Mickelson a Beach boy for 4th time

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This article was published 13/02/2012 (5312 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — He knew his game was getting close, and he broke through with flair Sunday in the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

That turned out to be Phil Mickelson, not Tiger Woods.

In a big, big way.

Mickelson went from a six-shot deficit to a two-shot lead in just six holes, closed with an 8-under 64 for a two-shot victory over Charlie Wi and gave Woods a Sunday thrashing not many saw coming.

Mickelson and Woods played in the second-to-last group, and Mickelson beat him by 11 shots. He won for the fourth time at Pebble Beach, and became only the ninth player in PGA Tour history with 40 wins.

“Pebble Beach… it feels awesome no matter what number it is,” Mickelson said.

It was anything but that for Woods, who was reduced to a supporting role on a cool, overcast day along the Pacific. Right when it looked as though Woods might still be in the game after holing a bunker shot for birdie on the par-3 12th, Mickelson answered by pouring in a 30-foot par putt.

Mickelson seized control for good with a 40-foot par save on the 15th hole, and he played it safe — Mickelson is capable of that every once in a while — on the 18th hole and still made birdie.

Mickelson finished at 17-under 269 and earned US$1.152 million for his first win since the Houston Open last year.

Wi, who started the final round with a three-shot lead, four-putted for double bogey on the opening hole and never quite recovered. He closed with back-to-back birdies for an even-par 72 and his fifth runner-up finish on tour.

The shocker, though, was how Woods fell apart.

He has been making big strides with his game over the past few months, and he looked poised to break through after a 67 in the third round at Pebble Beach got him to within four of the lead.

But he failed to make birdie on the easy opening stretch at Pebble Beach, and even when he made his first birdie at the par-5 sixth, Mickelson poured in a 20-foot eagle putt to take the outright lead.

“I didn’t hit it as bad as the score indicated, but I putted awful,” Woods said. “As good as I felt on the greens yesterday, I felt bad today. Anything I tried to do wasn’t working. Consequently, I made a ton of mistakes on the green.”

Two weeks ago in his 2012 debut at Abu Dhabi, Woods was tied for the lead with unheralded Robert Rock going into the final round and didn’t break par, tying for third.

Woods used to own Mickelson, but that changed at the 2007 Deutsche Bank Championship. This was the fifth straight time Mickelson posted the better score when playing in the same group as Woods in the final round.

Mickelson has won three of those tournaments, although they have yet to be in the final group on those occasions.

Mickelson started his season sluggishly, failing to crack the top 25 at the Humana Challenge and Phoenix Open, and missing the cut at Torrey Pines. He said his putting was as good as ever, and it was a matter of getting his game in sync.

It simply sang on Sunday, mostly his amazing touch on the greens — a long eagle putt at No. 2 that caught part of the hole, long two-putts for par and enough birdies to make him a winner at Pebble Beach again.

“I felt like my game was there, but coming out the first couple of weeks, I posted some horrendous scores and started to question it,” Mickelson said. “To be able to play the way I did the last 18 holes really means a lot.”

— The Associated Press