Phil Mickelson's victories at the Nortel Open keep piling up.
There's no danger of their getting monotonous, though. The 25-year-old left-hander finds a way to make things interesting.For the second straight year, he used his driver off the fairway on a crucial hole. And once again the gamble paid off with a $225,000 first-place check and another title.
"After you win a tournament, you believe you should be winning. It affects your thought process," Mickelson said Sunday after shooting a 5-under-par 67 at Tucson National for a 14-under 273 finish and a two-shot margin over Bob Tway.
It was the third Nortel triumph in six years for Mickelson, who won as an amateur at Arizona State in 1991. He missed the cut the next year, but since turning pro has never finished lower than ninth in the tournament that has yielded half of his six titles.
Now a winner four straight seasons, Mickelson is the first repeat champion in Tucson since Jim Thorpe won match-play events in 1985 and 1986, and the first in the stroke-play format since Johnny Miller in 1975 and 1976.
Mickelson's $240,050 in two events moved him ahead of Mark O'Meara, who made $180,000 for winning the season-opening Mercedes Championships last week but just $8,321 Sunday after finishing nine shots back.
Tway shot a final-round 67, but dulled his eight-birdie performance with three bogeys, including two in the last four holes.
"There are still some demons that I have to overcome, but I am very pleased with my progress," said Tway, who complained of playing poorly for years but now has finished fourth and second in back-to-back events.
Lee Janzen, Mike Hulbert, Fred Funk and Bob Estes were at 276, with Omar Uresti and John Wilson at 277.
Third-round leader David Toms shot 74 to finish at 278 along with Ronnie Black, Curtis Strange and Bruce Lietzke.
In 1995, Mickelson went against his caddie's advice in the final round and pulled out the driver for a 280-yard shot over trees on the 11th hole. He made an eagle on the par-5 hole and gave himself the momentum.
This time, Mickelson used his driver on No. 15, a 663-yard par-5 which both he and Tway felt was decisive. He slammed the second shot right of the green, but chipped up for an 8-foot birdie that dropped him to 14-under for the first time.
"I had a one-shot lead and Lee Janzen in front," Mickelson said of the fifth of his six birdies. "I felt, after 15, it was in my control to win or lose."
Mickelson bogeyed the next hole, but completed his rally with an 18-foot, chip-in birdie on No. 18.
Mickelson shot 269 last year in Tucson to become the first PGA player to win the same tournament as an amateur and a pro.