Phil Mickelson walked from the putting green at 2:33 p.m. on a lovely Masters afternoon. Vijay Singh came three minutes later.

The yells were for Mickelson. The polite golf claps for Singh.

Consider those the ring entrances for a round set up by the mere happenstance of tournament play. The two Masters Tournament champions were paired heading into Sunday's final round in the second-to-the last group.

The pre-round hype? Spike-gate, a dust up between two of the world's best golfers over spike marks left by Mickelson on the Augusta National Golf Club greens.

Whispers about Friday's footsteps followed them around the course.

"Vijay shouldn't have," one voice said.

"Spikes," said another. "Who cares about spikes?"

"Shouldn't have said that in the champions' locker room," was the topic 10 yards down the ropes.

Consider it a rolling public opinion poll.

"Largest crowd of folks up against these ropes all day. By far," a uniformed security officer said. "Everybody came here wanting to see a little golf and a little something else."

Mickelson came in at 5-under par and finished with an uneventful 74 for 10th place. Singh made a late birdie to finish in a tie for fifth at 4-under.

After the round, Mickelson was the only one to address the spike controversy.

"We had a great time," Mickelson said. "We laughed. We giggled. We had a great time. It was a fun day."

Mickelson said the two chose not to joke about the situation and all the attention paid to it.

"There was nothing there," Mickelson said. "I don't know where you guys come up with this stuff. We had a great day."

The patrons following the group poked fun at the situation. When Mickelson teed off on No. 14, there was a "Keep it going, Spikes."

Singh began with two pars followed by three consecutive bogeys to fall to 1-under. He regrouped with a bogey-free jaunt the rest of the way and birdies on Nos. 6, 8 and 18.

Mickelson had double bogeys on Nos. 12 and 16 to prevent any back-nine charges this time.

With little drama between the ropes, the largest splashes of interest came from the stands after the players passed.

Mickelson's fans were loud and clear with familiar lines of "Go get him, Phil" and "Let's go, Phil." Singh's supporters were almost non-existent.

Singh took the round, but an even-par score was way below the game of the now former No. 1 player in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Tiger Woods assumed the top spot with his victory.

"I just couldn't get the feel of it," Singh said. "I couldn't get the pace. I tried everything."

Mickelson offered a final word on the spikes controversy.

"You know what, I answered all the things that had been said in my statement," he said as he walked away. "It's ridiculous to even bring it up."

Reach Jeff Sentell at (706) 823-3425 or jeff.sentell@augustachronicle.com.