Pebble Beach: Phil Mickelson wins, Tiger Woods fades

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Phil Mickelson, who made par putts of 31 and 38 feet, also made some birdies as he won his fourth AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am title Sunday and his 40th PGA Tour title.

Mickelson, whose wife, Amy, was teary-eyed in the crowd, shot an eight-under-par 64, the best round of the day.

‘This feels just amazing,’ said Mickelson, who won $1.152 million. ‘It feels awesome and hopefully it’s just one of a few to come this year because I’m starting to feel pretty good.’

Mickelson was playing in the second-to-last group with Tiger Woods, who shot a 75 and finished tied for 15th at eight under after surging into third place Saturday, a shot ahead of Mickelson. But Mickelson’s play Sunday seemed to demoralize Woods, whose body language by the finish was that of a man who didn’t much like the game.

‘I didn’t hit it as bad as the score indicated,’ Woods said, ‘but I putted awful. I could not see my lines, I could not get comfortable. Consequently, I made a ton of mistakes on the greens. It’s frustrating. I had a chance. I had to get off to a good start to have a solid chance, but I didn’t do that.

PHOTOS: Pebble Beach National Pro-Am

‘I was one under through six but Phil was five under through six. I thought I had to shoot 67, 66 today, and that wouldn’t have been good enough. It was a fun day to be out there but very frustrating also.’

Mickelson last won here in 2007 and won only a single title last year while watching his world ranking drop out of the top 20. He has played every California tournament this year, almost missing the cut before finishing 49th at the event in La Quinta and missing the cut at Torrey Pines two weeks ago.

The 41-year-old started Sunday tied for fourth, six shots behind third-round leader Charlie Wi and two shots behind playing partnerWoods. Mickelson birdied the second,fourth and fifth, then eagled the par-five sixth to take a strong hold on first place, a spot he never lost.

As Woods faded with his three consecutive bogeys to end the front nine, Kevin Streelman hung within a shot of Mickelson for a while before closing with two bogeys and a double bogey. Ricky Barnes, who played with amateur partner Bill Belichick all week, had three birdies on the back nine to finish third, four shots behind Mickelson, after shooting 67 on Sunday.

And Wi, a 40-year-old who grew up in Los Angeles and who had led the first three rounds, birdied the 18th and finished with a 72. That was good for second place, two shots behind Mickelson.

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-- Diane Pucin, reporting from Pebble Beach