DONE ON NO. 1: Defending champion Phil Mickelson effectively took himself out of the running for the green jacket with a triple-bogey 7 at the par-4 first hole.

"Even after I made triple on No. 1 I felt like if I could get back to even by the turn, I had a chance," Mickelson said. "I didn't feel like I played that well, or certainly not like I wanted. I'll take a couple weeks off and get ready for the TPC and for the U.S. Open."

Happy toms: David Toms finished alone in ninth with a final-round 72. He bogeyed Nos. 11 and 12 to take away his chances of winning.

"I shot even-par on a Sunday at the Masters," he said. "So I'm pretty pleased."

BREAKTHROUGH: Jerry Kelly's final-round 70 gave him a tie for fifth, his first top-10 finish in a major.

"A long time coming. It has put me in a different league," he said.

IRON CHIN: Henrik Stenson, who finished tied for 17th at 9-over, said you just had to take the beating at Augusta National this week.

"It's like you're going through a boxing match and you get knocked down each round," he said. "Even if you're hitting some great shots, you get knocked down. You just have to keep getting back up."

Ignorance is bliss: Masters champion Zach Johnson's caddie, Damon Green, wouldn't let him look at the leaderboard for most of the day.

On the par-3 16th hole, Johnson asked Green where he stood. Green told him he was in the lead by two, but Tiger Woods had just eagled No. 13.

"When we got to the No. 18 tee, he asked if he could look at the leaderboard," Green said. "I said, 'Yeah, you can look at the leaderboard.'"

"I guess ignorance is bliss," Johnson said later.

red or green? According to the scoreboard at Amen Corner on Sunday, playing partners Woods and Stuart Appleby shot miracle numbers on No. 10.

The scoreboard operator accidentally posted a red 5 for Woods' score after No. 10, instead of a green 5, and a red 3 for Appleby instead of a green 3. The mistake, which indicated Woods played the par-4 in 10-under and Appleby in 6-under, was corrected in a matter of minutes.

cashing in chips: John Rollins recorded his best Masters finish in three showings - tied for 20th - with a chip-in at the par-4 18th.

From 20 yards out, he knocked in his third shot for birdie to finish with 71 and a 10-over-par total.

"I was just trying to skip it to the top and let it kill it," Rollins said. "I hit some chips down there in my practice rounds. I knew once the ball got up top it went a little bit to the right. So I was erring a little bit to the left. I was just fortunate it went in the hole."

SO LONG, SLUMAN: Jeff Sluman closed out what might be his final Masters round with a bogey on the final hole for 75 to finish at 17-over 305, but he was still smiling.

The 1988 PGA Championship winner will turn his attention to the Champions Tour when he turns 50 in September, limiting his chances of qualifying for the Masters.

Sluman has played in 17 Masters and is the only person to ace the par-3 fourth hole. He did that in 1992, when he had his best finish in Augusta, a tie for fourth.

"I thought about it a little bit during the round," Sluman said of the possibility of not being back at Augusta National. "Obviously, I was glad to play on the weekend. I told my caddie that, 'Let's really go out and enjoy the weekend no matter what happens,' and I did."

GOOD FINISH: An under-par final round was an encouraging sign for 1992 Masters champion Fred Couples, who opened with 76-76-78. He closed with a six-birdie, 1-under-par 71 to finish at 13-over 301. He still doesn't plan to play much more tournament golf this year because of his cranky back.

After Sunday's round, he said he'll probably tee it up in the Players Championship May 10-13, then wait until the 2008 season to come back to competitive golf. He plans to start a new program for his back this week.