Phil Mickelson defeats Justin Thomas in a playoff to earn his first victory in over four years.
MEXICO CITY The shot through a gap in the trees only he could see. The two birdies he had to have when time was running out.
Phil Mickelson finally looked like the Lefty of old Sunday in the Mexico Championship, especially when a final round of pressure, possibilities and dramatic shots that kept the crowd buzzing finally ended at Chapultepec Golf Club.
He was posing with the trophy.
For the first time in 102 tournaments around the world, dating to the summer of 2013 when he won the British Open at Muirfield, the 47-year-old Mickelson showed he still had the stuff to beat players who weren’t even born when he collected the first of his 43 victories on the PGA Tour.
“This is a very meaningful win,” Mickelson said after beating Justin Thomas in a playoff. “I can’t really put it into words given the tough times over the last four years, and the struggle to get here, and knowing that I was able to compete at this level but not doing it.
“To finally break through and to have this validation means a lot to me.”
Mickelson, who closed with a 5-under 66, was at his best over the back nine with as many as six players still in the mix.
Suddenly two shots behind when Thomas holed out from 119 yards for eagle on the 18th hole, Mickelson played a high-risk shot through the smallest of gaps in the trees to escape with par on the 14th hole. That’s when he saw the score, and he followed with a two-putt birdie on the par-5 15th and a 20-foot birdie on the 16th.
Thomas, who won last week in a playoff at the Honda Classic, capped off a 62-64 weekend with more clutch play, no shot bigger than his sand wedge that bounced behind the flag and spun back into the cup on his final hole for eagle.
The playoff — the sixth in the last eight weeks on the PGA Tour — lasted only one hole on the par-3 17th, where Thomas made bogey for the second time.
Stricker takes title in Tucson
TUCSON, Ariz. — Steve Stricker finally hit the 18th fairway on Omni Tucson National’s Catalina Course. He has his first PGA Tour Champions victory — and a conquistador helmet trophy — to show for it.
“I was glad to finally make par on it and walk away with the helmet,” Stricker said.
Stricker came through Sunday in the Cologuard Classic a year after hitting left into the water on 18 to blow a chance for a victory in his senior debut, and a day after another 3-wood drive rolled into the water in a closing double bogey.
“I was fighting it,” said Stricker, in tears after the victory. “You have those demons in your head and I was fully aware of what I had to do on 18 as I was playing today. I wanted to get enough of a lead where I could do something different out there. It’s just a tough driving hole for me and it is for everybody. A couple guys in my group hit it in the water today. If you pull it a little bit you run through the fairway, and if you push it a little bit you hit it in the water. It’s a challenging hole and somehow I just guided it out there and got it in the fairway.”
The 12-time PGA Tour winner birdied the par-5 15th and closed with three pars for a 4-under 69, hitting another 3-wood on the par-4 18th. He finished two strokes ahead of fellow Madison, Wisconsin, player Jerry Kelly (65), Gene Sauers (70) and Scott Dunlap (71).
Wie ends victory drought
SINGAPORE — Michelle Wie holed a 36-foot putt from off the green on the final hole to win the Women’s World Championship by one stroke on Sunday and capture her first LPGA tournament since the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open.
With four players in contention to win on the last hole, Wie managed to separate herself from the pack when she drained her lengthy birdie putt on the 72nd hole at the Sentosa Golf Club for a final round of 7-under 65.