ATLANTA (Georgia), April 5: Phil Mickelson holed a birdie putt on the fourth playoff hole to win a five-man sudden-death playoff, giving the reigning Masters champion his 26th career victory on the PGA Tour at the BellSouth Classic.

“I was very fortunate to dodge a few bullets and ultimately win,” said Mickelson, who captured his third title of 2005. “There were six or 10 people that could have and should have won this tournament.”

The lefthanded American beat India’s Arjun Atwal, Spain’s Jose Maria Olazabal and Americans’ Rich Breem and Brandt Jobe in a roller-coaster playoff.

Mickelson had seven birdies in shooting a final round of three-under 69 on Monday.

Mickelson won’t have much time before the end of this tournament and the start of this week’s Masters.

Final round scores:

208 - Phil Mickelson 74-65-69, Arjun Atwal 77-67-64, Jose Maria Olazabal 70-69-69, Brandt Jobe 72-69-67, Rich Beem 70-70-68

209 - Frank Lickliter 71-70-68, Scott Dunlap 72-68-69, Arron Oberholser 72-68-69, Tag Ridings 72-68-69

210 - Charles Warren 75-69-66, Dennis Paulson 75-68-67, Hunter Haas 75-68-67, Jay Williamson 72-71-67, Lucas Glover 74-67-69

211 - Justin Bolli 74-70-67, Dean Wilson 72-70-69, Bob Tway 71-70-70, Ryuji Imada 70-71-70, Brian Bateman 72-68-71, Billy Mayfair 68-71-72, Joey Snyder 71-69-71

212 - Retief Goosen 72-69-71

213 - Stephen Leaney 72-72-69, Michael Long 73-68-72

214 - Alex Cejka 72-71-71, Steve Elkington 73-70-71

215 - Glen Hnatiuk 73-72-70

216 - Robert Allenby 74-72-70, Gavin Coles 73-71-72, Peter Lonard 74-69-73

217 - David Hearn 70-73-74, Brendan Jones 73-72-72

218 - Carl Pettersson 75-70-73

219 - Hideto Tanihara 69-75-75

220 - Mathias Gronberg 74-72-74

222 - Aaron Baddeley 72-74-76.—AFP