It was the voice that was needed Sunday for perspective.

With a moment so immense as the one witnessed on the 72nd green, this seemed like the obvious voice to speak for Phil Mickelson (Stats | Bio) 's finest achievement.

Was this the best day of your entire life?

"Yeah, 'cuz you know what I did today?" Amanda Mickelson said in an exclusive interview on the putting green after her father was draped in a green jacket of validation.

"I painted Easter eggs."

Phil Mickelson (Stats | Bio) has always told us that winning a major championship was not the most important thing in the world. None of us ever believed him right up until the moment he drained an 18-foot birdie putt to win the 2004 Masters Tournament.

Then I spoke with the adorable 4-year-old who was born exactly one day after Mickelson's first great major championship heartbreak. Mickelson swore he would walk right off of Pinehurst No. 2 with the lead in the 1999 U.S. Open if he got a phone call that Amanda was en route to the world.

He didn't get the call. Instead he got beaten on the last hole by an 18-foot putt by Payne Stewart that stuck a dagger in Mickelson's competitive heart but couldn't kill his competitive spirit.

Stewart did a funny thing that day after winning. He grabbed Mickelson by both cheeks and spoke into his stunned face.

"You're going to love being a father," Stewart told him.

Phil flew home and became a father - eventually three times over. Nearly five years later, on a similarly gray Sunday afternoon at Augusta, it came full circle.

Mickelson played the back nine of his life, answering every echo at Augusta National with a 31 for the ages. He started the day with the lead and entered the heart of Amen Corner three shots behind. Then he stepped up and beat one of the world's elite golfers with the same length putt Stewart used to send him into major championship purgatory.

When Stewart died four months later in a plane crash, Mickelson said his loss at Pinehurst was meant to be, but he never questioned whether the golf gods owed him one.

After one of the most exhilarating major battles since that gray day at Pinehurst, Mickelson leapt in the air and dropped into a triumphant crouch that eerily resembled the pose Stewart made in 1999.

"I did it," Mickelson yelled. "I finally did it. I knew I could, but I finally did it."

Before he signed his scorecard and officially became a major winner, Mickelson embraced his wife, Amy, and three children. He picked up Amanda in her pale green Easter dress and spoke right into her smiling face.

"Can you believe Daddy won?" he asked her.

It was then that you realized Mickelson has been right all along. On a day perfect for painting Easter eggs, Phil Mickelson (Stats | Bio) painted a portrait of a man in full. He stopped forever the questions about whether he could ever win a major, and he did it with a certain dignity and class that has always endeared him to his legion of fans.

Did Mickelson think of that day in Pinehurst - that day before Amanda was born - when Stewart took his face in his hands?

"As I was holding my kids, I thought of it, too," Mickelson said. "We both made a putt about the same length on the last hole to win by one. He was very prophetic about my family. Yeah, I did think about that when I was holding Amanda."

Mickelson finally won a major, and he didn't rub it in the face of his critics. Shedding the label of greatest player never to win a major in favor of a 43 long green jacket simply felt awesome. It didn't occur to him that this day might not happen.

"I had never thought about it," he said before a long pause. "Nor do I have to."

When he accepted the green jacket and permanent enshrinement in Masters lore, Mickelson once again told a story about family and fate.

He spoke about his grandfather, Al Santos, and his collection of signed flags from every one of Mickelson's minor victories.

"He would kid me that he didn't want another regular tour win, he wanted a major," Mickelson said.

Santos died before Christmas at age 97. Before he passed, he told his grandson that this was going to be the year.

That's what Mickelson thought of when his winning putt hung for a second on the left lip and circled around to the bottom of the cup.

"I can't help but think that he had a little something to do with that," Mickelson said.

The way Sunday harked back to a Father's Day in Pinehurst and the birth of a reputation and a daughter, you can't help but think Payne Stewart might have given it a little nudge as well.

Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.