Golf

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Like heavyweights in a title bout, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson went to opposite corners upon arriving at the first tee box Sunday at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Charlie Wi and Ken Duke graced the last group, but they were the de facto undercard.

The Fray in Carmel Bay paired Woods and Mickelson, who arrived for the final round of the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am with 110 PGA Tour victories — and no love lost — between them.

Their caddies exchanged more words than did Woods and Mickelson, the most dominant golfers of their era. Paired in a final round for the 10th time since 1997, they cagily stalked each other in the early going, spurred on by an exuberant gallery tilted slightly in Mickelson's favor.

If it had been a fight, Mickelson would have been declared the winner on the par-3 12th hole. There he absorbed Woods' best shot of the day — a holed bunker shot for a birdie — and responded with a 30-foot, par-saving putt. At that point, his lead over Woods was four strokes.

Mickelson, 41, went on to claim his 40th Tour victory by mounting the kind of charge that used to be all in a final-round workday for Woods, who has won 20 stroke-play events on Tour when trailing after 54 holes.

Trailing Woods by two strokes and Wi by six at the round's start, Mickelson played the first six holes in 5 under and never looked back.

He closed with an 8-under 64 for a 17-under 269 total to win for the fourth time here and earned $1.152 million. Mickelson has come from behind in 17 of his victories.

Woods (75) faded into a tie for 15th place at 8 under and was in a group that included ex-Washington Huskies player Richard H. Lee (69).

Mickelson and Woods have played in the same group in 29 official Tour events. Lefty has had the lower score 13 times, Woods has had the lower score 13 times and they have tied three times. Mickelson has got the best of Woods seven of the last 10 times they have been in the same group.

Wi (72) had a double bogey on the first hole, settled for second place and is winless in 163 Tour starts.

"Starting off with a four-putt, that's probably not very ideal," Wi said.

Ryan Moore (72) of Puyallup tied for 20th at 7 under.

With the victory, Mickelson silenced his inner critic, the one who questioned how he could play so well in practice but fail to post a top-25 finish in his first three starts this season.

"To put it together this week and especially the final round with this round just feels terrific," he said. "It gives me a lot of confidence but also inspires me because I believe now more so that what I'm doing is correct and that I'm able to play some of my best golf."

Mickelson vaulted into the lead with an eagle-3 on the fifth hole. He was 1 over on Pebble Beach's par 5s in the third round but experienced no such struggles Sunday, playing them in 5 under.

His play on the greens was also beyond reproach; in addition to the clutch putt at No. 12, Mickelson made a par-saving putt of 38 feet on No. 15. He was the only player in the field Sunday who did not make a bogey.

If Mickelson looked dialed in all day, he said all credit belonged to Woods.

"I know that his level of play is so much greater when he's playing his best than anybody else's, that it just forces me to focus on my game more intently and hit more precise shots," said Mickelson, who has faced several distractions recently, among them a health scare involving his middle child, Sophie, and the defamation lawsuit he has filed against an anonymous Internet poster.

Woods has not won an official Tour event since the BMW Championship in 2009. This was the third time since November he has played his way into contention in a full-field event only to come up short in the final round.

A mere four of the 68 players who teed it up Sunday shot a worse score than Woods, whose round included 31 putts. That was four more than he took Saturday, which did not set well with him.

"As good as I felt on the greens yesterday is as bad as I felt today," Woods said. "It was a fun day to be out there but also very frustrating at the same time."

Mickelson commented on the phenomenon that is the Tiger Effect.

"I just feel very inspired playing with him," said Mickelson, who has beaten Woods the last five times they have played together in a final round. "He brings out some of my very best golf."

Mickelson added with a laugh: "It's only been the past five years. Before, I got spanked pretty good. Let's not forget the big picture here; I've been beat up. But the last five years, I've been able to get some of my best golf out when we play together."

U.S. teen Korda wins

in LPGA Tour playoff

MELBOURNE, Australia — American Jessica Korda, 18, won the Women's Australian Open for her first LPGA Tour title, holing a 25-foot birdie putt on the second hole of a six-player playoff in the season-opening event.

Korda completed a two-sport, father-daughter Australian double with the breakthrough victory. Petr Korda won the 1998 Australian Open tennis tournament, also in Melbourne.

Korda closed with a 1-over 74 to finish at 3-under 289 at Royal Melbourne and earned $165,000.

Stacy Lewis, Brittany Lincicome, Julieta Granada, So Yeon Ryu and Hee Kyung Seo also were in the playoff and all made pars on the first extra hole.

Jimin Kang (76), a graduate of King's High School in Shoreline, tied for 51st place at 12 over.

Other tournaments

• Corey Pavin made a 12-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to defeat Peter Senior and win the Allianz Championship in Boca Raton, Fla., for his first title on the 50-and-older Champions Tour.

Pavin and Senior closed with 71s to finish 54 holes tied at 11-under 205. Pavin, 52, earned $270,000.

• Rafael Cabrera-Bello of Spain won the Dubai Desert Classic, shooting a 4-under 68 to beat Lee Westwood (70) of England and Stephen Gallacher (69) of Scotland by one shot for his second European Tour victory.

Cabrera-Bello finished at 18-under 270.

Seattle native Fred Couples (68) tied for 33rd place at 6 under.