Mickelson Puts Away the Field

Despite shots that sailed into the desert and in the water, Phil Mickelson is a winner again, on a course that still feels like home.

Mickelson won the FBR Open by five strokes Sunday at Scottsdale, Ariz., the largest margin of victory in his 24 PGA Tour triumphs.

“It’s a lot of fun for us to come back,” he said. “Even though we moved away three years ago, we still consider it home.”

Mickelson’s adventures off the fairway were offset by brilliant shots that led to four birdies in a final round three-under-par 68. He never led by fewer than three strokes Sunday, then capped his round with a 26-foot birdie putt from the fringe on the 18th to the wild cheers of the friendly throng.

“I wasn’t really trying to make it,” Mickelson said. “I was trying to just get it close, and it fell in.”

The victory in the $5.2-million event was worth $936,000, about $700,000 more than Mickelson earned when he won the same tournament nine years ago.

With chants of “A-S-U!” and “Go Lefty!” from the crowd everywhere he went, Mickelson finished at 17-under 267 on the Tournament Players Club course.

Scott McCarron and Kevin Na, at 21 the youngest player on the PGA tour, tied for second at 272.

McCarron shot his second consecutive 65, and Na had a 69. Na, a resident of Rancho Cucamonga, played in the final group with Mickelson and faltered before rallying with birdies on the 14th and 17th for his best finish in his two years on the tour.

Steve Flesch, Tim Herron and David Toms finished at 273. Toms would have finished in second place but double-bogeyed the 18th.

“To have this win in a tournament I value and cherish so much,” Mickelson said, “it really means a lot. It’s the first time I’ve won since the Masters too.”

A three-time NCAA champion at Arizona State who lived in Scottsdale until December 2001, Mickelson won the FBR -- formerly the Phoenix Open -- for the second time. He was only 25 when he won in a playoff with another tour youngster, Justin Leonard, in 1996.

Mickelson became the first player in five PGA Tour tournaments this year to protect a 54-hole lead, the longest such streak since 1976, when third-round leaders did not win the first five PGA Tour events of the year.

After a two-over 73 in the first round, Mickelson was 19 under in the last 54, including an 11-under 60 in the second round Friday, tying the course record with his lowest score in an official PGA Tour event.

“It was such an unlikely win, given the first nine holes, that I was fighting to make the cut,” he said. “To be able to turn things around and shoot 60 the second round was just an incredible experience.”

He entered the final round with a four-shot lead over Na, but the young challenger birdied the par-four 11th to pull within three shots at 12 under.

The par-five 13th might have been the clincher for Mickelson. His drive sailed off to the right, into desert terrain amid rocks, small trees and cactus. But the ball landed in a spot where there was an opening, and Mickelson smashed his five-iron shot about 230 yards over a small tree and just in front of the green.

He barely missed from there, then tapped in for a birdie. Na, meanwhile, three-putted for a bogey.

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Australia’s Craig Parry ended Ernie Els’ three-year reign in the Heineken Classic in Melbourne, Australia, holing a 12-foot birdie putt on the fourth hole of a playoff with countryman Nick O’Hern. Parry closed with a one-under 70 to match O’Hern (71) at 14-under 270. Els shot a 70 to finish at 12 under.