Phil Mickelson carded a final round of 3-under-par 69 and won the WGC-HSBC Champions by a stroke over Ernie Els.
On the front nine, Mickelson increased his lead to three-strokes after a 3-foot birdie-putt at the 3rd hole, but his problems off the tee caught up to him and he posted consecutive bogeys on the next two holes. He birdied the 7th hole to get back to even-par for the round, but at the turn his lead had shrunk to a single stroke. A hard charging Ernie Els soon tied for the lead and for most of the back nine both players dueled for the lead. The lead tied for the last time after Mickelson made a long putt at the 16th hole that curled in for par, then Els moments later put his approach to 18th hole into the water, which resulted in a bogey. Mickelson took the lead with a birdie at the par-3 17th and then parred the par-5 final hole to win the championship. The title is the third career international championship for Mickelson and it his second World Golf Championship victory this year. |