Mickelson birdies 16 &

17 to score first US Tour


win for a year

FROM THE A O L GOLF NEWS SERVICE
Phil Mickelson, two strokes behind with only four holes to play, kept his nerve and produced two late birdies to retain the Northern Trust Open title at Riviera Country Club, Los Angeles in California after edging out Steve Stricker by one stroke in a tension-packed finish.
The world No 5 held a four-stroke third-round lead but after carding an eagle at the opening hole for a third straight day, Mickelson shipped five bogeys in 13 holes to open the door for Stricker to take up the running.
But left-hander Mickelson birdied 16 and 17 to overtake Stricker and his one-over-par 72 was enough to claim a 35th career PGA victory at 15 under par.
Couples had a chance to force a play-off but after his approach to the final green landed on the fringe he failed to take his chance before Mickelson calmly sank a six-foot putt to secure his first title for over a year.
Stricker signed for six birdies in a four under 67 to claim second place, with Fred Couples (69), South Korea's KJ Choi (69) and Argentina's Andres Romero (70) third at 13 under.
J B Holmes (68), England's Luke Donald (68), Mark Calcavecchia (69) and South Africa's Rory Sabbatini (70) finished tied for sixth at 12 under, with Zimbabwe's Brendon de Jonge (67), Dustin Johnson (70) and Scott McCarron (71) rounding out the top 10.
+The Phil Mickelson tournament statistics were: Average distance of drive - 297.3 yards; Greens hit in Regulation - 70.8%; Average putts per green: 1.667.

REPORT FROM THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE:
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
LOS ANGELES -- Truth be told, it probably wasn't the kind of confidence-builder he was seeking.
Outwardly, though, Phil Mickelson was all smiles after winning the Northern Trust Open on Sunday. He was at his glass-half-full best during his interview after the tournament was over, too.
Look back on that round of 1-over 72, though, and there wasn't a lot to be happy about -- except for the fact that he played the final three holes like the player Mickelson knows he can be. The player he wants to become again before the Masters rolls around in six weeks.
"I'm pleased to be sitting here as the champion -- it was not easy," Mickelson said. "The bad of it came in that I needed to become a better frontrunner when I get a lead. ... The good thing was that I was able to fight hard.
"That meant a lot to me."
Mickelson entered the final round at Riviera, a course where he lost a playoff in 2007 and came back to win last year, with a four-stroke advantage. And when he rolled in a 38-footer for his third straight eagle at the first hole, the advantage was five.
Five bogeys in his next 13 holes, though, left Mickelson two strokes behind Steve Stricker in a tournament he had seemed destined to win at the start of the day. Then Dr. Jekyll replaced Mr. Hyde and Mickelson played his final three holes in 2 under to seal the win.
"I just blocked everything out, looked at the pin and swung to it," Mickelson said. "Just looked at my target and swung and forgot about all the technical stuff that I had been working on."
Sunday's dramatic swings in momentum marked the two-time champion's entire week.
Mickelson opened with what had to be a pent-up 63 -- he hadn't broken 70 all year, after all, nor finished higher than 42nd. But he was so frustrated by the 72 that followed he called Butch Harmon from the scorer's tent and asked him to hop a plane to LAX.
The work they did Saturday morning paid off in an extremely consistent 62 that saw Mickelson hit 10 fairways and 16 greens. His misses more often than not went to the preferred left and all indications were that Mickelson was back on track.
Or, maybe not.
On Saturday Mickelson acknowledged that he hadn't exactly put together the kind of performance that "exudes confidence" in his first three starts. Sunday's result may have been the desired one, but the confidence gained in his 35th career victory may have come at a price.
"Even when I didn't have my best stuff I was able to fight through it," Mickelson said. "... I'll work with Butch on Tuesday and see if I can continue to build on this and carry some momentum into Augusta with maybe some high performance."
Fred Couples, who played with Mickelson and Andres Romero in the final group and fought gamely to the end, said it didn't take a "genius" to figure out Mickelson was struggling on Sunday.
A putt here or there could have changed things, Couples said. How about a fairway hit? Mickelson went to his 3-wood until he regained some confidence -- there's that word again -- and finally split the fairway at the 15th hole with his driver.
A stellar 9-iron that settled 5 feet from the pin at the 16th hole moved Mickelson within a stroke of Stricker. His best drive of the week at the par-5 17th helped produce a two-putt birdie that drew him even until Stricker bogeyed the 18th and Mickelson regained the lead.
"He's fun to play with, and he's a true competitor, and he makes the game seem easy," Couples said. "When he plays bad he still gets it. ... So he was never going to lose the tournament. He was going to have a shot at winning the way he was playing.
"If he had played well, he would have won by five shots, but he didn't."
Turns out one was enough. Just barely.
Like all great players, Mickelson is clearly pointing toward the Masters, which he has won twice, as well as the rest of the majors. But he needs to harness his swing and handle the pressure of contending better than he did Sunday to snare a third Green Jacket.
So maybe this week's World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship is just what the doctor ordered.
"It's six final rounds," Mickelson said. "I don't have a four-shot lead like I had today. We start out even. It's difficult. It's a very difficult event to win. ... (Each match) feels like a Sunday. And you feel that pressure throughout the course of the day.
"It's dealing with and performing under that kind of pressure that enables you as a player to give your best performance in major championships when the pressure is the greatest."
SCROLL DOWN FOR ALL THE FINAL TOTALS