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Phil Mickelson played a bogey-free round in Sunday’s final round at the Masters to claim his third green jacket and fourth major championship.

Lee Westwood led by one to start the day and remained in contention throughout the day, but wasn’t able to make the key shots and shot a final round 71 to finish three back of Mickelson’s winning 16-under-par total.

Anthony Kim made a run with a final round 65 to finish third, while Tiger Woods and K.J. Choi, who played all four rounds together, finished tied for fourth at 11-under-par.

Mickelson struggled with his driver and was off the fairway on numerous holes, but his ability to recover kept his game steady and allowed him to respond with four birdies on the back.

He birdied 18 for emphasis in the first victory of his 2010 campaign.

A pair of Englishmen led the Masters at the halfway point.

And now there is one.

Lee Westwood lowered his score by another four strokes by shooting a 68 on Saturday to take a one-shot lead while Ian Poulter went the other direction. Poulter’s third-round 74 dropped him six back.

It was Phil Mickelson, who made the greatest strides on moving day, firing a 67 to get to 11 under par for the championship. He’ll be gunning for his third green jacket. Westwood has yet to win a major championship in his career.

Sitting four back are Tiger Woods and K.J. Choi, who have played together through the first three rounds of the Masters and will be together again in Sunday’s final round. Fred Couples recovered nicely from his 75 on Friday to shoot 68 in the third round and improve to seven-under par.

Ricky Barnes and Hunter Mahan are tied with Poulter at six-under par through 54 holes.

Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter share the lead at the 2010 Masters, but sitting just two back is Tiger Woods.

A five-month layoff has done little to slow down the world’s No. 1 player as Woods followed a 68 on Thursday with a 70 in Friday’s second round. He’s joined by two-time winner Phil Mickelson, K.J Choi, Ricky Barnes and Anthony Kim at six-under par.

Sitting at five-under par is Y.E Yang.

Fred Couples, who led after the first round, got it going early but struggled late and closed with a 75 on Friday and is three-under for the championship. Tied with Couples is Watson, who had an up-and-down day for a 74.

GolfLink will live blog during Saturday’s third round and through the final round on Sunday.

The first round of the 2010 Masters is in the books and it was turn-the-clock-back day.

Fred Couples seized the first-round lead with a six-under par 66. The 50-year-old has three victories on the Champions Tour this season and looked as comfortable as his easy loafer shoes. Couples notched his lone majors title at the Masters in 1992.

A stroke back is a group of five players led by 60-year-old Tom Watson, who birdied the first hole and did not have a bogey. Two-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson got it going and is joined by K.J. Choi, Lee Westwood and Y.E. Yang at five-under.

Follow a replay of the live blog.

The golf world will bend its collective ear to Thursday, when the game’s best players tee it up at the Masters.

Yani Tseng prevailed at the Kraft Nabisco in Rancho Mirage, Calif. to claim victory for the first major tournament of the year on the LPGA Tour and the men will be getting their shot at Augusta National where the annual march to the elusive Grand Slam begins April 8 and runs through Sunday April 11.

GolfLink is providing you with the unique opportunity to be a part of the proceedings and take part from the first tee shots to the final putts and chime in for Tiger Woods’ first tournament of the 2010 season.

It is the 74th staging of the Masters, an invitational that sprung from the minds of the legendary Bobby Jones and his friend and partner Clifford Roberts.

Angel Cabrera is looking to defend his crown, something that has been done only three times in the history of a tournament that began in 1934.

No. 12 at Augusta National. Photo by reedone http://www.flickr.com/photos/reed/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Jack Nicklaus was the first to accomplish the feat when he secured back-to-back green jackets in 1965-66. Nick Faldo matched it by winning consecutively in 1989 and again in 1990. Woods captured his second and third Masters titles in 2001-02.

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Tiger Woods addressed the media on Monday in his first full-scale press conference in nearly five months.

Seated at a dais with Craig Heatley, chairman of the Masters media committee, Woods took questions for about 35 minutes that ranged from golf to his Nov. 27 car accident to his relationship with Dr. Anthony Galea and to his personal life.

Basically, he had one message that was carried live on PGATour.com and other media outlets.

“A lot has happened in my life in the last five months,” Woods said in front of the assembly of international journalists who gathered at Augusta National. “I’m here at the Masters to play and compete and I’m really excited about doing that.”

Tiger Woods in 2007. Photo by Keith Allison

Woods had given a public statement Feb. 19 and also granted brief, one-on-one interviews to both GolfChannel and ESPN. But the world’s No. 1 player had not fielded questions in an open setting since before the traffic accident that occurred outside his home in the gated Florida community of Isleworth in the early morning hours after last Thanksgiving.

His personal life then blew apart in the tabloids following a series of alleged extramarital affairs. Woods later entered a 45-day in-patient therapy program of an undisclosed nature, saying Monday: “That’s personal. Thank you.”

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If it’s April, that must mean it’s majors season.

In successive weeks, major tournaments will dominate the golf calendar as the women tee it up in Rancho Mirage, Calif. at the Kraft Nabisco and the men will head to Augusta National for the annual tilt at The Masters.

The best part is you can weigh in on the proceedings.

The 13th green at Augusta National

It will be the 74th staging of the Masters, an invitational that sprung from the minds of the legendary Bobby Jones and his friend and partner Clifford Roberts. Angel Cabrera will defend his crown while Ernie Els arrives on the heels of two straight PGA Tour victories. Perhaps no golfer is hotter than Fred Couples, who has captured three of the four regular-field Champions Tour events he has played to start his rookie campaign.

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CARLSBAD, Calif. — The education of Michelle Wie continued on Sunday while a young star burst on the scene.

Hee Kyung Seo lapped the field in the inaugural LPGA Kia Classic, shooting a final round 70 at La Costa Resort and Spa for a six-stroke victory to make the most of her sponsor’s exemption.

Inbee Park also made some noise with a course record 65 to finish second, but it was the young American would-be star who injected a bit of controversy into a tournament that otherwise was a foregone conclusion.

Jee Young Lee, Jiyai Shin and Candie Kung all tied for third.

Wie was assessed a two-stroke penalty for soling her club in the water hazard at the par-5 11th. LPGA Rules official Doug Brecht, after consulting with two other officials and reviewing video, determined Wie voluntarily soled the club and was not using the club for balance.

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Fred Couples continues to make the Champions Tour his personal playground.

With a course record 62 on Sunday, Couples breezed past Corey Pavin to win the Cap Cana Championship at Punta Espada Golf Club in the Dominican Republic.

It was his third straight victory to begin his rookie campaign on the seniors circuit in just four regular field events, the first player to accomplish the feat. Couples birdied five of his first six holes and then birdied six of seven holes on the back.

“It was an unbelievable day,” Couples told the Associated Press. “The first six or seven holes, there was an eagle, birdies and putts going in from everywhere.”

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CARLSBAD, Calif. — It’s good to have goals and Hee Kyung Seo has something in mind.

“I like the house on the course,” Seo said of one particular dwelling located on a hill overlooking La Costa Resort and Spa. “If I make a lot of money, I’m going to buy it.”

If she continues to play to her skills, Seo will be able to afford plenty of homes.

Making the most of her sponsor’s exemption, Seo steadily marched through her afternoon round of the LPGA Kia Classic and was not undone by the wind that picked up when she teed off in the afternoon.

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