Texas Children's Houston Open

Memorial Park Golf Course



The Loop

Watch how close Phil Mickelson came to forcing a playoff at Pebble Beach

February 14, 2016

Jim Nantz gave TV viewers the most Jim Nantz story about Phil Mickelson and his grandfather as the five-time major champ lined up a five-footer to keep his chances alive for a fifth win at Pebble Beach. And then, booth partner Nick Faldo, citing similar cosmic signs, guaranteed Phil would force a playoff. But sometimes, the ball just doesn't listen.

Mickelson stroked his short birdie putt on 18, and. . .

Mickelson's miss gave Vaughn Taylor his third PGA Tour title, but his first in more than a decade. It's also Taylor's first win other than the Reno-Tahoe Open, an opposite-field event.

Mickelson entered Sunday with a two-shot lead and looking for his first win since the 2013 British Open, a span that probably feels like a decade for the 42-time PGA Tour winner. His chance to win looked like it had slipped away with a bogey on the par-5 14th, but Mickelson stayed in the hunt by holing a curling six-footer for par on No. 16 and then making a 14-footer for birdie on the difficult 17th.

On 18, Mickelson's tee shot found the fairway, and his hybrid approach came up just short of the green in a good spot. But a sub-standard pitch left him that final birdie attempt that lipped out.