Mickelson clinches 3rd win of year

When Phil Mickelson made the turn today in the MasterCard Colonial, he thought he was too far behind to win. He wasn't.

Mickelson began the final round six shots behind the leader, and had lost another shot after hitting into a greenside bunker and taking a bogey 5 on No. 9.

"I got off to a good start and was thinking a lot about winning," Mickelson said. "When I made the turn, I tried not to think about winning. I tried to hit some good golf shots because I was too far behind to win."

Then he birdied three straight holes to start the back nine.

Mickelson made five of his eight birdies on the back nine, capping his closing 7-under-par 63 with a birdie putt of more than 20 feet on 18. He ended with a 12-under 268 total, two strokes ahead of Stewart Cink and Davis Love III.

While Mickelson was making his late charge to tie Tiger Woods as the PGA Tour's only three-time winners this year, Cink and Love were falling apart five groups behind him.

"I ended up making a few birdies. When I birdied 10, 11 and 12, I looked up at the board and saw I was only two back. That's when I knew I had a chance to win," said Mickelson, who also won the Buick Invitational and BellSouth Classic this year.

The 18th-hole birdie for Mickelson, who won for the 16th time in his PGA Tour career, came just before Cink's drive at the 15th hole dropped into thick rough after hitting a tree.

Cink's approach at the 430-yard hole stopped just short of a greenside bunker, then he made a nice pitch within about 6 feet, only to slide the par-saving putt past the hole. That dropped him even with Mickelson and out of sole possession of the lead for the first time during the final round.

The lead was gone when Cink three-putted the 17th. His 40-foot putt slid past the hole, and then he missed the 4-footer coming back and ended with a bogey 5 that put him 11-under.

"A couple of putts he normally makes just didn't go in for him and that was to my benefit," Mickelson said. "Certainly, that's not the way I look at the way the tournament went. I look at it as I shot 63 to have a chance and it was enough."

Mickelson, who turns 30 in June, collected a $594,000 check, the largest of his nine-year career. He has won $2.3 million this season, surpassing the $2 million mark for the first time.

Love, who along with Mickelson lost in a playoff to Jesper Parnevik at last week's GTE Byron Nelson Classic, finished in second place for the eighth time since his last victory at the 1998 MCI Classic. He has now gone 49 consecutive tournaments without winning.

Cink, who turned 27 today, ended with a bogey at 18 for a loss of three strokes over the last four holes. Cink, who won the MCI Classic last month, was trying to join Mickelson, Woods, Parnevik, and Hal Sutton as multiple winners this season.

"I was on fire early and then got a little shaky, then played great, then played badly," Cink said. "There are a lot of things I wish I could do over. I just lost it. You can't open the door on guys like these."

The final bogey was his fifth over the last 14 holes, after just three over the first 58 of the tournament. Cink was 10-under with just one bogey for the 31 holes he played Saturday, including the completion of his rain-delayed second round and the third round, that gave him a three-stroke lead over Love going into the final round.

Mickelson, who shot a 70 Saturday, went into the final round six strokes behind Cink. The left-hander first made noise with birdies at Nos. 3 and 4, the beginning of Colonial's horrible horseshoe.

The horseshoe, its nickname gained because of the layout and difficulty, includes the two longest par-4s at Colonial Country Club, the 476-yard 3rd and the 470-yard 5th, plus the 246-yard par-3 4th hole.

Cink was the only player to manage birdies during the week at all three of those holes. Like Mickelson, he birdied the first two today but then he missed a 2-foot putt after a nice chip and bogeyed the 5th.

"I was going along pretty good until then," Cink said.

Love fell out serious contention after a bogey at 9, when he drove into the trees way right of the fairway and hit his second shot through the green. Even though he saved par after missing the fairway at the 10th to remain 9-under, he was four strokes behind after Cink's 10-foot birdie putt there.

"I let it get away from me in the middle of the round today," said Love, who had four sub-70 rounds this week. "I'm getting tired of playing good golf but not playing great for four days. It's frustrating."

DIVOTS: Mickelson, who joined the tour in 1992, became the 10th player to surpass $11 million in career earnings. ... Jim Furyk shot a final-round 67 to finish tied for eighth at Colonial, where he made his 34th consecutive cut, second on the PGA Tour only to the 48 in a row by Woods. ... Carl Paulson played the back nine in 6-under 29, one shot over the Colonial record set by Keith Clearwater during his course-record 61 in 1993.

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