Taylor digs deep to deny Mickelson a sixth win at Pebble Beach
Nick Taylor
Canadian Nick Taylor held off Phil Mickelson to claim his first win for nearly six years with a wire-to-wire victory in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
He shot a two-under 70 to win by four strokes from Kevin Streelman on 19-under par as the flamboyant left-hander shot a disappointing 74 to finish a shot further back in third in his bid for a record sixth win in the event.
Taylor, whose only previous PGA Tour win came in the 2014 Sanderson Farms Championship, turned in four-under-par to lead Mickelson by five strokes and that run ultimately proved decisive despite some drama on the back nine.
Mickelson was a shot behind overnight after putting on a short game clinic in a third-round 67 at Pebble Beach. But while he birdied the second, fifth and sixth, he found himself two behind as Taylor followed birdies at the fourth and fifth with an eagle three at the sixth, where he holed out from a bunker.
When Taylor bogeyed the eighth, Mickelson made a double-bogey, then dropped another shot at the ninth to turn in level par to the Canadian's four-under 32. It meant a five-shot lead for Taylor heading into the back nine and while he bogeyed the 11th and 12th and took seven to Mickelson's six at the par-five 14th to see his lead cut to two shots, he played the last four holes in two-under, crucially chipping in at the 15th before rifling his tee shot to six feet to set up a title-clinching two at the iconic 17th.
Streelman came home in 33 to card a 68 and snatch second from Mickelson, who would scramble just three times out of eight for par compared to eight out of nine in the third round.
Despite it all, the veteran (49) was pleased to follow two missed cuts to start the season with two third-place finishes in Saudi Arabia and California, moving him to 55th in the world:
So I'll tell you, I had a lot of fun today having a chance to be in contention and having a chance to win. It was fun to get back in it. And these last couple of weeks have really given me a lot of motivation and momentum to continue doing what I've been doing. It's disappointing certainly to have not won, but I got outplayed. I mean, Nick played better than I did. He holed a couple of great shots. That eagle on 6, the putts he made on 4, 5 and 7 and he just really played some great golf. I kept -- I had a couple of times where I hit really good shots in bad spots and I had a couple times where I just then didn't quite trust it and made some bad swings. I fought hard. But I loved having a chance to be in it again. It's so fun being in the last group, and I'm hoping to continue to build on this.
Taylor, a former No 1 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, was thrilled to win in difficult final round conditions, especially having struggled to keep his card in recent years.
"I guess I can do it," said the 31-year old, who jumps from 229th to 101st in the world. "You never know when that one break happens. I had to battle for my card the last few years, I think some of those rounds to keep my card helped me today for sure. It was huge days and it just gives me great confidence moving forward."
Seamus Power faded on the final day, carding a two-over 74 to finish tied 38th with Viktor Hovland (77) on two-under and win $28,561 after Pádraig Harrington (two-over) and Graeme McDowell (three-over) missed the three-under-par, 54-hole cut.
At the Challenge Tour's RAM Cape Town Open, Gavin Moynihan (€1,869) finished tied 37th on three-under after a 72 and Robin Dawson (€1,527) joint 59th after a 75.
Sweden's Anton Karlsson came from three shots behind, carding a three-under 69 in challenging conditions to edge out South African Garrick Higgo and win his maiden title by one stroke on 14-under-par.
