Mickelson coasts to back to back wins

Phil Mickelson took all the thrills out of Pebble Beach, and that was just fine by him.

Despite back-to-back bogeys that gave the final round Sunday about five minutes of intrigue, Mickelson won for the second straight week by closing with a 1-over 73 to become the first wire-to-wire winner in the 68-year history of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on the Monterey Peninsula in northern California.

The only thing he didn't do on a cold, damp day along the Pacific Ocean was set the tournament scoring record. Mickelson finished at 19-under 269, missing by one shot the record set seven years ago by Mark O'Meara.

Still, it was the first time in his career he had won in consecutive weeks. Even more alarming is the margin of victory, especially for a guy who usually keeps it entertaining to the very end.

He won by five shots last week in Phoenix. He wound up winning Pebble by four shots over Mike Weir. Going into this year, Mickelson had won his previous eight PGA Tour events by a combined nine shots, three of those in playoffs.

"It's been fun," Mickelson said. "I've been playing well the last couple of weeks. I'm excited to get the year started with a couple of wins."

The margin might have been even wider except that Mickelson missed six birdie putts inside 18 feet over the final seven holes.

Weir posted the best round of a difficult day at Pebble with a 5-under 67, including a 3-wood into 6 feet for the only birdie on No. 9 that kept his hopes alive. After another birdie on the 11th, Weir looked exasperated as six straight putts burned the edge of the cup, and his eagle chip on the 18th just turned away.

"I played one of the better rounds I've ever played," Weir said. "It could have been a really special round if a few things could have dropped for me."

Mickelson won for the 25th time on the PGA Tour. His $954,000 check pushed him over $2 million for the year and put him atop the money list. He will take the Nissan Open off next week, then head to La Costa for the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in two weeks.

"Obviously, he's doing something right," Weir said.

Greg Owen of England, a PGA Tour rookie playing in the final group with Mickelson, birdied the last hole for a 72 and finished third to earn $360,000. Paul Goydos and Tim Clark each shot 71 to finish another shot back. For Goydos, it was his highest finish in six years.

Only 14 players managed to break par at Pebble Beach, where sunny conditions gave way to a light rain that blew sideways and put some of the teeth back into the venerable cliffside course. Weir was the only player in the 60s.

Mickelson had a seven-shot lead at the start of his round, and his plan was to play it smart without being defensive. But it was clear from the start he wanted to stick to his routine by attacking flags when he could.

Ignoring the fat of the green at No. 1, Mickelson hit a low draw that just cleared the bunker and stopped 15 feet away on the short side of the pin. The birdie putt lipped out, and he missed a 5-footer on the par-5 second.

When he hit sand wedge into 4 feet for birdie at No. 4, Mickelson was at 21 under and had a nine-shot lead.

Weir tried to keep it interesting.

After birdies on three of his first four holes -- the other was a bogey on No. 3, when he missed the green left -- Weir picked up ground on the toughest stretch at Pebble Beach.

First came a nifty chip from left of the eighth green to save par. Then, Weir hit a 3-wood that just cleared the front bunker and stopped 6 feet away from the only birdies on the 430-yard ninth. After saving par with another great pitch on No. 10, Weir stuffed his approach 10 feet behind the hole at No. 11 to get to 14-under.

Mickelson, who had made only four bogeys in his last six rounds, slowly came back. First came a tee shot over the cliff at the par-5 sixth, leading to bogey. Then he pulled his approach on the ninth for another bogey, and a tee shot into the left rough on No. 10 cost him another shot.

Then came the putt on No. 11, and the slight clench of his teeth showed how important it was. Mickelson's lead was back to five shots, and Weir started grazing the edge of the cup.

Lefty missed birdie putts of 6, 4 and 8 feet on the next three holes, but it didn't matter.

Weir ran out of holes, and for the second time in two weeks, Mickelson was saluted by an adoring crowd as he walked up the final few fairways, and his daughters raced onto the green for a big group hug when it was over.

Divots: Joel Kribel and Barry McCollam won the pro-am portion of the tournament at 35-under-par. Former U.S. Open champion Scott Simpson and his longtime partner, Bill Murray, finished fourth. ... Mickelson played so well in the first three rounds that he would have made the cut in the pro-am on his own ball. ... Mickelson is now tied for 21st on the all-time victory list with Tommy Armour, Johnny Miller and Vijay Singh. Miller also won his 25th victory at Pebble Beach in 1994

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