing what he's doing.
It's probably no coincidence that Mickelson finally won a major once he adoped the Jack Nicklaus-Tiger Woods approach to majors: Put yourself in position to win, avoid mistakes, wait for others to falter, pick your spots to go for it.
And what does Phil Mickelson's first major mean for golf? It means that Mickelson becomes and even bigger star, a star whose popularity could reach levels only seen by Tiger Woods among current players.
It means that Mickelson might finally be the man to emerge as a true challenger to Woods for supremacy on Tour. A Woods-Mickelson rivalry that is even, rather than on dominated by Tiger, would be a huge boost to the game.
And a heck of a lot of fun.
