Eagle by Tiger spurs Mickelson

Woods, Mark O'Meara match closing 64s, but tie for second in Mercedes tourney

Web posted January 12, 1998

Associated Press

CARLSBAD, Calif. -- The explosive roar greeting the eagle by Tiger Woods rattled off the hills at the La Costa Resort and pushed Phil Mickelson to victory in the Mercedes Championships.

``I was right next to the ninth green when Tiger made that eagle,'' said Mickelson, who was on the seventh tee at the time.

``After I saw him make eagle, my mindset changed,'' Mickelson said. ``I started to attack and try to make birdies.''

Despite some shaky play on the closing holes, Mickelson finished with 68 in Sunday's final round to be at 17-under-par 271, one stroke ahead of Woods and Mark O'Meara, both of whom closed with 64s.

Mickelson's bold response to the hard-charging Tiger showed that the storyline of the last half of the 1997 PGA Tour has carried into the new season.

Woods has demanded a new level of performance and the players are giving it to him -- both the young and the old.

The 27-year-old Mickelson didn't back down when Woods put up a 64 in the final round, and neither did the 40-year-old O'Meara.

And it made for an exciting opening to the new PGA Tour season as Mickelson dismissed David Duval early and held off Woods late to win the Mercedes Championships for the second time in five years.

Mickelson gave up the lead with a three-putt green on the first hole -- missing a 2-footer after twice being bothered by a ringing cellular phone on the first tee -- but made birdies on Nos. 3 and 4 to pull away from Duval, who was trying to become the first person since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win four consecutive PGA Tour starts.

Then Mickelson opened the throttle wide after Woods made his eagle. He made four birdies in five holes beginning on No. 9 to stay ahead of Woods, who was playing with O'Meara three groups in front and was lighting up the La Costa course and electrifying the crowd.

Duval shot a 73 and finished at 277, six strokes off the lead.

``This was an important day for me,'' Mickelson said. ``I knew some guys were going to go low, but I didn't know who they were going to be,'' he said.

It was Mickelson's 12th victory as a professional and it was the seventh time the San Diego native has won on the West Coast swing in his career. It was also the sixth time in seven tries he has taken the lead into the final round and won.

Nick Price and John Cook tied for fourth at 13-under-par 275.

A key for Mickelson came on No. 17, the only par-5 Woods failed to play under par in the final round. Woods had 121 yards to the pin but could get no closer than 30 feet to the pin from a fairway lie O'Meara described as ``being borderline casual water.''

That enabled Mickelson to go to the final hole with a two-stroke lead -- and he needed both of them. Mickelson missed the fairway off the tee on the last hole then hit into the left greenside bunker and finished with a bogey.

Woods got going with birdies on the first two holes and moved into contention and got the biggest roar of the tournament on No. 9 with classic Tiger golf.

He hit a 285-yard drive on a soaked fairway that yielded no roll then hit a 3-wood from 266 yards to 30 feet and made the eagle putt to pull within a stroke of Mickelson.

``When I got to five under par, I figured the game was on,'' Woods said, referring to his 31 on the front nine.

O'Meara, meanwhile, Woods' neighbor and close friend from Orlando, Fla., matched Woods' 31 on the front nine and was also just a stroke off the lead.

On No. 10, O'Meara holed out from 20 yards in the bunker for birdie and watched as Woods rolled in a 12-footer to keep pace, the two men sharing huge laughs and clearly feeding off of each other's energy.

``It was a pretty exciting day out there,'' O'Meara said. ``Tiger shot a real easy eight under par.''

Duval lost the momentum of his four-tournament run early in the round and was never able to get it back. Playing with Mickelson, he had a chance for a two-stroke swing on the first hole when Mickelson three-putted.

But Duval missed an 18-inch birdie putt and a 4-footer for birdie on No. 2. Another birdie putt -- this one from 15 feet -- stayed out of the hole on No. 3 and his 10-footer on the fourth hole spun around the cup and stayed out.

``When you miss that many short ones, there's not much you can do,''' Duval said. ``It was frustrating.''

Duval's confidence seemed to sag after his usually reliable putter let him down and after that his also reliable driver began to fail.