The statistics said Tom Lehman was playing superbly this year. So did Lehman.

He had a chance to repeat himself again today, when he broke his four-year PGA Tour victory drought by winning the Phoenix Open by one stroke when Robert Allenby bogeyed the last hole.

Lehman won the Williams World Challenge on Jan. 2, but the Phoenix Open was his first official title in 68 starts since he won the British Open and the Tour Championship in 1996 and was the Tour's Player of the Year.

Both men had difficult putts on the final hole.

Lehman saved par with a 10-foot putt for a score of 4-under 67 and a 72-hole total of 14-under 270.

"I played pretty scrappy," he said. "I didn't hit the ball well very often. I hit a lot of shots off-center, off-line, but I made a couple of really good putts."

Allenby, who has never won on the PGA Tour, missed a 5-footer when the ball made a right turn after hitting the left lip of the hole and rolled a foot away.

"Those are the breaks," he said. "I know I'll win down the road."

His final-round 69 landed him in a tie for second with defending champion Rocco Mediate, who had the best next-year performance at the TPC of Scottsdale.

Johnny Miller won back-to-back titles in 1974-75, when the tournament was played at the Phoenix Country Club.

Lehman lives in Scottsdale, and his fifth career PGA Tour title was the first hometown win by anyone since David Duval won the 1999 Players Championship in Ponte Vedra, Fla.

The $576,000 first prize vaulted Lehman to second on this year's money list ($673,150) in two PGA Tour events. His strong start includes a tie for sixth in Hawaii two weeks ago.

He credited watching Tiger Woods with his improvement. He was inspired by the way Woods remained cool even when struggling.

"He didn't throw away shots," Lehman said. "So during the off season, I thought about it, 'What is it that I do? I throw away shots.' That's kind of the reason I felt so good going into this year -- that's something you can correct. You know, if I couldn't drive it out of my shadow, and if I couldn't chip or putt at all, then I'd be worried.

"But I've been beating myself for three years."

Allenby, a 28-year-old Australian, had his best finish in the United States, improving on a tie for fourth in the 1998 B.C. Open.

Brandt Jobe, Kirk Triplett and Hal Sutton tied for third at 272, with Edward Fryatt, Mark Calcavecchia and Steve Flesch in the next trio a shot back.

As painful as Allenby's finish was, it couldn't have been as sharp as the anguish of third-round leader Frank Lickliter and 1996 Phoenix champion Phil Mickelson, who began the day one shot behind.

Lickliter, who was 13-under to start, shot himself out of contention early, bogeying the first hole and taking a triple-bogey 8 on the third, and finished with a 74 after previous rounds of 67-64-69.

Mickelson reached 14-under and held the lead until he bogeyed the 11th and 12th holes. He carded a 73 to join Lickliter and six others at 274.

Casey Martin made the cut in this event but struggled the last two rounds (71-75) and finished at 287.

Lehman shot a 63 in the first round to share the lead with Mickelson, and led everyone after a 67 the next day. But on Saturday his putter deserted him and he carded a 73, which left him 10-under and three shots off the lead.

"It would have been easy for me to have gone out and shot 71 or 72 or something and let my negatives feelings about my putting carry over, but they didn't," Lehman said.

He started the round with a birdie on the first hole. He bogeyed the fifth when he drove into the rough, had to chip up on his third shot, and two-putted.

But Lehman got the shot back with another birdie on No. 6, went to 12-under with an 18-foot birdie putt on the 11th hole, and caught up with Allenby with birdies on the 14th and 15th holes.

Allenby played 17 holes without a bogey. He drove off the 18th tee with a 3-wood, and hit a 9-iron approach shot that bounced hard and rolled over the back of the green. His chip came up short, then he missed his par putt.

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