Phil Mickelson’s win in the 74th Masters saw one of the most poignant moments in the history of the tournament, as he hugged cancer-stricken wife Amy moments after his triumph.

She had arrived at Augusta on Tuesday, but due to the treatment she is undergoing, had been unable to get to the course before Sunday’s dramatic finale.

Wearing dark sunglasses and holding on to daughters Amanda and Sophia, Amy clapped in delight as her husband holed out for a birdie at the 18th hole and a three-stroke victory.

Minutes later he took her in his arms and, in a world of their own, they celebrated the moment.

“I don’t normally shed tears over wins, and when Amy and I hugged off 18, that was a very emotional moment for us and something that I’ll look back on and just cherish,” he said.

“I mean, I’ll cherish every moment of this week. This has been a very special week.”

There was another, less serious, family drama for the Mickelsons on Saturday when daughter Amanda sustained a hairline fracture of the wrist while roller-skating.

“Fortunately one of the doctors here was nice enough to open the X-ray machine late at night around 10 o’clock and read the X-ray and get a splint for her,” he said.

“After that I stayed up until one o’clock watching movies.”

It has been almost a year since Amy has been battling breast cancer and in that time Mickelson has alternated between playing golf and taking time off to be with her and his mother, who was diagnosed with the same condition.

His form understandably has suffered and, coming into the Masters, he had failed to win a single tournament this year.

Second home

But Augusta National, where he won in 2004 and 2006, brings out the best in Mickelson, as it is a course where he can get away with his occasionally wayward driving and call on his superb short game skills.

“One of the things I’ve been saying this week is that I am very relaxed here at Augusta National because you don’t have to be perfect,” he said.

“I’ve hit a lot of great shots and driven the ball very well, but I’ve made some bad swings on 9, 10 and 11 and I was able to salvage par.

“I was able to get the ball, advance it far enough down by the green where my short game could take over and salvage par.

“That’s why I feel so comfortable here and I’m relaxed when I drive down Magnolia Lane because I know that I don’t have to play perfect golf.”

Typical of that was the situation he found himself in at the par-five 13th hole were he overhit his three-wood into trees right of the fairway and found the ball nestled on a blanket of pine needles.

Most golfers would have been content just to shunt the ball out back onto the fairway, but not so Mickelson, who risked hitting a six-iron through a narrow gap in the trees and was rewarded when it landed six feet from the pin.

“I had a good lie in the pine needles,” Mickelson said.

“I was going to have to go through that gap if I laid up or went for the green. I was going to have to hit a decent shot.

“The gap was a little bit wider – it wasn’t huge, but it was big enough for a ball to fit through.

“I just felt like at that time, I needed to trust my swing and hit a shot, and it came off perfect.”

It was typical of Mickelson’s play on a day that started for him with a booming drive down the first fairway and ended in a tearful embrace from his wife behind the 18th green.