Mickelson wins China tourney

golf: Puyallup’s Moore takes third as Lefty edges Els while Woods fades

The Associated Press | • Published November 09, 2009

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Thousands of fans caused a bottleneck at the entrance to the HSBC Champions, all of them eager to see the Sunday showdown at Sheshan International between Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods.

The Shanghai surprise? Woods turned out to be a spectator, too.

Mickelson built a six-shot lead over the world’s No. 1 player on the front nine, then rallied to beat another familiar foe, Ernie Els, with two clutch putts for a one-shot victory in the final World Golf Championship of the year.

Mickelson closed with a 3-under 69 and finished at 17-under 271 – one shot lower than Els – and earned $1.2 million for his fourth victory of the year, matching his career-best.

Even with Woods out of the picture – he shot 72 and wound up five shots behind – Mickelson provided his usual dose of entertainment.

Trailing by one shot, Mickelson whiffed on a risky flop shot below the 16th green, only to save par with perhaps his best putt of the year, an 18-foot slider that dropped on its final turn.

He followed that with a 10-foot birdie on the 17th, which turned out to be the difference when Els hit into the water on the par-5 18th and made bogey.

“We all expected that Tiger and myself would be shooting in the mid-60s and pull away a little bit,” Mickelson said. “And yet, our group was not making any birdies. It was the groups in front of us. And I was very fortunate to come out on top by a shot. But this feels terrific, because I had to fight very hard throughout the day. Nothing came easy.”

Puyallup’s Ryan Moore, who qualified for the HSBC Champions by winning his first PGA Tour event in August, closed with a 68 to finish third at 15 under. It should be enough to move him into the top 50 in the world rankings.

“That’s my goal every tournament, even just going into the weekend, to just have a chance to be in the mix of things,” said Moore, who pocketed prize money of $430,078. “And I did that this week.”

Moore briefly was in a three-way tie for the lead with Mickelson and Els after birdieing the par-4 11th hole to go 14-under. But he fell out of the lead for good with a bogey at the par-4 13th hole after failing to get up and down from the right fringe.

Mickelson became the fourth player to win multiple WGC events, and he joined Woods as the only players to win two in one year. Mickelson also won the CA Championship at Doral.

Els put together a stunning charge on a steamy afternoon, going out in 30 to pull within one shot and taking the outright lead with a birdie on the par-5 14th. He was on the verge of a course record and his first victory in nearly 20 months, leading by one with his tee shot smashed down the middle of the 18th fairway.

His was 218 yards away, his ball on a downslope. Els didn’t think 4-iron was enough, and 3-iron might take him over the green and down the bank into the water. He opted to hit a high cut with his 5-wood and “basically duffed it.”

It landed in the middle of the pond.

“For me to come back all the way, to actually share the lead at that point, was quite nice,” said Els, who started the round seven shots behind.