It's standing room only on the bridge between the 17th green and the 18th tee box — breathing room not included. The good news is this bridge's designed to hold cars.

Otherwise, it could never hold up under the strain of Phil's masses. For several minutes on Sunday afternoon, no one on the bridge can move forward more an inch. It is a major's worthy bottleneck, right here at the Shell Houston Open.

Not that the Masters will ever let this many people on Augusta National. Not in a million green jackets.

This is a Houston thing, a people's thing, making it the perfect thing for Phil Mickelson. More than 100,000 people trekked out to Humble to watch golf this week, and it seems like they are all there on a cloudy Sunday. In fact, this week's attendance sets a record for the Houston Open since it moved to the tournament course at Redstone Golf Club (tournament officials just won't be sure exactly how high the record is until the results of a car count are tallied up early this week).

"It's the best one ever," longtime Houston Open goer Eric Leighton says, before getting engulfed in the mass at Redstone.

It'd be easy to chalk this up to a Final Four overflow. Easy and largely wrong. For on the course, it's clear this is a Phil phenomenon. There are a few Final Four T-shirts here and there, but the Phil love is everywhere.

Put Phil Mickelson in the Sunday lead of a tournament anywhere near Houston and the place will be overrun.

"Do you think this bridge's ever had this many people on it?" someone calls out amongst the unmoving mass.

Mickelson thrives on this, throws up a 63-65 on the weekend and runs away from his dazed frequent-lunch-buddy and on this day, birdie witness, Scott Verplank. It's career PGA Tour victory No. 39 for Mickelson and it's much more emotional than most.

This is in the Houston area after all, where Mickelson's wife Amy and his mother Mary were both treated for breast cancer at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, an ordeal that hovered over almost everything he did in 2009 and 2010. This is 2011 though and a lot of the stress is gone.

"Both Amy and my mom are doing so much better," Mickelson says. "We're in a much better place. It feels good."

Mickelson is one of the more emotional major athletes in recent memory under any circumstance. He fights to keep that side in check on this Sunday though, even knowing that his gallery includes many of the doctors who treated his family.

"To be able to spend some time with the people that helped us these last couple of years has been very special," Mickelson says. "They're just incredible doctors at an amazing facility."

Mickelson stops himself, knowing he's about to get started. And he can't let loose now. Just like the sports nut couldn't let himself attend the Final Four games at Reliant Stadium Saturday night. Even though they were so close, Mickelson forced himself to retreat into his own cocoon and watch them on TV.

It's all part of the Masters sacrifice.

For even as Mickelson wins in Houston, even as he tries to acknowledge all the love, his mind never strays far from Augusta.

He says he'll celebrate this win in eight days — after the Masters is over.

"How are you going to ship that?" Mickelson asks a Houston Open official about the bulky trophy the Shell winner receives. Then, he doesn't give the hardware he just won another glance.

There is a courtesy car waiting and a private jet idling that will speed him to Georgia. The Houston Open trophy will not be coming along in luxury jet class.

This type of focus isn't typically associated with Mickelson. It's more the domain of Tiger Woods — or at least it was, until all the women started coming forward.

Mickelson is serious about being serious though. He's 40 and who knows if the golf world will be this wide open for him ever again. He's finally moved ahead of Tiger in the world rankings for the first time since 1997, even if Mickelson's current ranking (No. 3) is actually lower than it was when Woods reigned as No. 1 (Phil was the longtime No. 2 then).

He plays Houston because he loves Houston yes, but he also plays it because he's certain that playing the week before a major gets in him in a competitive mindset and gives him the best chance to win that major. But just because he plays the week before a major doesn't mean he's going to let himself completely enjoy it.

So no Final Four for the man who usually acts like most sports fans would if they happened to have $150 million: Go to every big event possible.

"I don't know much about college basketball, but I've really enjoyed watching the games (on TV)," Mickelson says. "There have been some good, exciting games. I love watching the hustle in college hoops. And I like the way it's officiated. It's fun."

Which means it wasn't on Mickelson's agenda in Houston. No fun allowed the week before Augusta. Not anymore.

"It's pretty special doing this here," he says after walking out of the scorer's trailer, his round only officially over for about a minute. "But I don't want to get emotional here. There's another pretty special place coming up and I've got a lot of work to do starting Monday."

The Machine?

No one will ever mistake Phil Mickelson for a robot. He works to connect with the fans in his galleries, acknowledging cheers with aw-shucks smiles, head bobs and waves. If this helps makes him Faker Phil as so many of his peers have charged in the past — though that's died down in the last year — well, the general public would love to have a few dozen more athletes just like him.

Phil's going to get excited. He's going to run up the fairway after hitting a recovery shot on No. 11 on Sunday at Redstone, eager to see how what he calls "the most exciting shot in golf" turns out.

When Mickelson gets asked if that was a Sergio Garcia-type sprint up the fairway, he doesn't hesitate.

"No, I can't run like him," he says. "You mean lumber up there?"

When Mickelson gets rolling, he's hard to stop though. He rips off five straight birdies on Sunday, rips the heart out of anyone who's trying to take the win from him. And it could have been six birdies in seven holes, if he hadn't admittedly lost focus on No. 15.

Who else in golf can space out for a few shots and still shoot seven-under?

"There aren't many people in the world who are beating him if he's playing like that," Verplank says.

Now, he's playing like that going into the Masters. Mickelson went to Augusta before arriving in Houston to get a few practice days in. To him the trip was like a visit to the Playboy Mansion is for Charlie Sheen.

"It reenergizes me every time I go there," Mickelson says. "I get excited about the game and fall in love with the game all over again."

He notices a reporter wearing an Augusta hat and points it out. You get the idea all he sees is Augusta now. He loves Houston, but focused Phil is already turning the page.

He'll come back next year and say his thanks.