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Mickelson outplays Woods to win Pebble Beach title

February 13, 2012 10:01 IST

Phil Mickelson totally upstaged playing partner Tiger Woods while charging past overnight leader Charlie Wi to win the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in spectacular fashion by two shots on Sunday.

Six strokes behind South Korean Wi going into the final round at Pebble Beach Golf Links, Mickelson fired a flawless eight-under-par 64 to clinch his 40th victory on the PGA Tour.

The American left-hander took control of the tournament with a stunning outward nine of five-under 31 and holed two monster par putts after the turn on the way to a 17-under total of 269.

"It feels awesome," a beaming Mickelson told the Golf Channel. "Hopefully it's just one of a few this year because I am starting to feel pretty good."

While Mickelson won the pro-am celebrity event for a fourth time, Woods had to settle for joint 15th place after closing with a five-bogey 75 in his bid for a first PGA Tour win in more than two years.

Wi, hunting a maiden title on the US circuit, dropped four shots in the first six holes but recovered well, a birdie-birdie-birdie finish giving him a 72 and outright second place at 15 under.

Woods had been poised for a last-day charge after shooting a 67 on Saturday but missed several putts from inside six feet to tumble out of contention at the same venue where he won the 2000 US Open by a record 15 shots.

"I didn't hit it as bad as the score indicated but I putted awful," the former World No. 1 said. "As good as I felt on the greens yesterday was as bad as I felt bad today.

"I just could not see my lines, I couldn't get comfortable, I couldn't get the blade to swing. Anything that I tried to do wasn't working and consequently I made a ton of mistakes on the greens."

Mickelson, who had previously won the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in 1998, 2005 and 2007, took full advantage of a poor front nine by the pacesetting Wi.

Source: REUTERS
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