AUGUSTA, Georgia, April 8 (Reuters) - Phil Mickelson has

always been a risk taker on the golf course.

Never frightened to roll the dice even when the stakes are

at their highest, the American has endeared himself to a

generation of golf fans with his swashbuckling approach and

improvisation.

But even the highrollers lose some time and at the Masters

on Sunday, Mickelson gambled and lost big.

At the par three fourth hole, the left-hander's luck ran out

when his tee shot hit a metal rail and richocheted into some

nearby bamboo shoots.

Faced with the option of returning to the tee to play his

third shot, he decided to take a plunge and play out of the

rough but made a complete hash of it.

"If it goes into people and stops right there, no problem.

If it goes into the grand stand, no problem (but) it hit the

metal railing and shot in the trees," he explained.

"And not only was it unplayable, but I couldn't take an

unplayable. There was no place to go other than back to the tee.

"So I took the risk of trying to hit it a few times."

By the time the ball went in the cup, Mickelson had hit it

six times - twice playing right-handed. He signed for a triple

bogey and plumetted down the leaderboard.

There were still 14 holes left to play but he could not make

up all the lost ground and eventually finished two shots behind

Bubba Watson and Louis Oosthuizen, who went to a playoff, won by

Watson.

Unlike the previous day when Mickelson charged up the

leaderboard by covering the last nine holes in 30 shots, he was

unable to make any big putts when it mattered.

"I had many chances to make birdies and wasn't able to get

the ball to go in," he said.

"They were just coming right up to the edge and just not

quite peaking in.

"I had a fun opportunity on the back nine all the way up

through 17 holes where if I could have birdied the last two and

gotten in the playoff."

He ended up finishing in a four-way tie for third but that

was little consolation for the Californian. He has already won

the Masters three times but said he wasted a golden opprtunity

for a fourth green jacket.

"I'm certainly not satisfied just being in contention. I

think that I love having the opportunity to win, to compete on

Sunday, to come down the back nine with a chance to win the

Masters," he said.

"It's certainly disappointing not getting it done, not being

able to convert the opportunities on the back nine, not being

able to electrify the crowds and make birdies and eagles when I

need to and move up the leaderboard.

"It doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy myself, that I didn't

enjoy the opportunity but I'm certainly going to be disappointed

that I wasn't able to get it done here because I had a great

opportunity."

(Editing by Nick Mulvenney)