Mickelson built a 6-shot lead over the world's No. 1 player on the front nine, then rallied to beat Ernie Els with two clutch putts for a 1-shot victory in the final World Golf Championship event of the year.

Mickelson closed with a 3-under 69 at Sheshan International and won for the first time playing with Woods in the final group.

Even with Woods out of the picture - he shot a 72 and wound up 5 shots behind - Mickelson provided his usual dose of entertainment.

Trailing by 1 shot, Mickelson whiffed on a risky flop shot below the 16th green, only to save par with perhaps his best putt of the year, an 18-footer. He followed that with a 10-foot birdie on the 17th, which turned out to be the difference when Els hit into the water on the par-5 18th and made bogey.

"We all expected that Tiger and myself would be shooting in the mid-60s and pull away a little bit," Mickelson said. "And yet our group was not making any birdies. It was the groups in front of us. And I was very fortunate to come out on top by a shot. But this feels terrific, because I had to fight very hard throughout the day. Nothing came easy."

That was also true for Woods. He looked out of sorts from the start, missing birdie putts of four and 10 feet, then taking double bogey on the par-3 fourth when he hit into a canal to the left of the green where residents on the other side routinely dump their garbage.

Hearing a series of camera shutters in the middle of his swing on No. 7 caused him to hit his tee shot into a plugged lie in the bunker, and it took Woods three shots to cover the final 75 yards and reach the green for another bogey.

"Anything that could go wrong went wrong for me today," Woods said. "Just one of those days."

Mickelson finished at 17-under 271 and earned $1.2 million for his fourth victory of the year, matching his career best. And while the PGA Tour does not count this World Golf Championship event as official, it sure felt that way.

LPGA Tour