Reigning Masters champion Phil Mickelson fired a one-over 73 on Sunday to capture the $5,3-million Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, his second PGA victory in as many weeks.
Mickelson beat Canada’s Mike Weir by four strokes and accomplished his first back-to-back and wire-to-wire victories on the tour.
”It’s been fun. I’ve played well the last couple of weeks,” said Mickelson, who earned $954 000. ”I’m very excited to get the year started off with a couple of wins. It sure feels good.”
The 34-year-old American posted a 19-under-par 269 and survived a late charge from another left-hander, Weir, who had the best round of the day shooting five-under-par 67.
Mickelson was also the winner at last week’s FBR Open and registered his 25th career victory.
Weir made a run that on most days would have been enough, considering the conditions.
On a cold and windy day on the Pebble Beach Golf Links course, he shot the day’s top round by three strokes. Mickelson lost six shots to Weir as no one else in the top 10 shot lower than 71.
Weir began the day tied for eighth, and birdied three of his first four holes. He put a little more pressure on Mickelson with birdies at numbers nine and 11.
Mickelson bogeyed numbers nine and 10 to shrink his lead to four shots.
He responded with a birdie on 11 to right the ship and came home with seven pars and the PGA Tour’s first wire-to-wire win of the season.
Englishman Greg Owen finished third at 13-under 275 after a par 72 on Sunday that left him one shot better than American Paul Goydos and South Africa’s Tim Clark.
Darren Clarke, of Northern Ireland, and Arron Oberholser finished tied for sixth at 277.
Vijay Singh, the world’s top-ranked player and the defending champion in California, missed the cut for the first time in 29 events.
The tournament was played on three par-72 courses — Spyglass Hill, Poppy Hills and Pebble Beach Golf Links, which hosted the final round. — Sapa-AFP