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Mickeson finally closes out victory

Phil Mickelson posted a two-under 68 on Sunday to hang on and win the Greater Hartford Open. Mickelson's 16-under-par 264 was one better than Billy Andrade, who carded two late birdies to put the pressure on Mickelson.

This marked Mickelson's second win of the 2001 season to go along with seven top-three finishes. Mickelson has had opportunities to win on Sunday at the Masters, Compaq Classic, Colonial and the U.S. Open but failed to capitalize.

Prior to this year, Mickelson was a perfect 9-0 when holding the 54-hole lead.

Mickelson stated on Saturday that he would be taking a more positive attitude into Sunday's final round.

"This is the first week in my own little experiment, this is the first week that I have really worked on my mental approach heading into a tournament," said Mickelson, who earned his 19th career victory on the PGA Tour. "So this was a good stepping stone to work on the way I prepare mentally for tournaments."

On Sunday, Mickelson faced a charge from Andrade on the back nine but he held on to par the final three holes after dropping his only shot of the day at the par-four 15th. His drive there bounced into water on the left side of the green and he chipped to 20 feet and two-putted for the bogey.

At 17, with water down the right side, Mickelson almost holed his approach but the ball spun back off the putting surface. The lefthander chipped to a foot for the par save.

"On 17, I expected it to fly it about four, five yards behind the whole, then come back," said Mickelson. "It wasn't a hard chip on 17, but that took away a good birdie opportunity."

Mickelson parred the finishing hole and collected $558,000 for the win in his first appearance at the TPC at River Highlands since 1994.

Dudley Hart (63), David Berganio (69) and Chris DiMarco (68) shared third place at 14-under par. Tom Pernice, Jr. finished alone in third at minus-13.

Mickelson got to the top of the leaderboard with a course-record tying 61 on Saturday, which eclipsed his previous best round on tour by two shots.

The 31-year-old first broke into red figures Sunday with a 15-foot birdie at the third hole. At the par-five sixth, Mickelson reached the front left bunker in two shots and blasted out to six feet, where the world No. 2 converted the birdie.

His final birdie of the round came at the seventh when he wedged his approach four feet from the hole.

Andrade, who tied for third at last week's Buick Classic, carded his second 66 of the weekend but came up one short. He drained a 25-foot birdie on 18 to get within one but missed a golden opportunity for birdie at 17 when his 12-foot putt slid by the hole.

"I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get the job accomplished in winning here," said Andrade, a Rhode Island native. "Usually most people don't remember who finishes second."

Tripp Isenhour, Kenny Perry, Olin Browne, Shigeki Maruyama, Kirk Triplett, Frank Lickliter and Jerry Kelly shared seventh at 11-under-par 269.

Scott Verplank fired a final-round 61 to match the course record set by Triplett last year and matched by Mickelson on Saturday. He vaulted into a tie for 17th at minus-nine.

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