Mickelson reigns at Riviera

Mickelson: 35th PGA title

Final leaderboard:
US unless stated
-15 P Mickelson
-14 S Stricker
-13 A Romero (Arg)
-13 F Couples
-13 KJ Choi (SKor)

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Phil Mickelson relinquished a five-stroke lead before fighting back bravely to win the Northern Trust Open by one shot ahead of Steve Stricker.

Despite enduring a torrid day off the tee, the left-hander birdied holes 16 and 17 before parring the last to complete a successful title defence at Riviera Country Club.

Mickelson, who had charged four-shots ahead of the chasing pack with a blistering 62 on Saturday, clinched his 35th PGA Tour victory with a 15-under total of 269.

American Stricker, who had led by two shots with two holes to play, had to settle for second-place after closing with a 67.

KJ Choi, Andres Romero and Fred Couples shared third-place two shots off the pace on 13-under.

Englishman Luke Donald was the highest-ranked European, one shot further behind.

"I was fortunate to sneak through with the win," the world number five said. "The last four holes I just looked at the target and swung."

Mickelson opened his round with the eagle on the par-five first hole but immediately gave it back by scoring two straight bogeys.

Troubles

However, his troubles really started with a bogey at the seventh - Mickelson's tee shot having missed the fairway to the right and sailed into a canyon.

Another bad tee shot on the eighth left Mickelson behind a cluster of trees.

But he then made a brilliant recovery by blasting his approach through a narrow opening between two trees and scrambling par.

Meanwhile, Stricker had birdied the 12th to take the lead for the first time but his hopes were ultimately scuppered by a poor tee shot on the 18th.

His approach shot landed about 12 feet from the hole but he then missed his putt right and had to settle for a bogey.

"A lot of guys were making birdies. I just wasn't one of them," Mickelson added. "It was my A game on the first and third rounds. It wasn't my A game today.

"I started with a four-shot lead and won by one so obviously a lot of people beat me today. But I was able to just hold on enough."

Mickelson's victory was easily his best result of 2009, bettering the 42nd-place he posted at the Buick Invitational.

Stricker was looking for his first win since the 2007 Barclays. Last year he had six top 10 finishes, including a runner-up placing at the Mercedes-Benz Championship.

"I just kind of stalled a little bit on the last few holes," he said. "But overall it was a good day. It was exciting to get back into the thick of things and feel the heat of the battle."