Tiger Woods Trumps Phil Mickelson at Doral

By Ken Savage | Mar 7, 2005

Tiger Woods returned to the No. 1 ranking in the world as he prevailed Sunday in the much-anticipated duel between himself and Phil Mickelson.

Woods birdied the 17th hole Sunday to shoot a six-under 66 and win the Ford Championship at Doral. He finished at 24-under-par 264, good for a one-shot win over Mickelson, who shot a final-round 69.

Woods collected his second win of 2005. He also captured the Buick Invitational and the 29-year-old now has 42 victories on the PGA Tour. Woods’ win propelled him back into the No. 1 spot in the world rankings.

“What a day. We both played really good golf,” said Woods, who pocketed $990,000 for the win. “So far, I’ve gotten two wins this year, which is a nice start. The rankings will take care of itself with wins.”

For Mickelson, this stopped many streaks. The reigning Masters champion held at least a piece of the lead after his last 10 stroke-play rounds, having won his last two stroke-play starts, the FBR Open in Phoenix and the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

“I’m just a little ticked at myself for not getting it done today,” Mickelson admitted. “I loved playing head-to-head against Tiger at his best. It was great fun. The result sucks.”

This was the first time the two were in the final group on Sunday since the 2003 Buick Invitational. Woods blew away the field en route to that win, but the story was different in 2000 at the Tour Championship. Mickelson became the second player ever to come from behind and defeat Woods when Woods had at least a piece of the 54-hole lead.

The pair, never the closest of friends, teamed together to an 0-2 record at last year’s Ryder Cup and this was the match-up golf fans wanted to see.