It isn’t often that the two undisputed best players in the world go head to head and produce their best golf in a pairing on a Sunday at Augusta National. Today, with the group of evenly matched youngsters that we’re lucky to have, choosing two players that are head and shoulders above the rest in terms of skill level and star power isn’t possible. But in 2009 there was no debate to be had, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were the faces of golf.

So when the two foes were paired together on Sunday afternoon in 2009, it generated plenty of excitement. The only issue was that both men were too far back from the leaders, Angel Cabrera and Kenny Perry. The pair were seven shots off the pace, but what was expected to be a nice appetizer to enjoy before the leaders got underway, turned into one of the most exciting rounds of golf that Augusta National had ever seen.

The world number one at the time, Woods came to Augusta off the back of his first win since knee surgery at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which provoked the bookmakers to install him as the heavy favourite to claim a fifth green jacket. Mickelson, on the other hand, was in even greater form, having won twice in his previous four events and sat second in the world golf rankings.

Despite being seven shots adrift, Woods and Mickelson took the swarm of patrons, usually reserved for the leaders, around Augusta on Sunday afternoon, and treated them to the likes of which many had never seen before.

The two rivals frostily shook hands on the first tee, and then Woods, who would later say that his pre-round warmup was “one of the worst warmups I’ve ever had,” stood over his opening tee shot and viciously snap-hooked the ball. In typical Woods fashion, he saved par.

Both men birdied the par-5 second, and then Mickelson drew first blood. Lefty birdied the third and then the fifth, which was followed by a fist pump usually showcased by his fierce rival. When Mickelson then stuck his shot on five to within six feet and made the putt, he was within three of the lead, and three strokes better than Woods. For Mickelson at least, the personal duel was growing into something far more significant.

The world number two’s blistering start looked to be in trouble on seven when a pulled tee shot found the right rough and he was faced with an approach shot to an elevated green with only a fraction of the putting surface visible due to tree trouble. Inspired, Mickelson hit an incredible shot that landed a foot from the hole. He was five-under for his round, and two back, leaving Woods in his dust.

Seven back of the lead, and getting outperformed by his biggest rival, Woods needed some magic, and on the eight hole, he delivered. Woods buried a lengthy eagle putt and with it unleashed his trademark fist pump which the patrons had long been awaiting. While Tiger was back in touch, Mickelson showed no signs of slowing down and made birdie on the same hole.

Woods had gone out in 33, while Mickelson had posted a front nine score of 30. The noise the two had generated on the front nine had forced the leading groups to back off several shots during their round. Mickelson was one back, Woods four back. Entering the back-nine, with the two best golfers in the world producing their best golf at the most pressurized moment of the year, it went from a pipe dream that one or both would catch the leaders, to looking probable.

What wasn’t in the script, was the twist in the tale about to occur on the par-3 12th. Woods, after plenty of deliberation, pulled eight iron, and hit his shot to 25-feet below the hole. Mickelson took his nine iron, looking to draw the ball into the tease of a hole location on the right hand side of the green. “Dangerous shot” announced on-air announcer Nick Faldo. He proved to be right. Mickelson hooked the ball into Rae’s Creek and made double bogey.

Woods, who two-putted for par on the hole, was now just four off the lead, and one behind his playing partner, as both men made birdie on the par-5 13th to get that little bit closer to the top of the board.

It didn’t take long for Mickelson’s next opportunity to come, hitting the ball so well tee-to-green, Lefty had inside 15-feet on the 14th hole to get to within one stroke of the lead. He stroked his putt which tracked beautifully the entire way, and began to raise his putter in celebration before a cruel lip-out led to an audible cry of “Oh come on” from the world number two.

Had the golfing gods deserted Mickelson at just the wrong moment? Regardless, Mickelson was in defiant mood. After watching Woods knock his second on the par-5 15th to inside 20-feet, Lefty not for the first time that afternoon one-upped the best player in the world. Mickelson hit a cut from 197 yards that settled inside five feet from the hole. Quite rightly, both men received a raucous reception from the patrons as they strode onto the 15th green.

Woods took his time, studied every angle, and struck a pure putt which just wouldn’t break left and burned the edge. Mickelson was four feet away from a two-shot buffer over Woods, and more importantly, a share of the Masters lead.

“You’ve almost got to give Mickelson that putt” announced Nick Faldo, whose on-air colleague, David Feherty concurred. The expected roars turned to disbelief, however, as Mickelson’s putt scarcely threatened the hole, leading to a severely deflating birdie.

Standing on the 16th tee, Woods and Mickelson stood two strokes and one stroke, respectively, off of solo-leader Kenny Perry. As was often the case with Woods at the time, the leaders were coming back to him, even without Woods producing anything spectacular since the eight hole of his day. What Tiger needed now was a special moment, and with 7-iron in hand, the 14-time major champion delivered, drawing the ball to within six feet of the hole, leaving him a devilish putt.

Mickelson cut his 8-iron to within 20-feet of the hole, and for the second successive hole, he had a putt to tie the lead at the Masters. For the second consecutive hole, however, Lefty couldn’t convert, leaving the stage to Woods.

Standing over the left to right putt, there wasn’t a sound to be heard. Woods took the putter back and buried the birdie attempt center cut. He was one back, and the patrons let him know it, with a roar reserved for the world number one.

Though those who didn’t watch the 2009 Masters live, and who look at the final leaderboard in hindsight, it would be easy to overlook just how great Woods and Mickelson’s chances of Masters glory at that moment were. Kenny Perry was the only player in front of the two best players in the world, and he was a man who had never posted a top-10 previously at Augusta, let alone tasted victory at a major before.

As someone who takes great stock in these things, I vividly remember ten years on that Woods, while he walked from the 16th green to the 17th tee box, was the betting favorite.

That was as good as it got for the two men that day, as Woods closed with back-to-back bogeys, while Mickelson posted a bogey on the final hole to end his chances. As the two men shook hands, both quite clearly disappointed and exhausted from their monumental efforts, both Jim Nantz and Nick Faldo described the two men’s battle that Sunday afternoon as like “two prizefighters who have both fallen down on the same punch in the 15th round.”

While Woods and Mickelson left the arena, the leaders, Kenny Perry, Angel Cabrera, and Chad Campbell played as if a giant weight had been lifted from them, and the three men who had struggled all day began to perform to their capabilities with Woods and Mickelson now both out of contention.

Angel Cabrera won the 2009 Masters, and deservedly so. In a three-way playoff, the Argentine kept himself alive despite his ball firstly resting behind a tree and then striking another tree on his subsequent shot. Cabrera made the clutch putts, just like he did at the 2007 US Open, to claim the green jacket.

Magical sporting drama, like Woods and Mickelson served up that Sunday in 2009, stays with you for a very long time. Those who were lucky enough to have witnessed the heavyweight bout between the two best players in the game at the time on the biggest stage of all will know just how enthralling that afternoon was. Though neither Woods nor Mickelson finished atop the leaderboard on Sunday evening, which would arguably have eclipsed anything seen previously at the Masters, on Sunday, April 12, 2009, the two golfing gladiators showcased to all, the type of magic that Augusta National can inspire.