Sunday in Augusta

For a few hours on Masters Sunday, the excitement was back. Righty and lefty. Red and black. #1 and #2.

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

Shaking hands at the first tee. Both at 4-under par and seven strokes off the lead.

It was a supercharged duel that was pure theater.

The galleries were immense. The roar was back at Augusta. For those who feared Augusta National had become too tough, too dull and far too quiet, the roars returned in a big way.

Mickelson and Woods played together in a final round of a major for the first time in eight years, and they proved to be the best undercard in golf.

Mickelson tied a Masters record with a 30 on the front nine to get into contention. Woods chased him around Amen Corner, then caught him with three birdies in a four-hole stretch that captured the imagination of thousands of fans who stood a dozen deep in spots for a view.

But it ended with a thud.

Mickelson lost his momentum with a 9-iron into Rae's Creek on the par-3 12th, and when he missed a 4-foot eagle putt and a 5-foot birdie putt down the stretch. He had to settle for a 67 that left him three shots behind.

Woods bogeyed the last two holes for a 68 to finish another shot back.

The final hour was almost enough to make a dizzy gallery forget about the Woods-Mickelson fireworks hours earlier.

And the most magical thing of all happened just as the sun began to set.

Perry, a 48-year-old on the verge of becoming golf's oldest champion, had gone 22 consecutive holes without a bogey until he dropped shots on each of the last two holes for a 71 to force a three-man playoff that included Chad Campbell and Angel Cabrera.

Campbell was eliminated on the first extra hole when he found a bunker from the middle of the 18th fairway, then watched his 6-foot par putt lip out of the hole.

When luck turned against Perry on the second extra hole -- a splotch of mud on his ball in the fairway that led to a bogey -- Cabrera made a routine par to become the first Argentine in a green jacket.

At No. 69 in the world, he became the lowest-ranked player to win the Masters since the world ranking began in 1986.

Two years after winning the U.S. Open at Oakmont, Cabrera became the sixth player this decade to win multiple majors.

And he finally gave Argentines some happy memories of the Masters.

It was 41 years ago when Roberto de Vicenzo made one of golf's most famous gaffes, signing for the wrong score that denied him a spot in a Masters playoff.

When Cabrera returned home as the U.S. Open champion two years ago, de Vicenzo gave him a special gift.

"He gave me a frame where he has in his hand a green jacket, and he says, 'I hope this gives you luck, so someday you can bring back a green jacket for yourself,'" Cabrera said.