Vaughn Taylor: in the bag

He picked up a bug, got violently ill and had to withdraw.

It was not to be for the five-time major victor, with Taylor’s mark of 17-under enough to finish one clear. Talk about a twist of fate.

“I’m certainly disappointed that I wasn’t able to put it together”, he said. I’m at a loss for words. “I know he was nervous”. I lost a lot of confidence. And it just tells me I still need a little bit of work. And I just can’t believe it actually happened today.

Phil Mickelson hits out of a bunker onto the second green of the Pebble Beach Golf Links during the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am golf tournament Sunday.

Taylor is a 39-year-old who had gone just more than 10 years since his last victory and had not held a full PGA Tour card for the last three years.

“It’s just frustrating when you don’t putt very well and you don’t convert, and to make the putts when it counts, that’s even more satisfying”.

With Jordan Spieth – the top golfer in the world – warming up on the putting green, he got some unexpected help.

He will be going for a record-tying fifth victory in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Taylor shot to the top of the leaderboard with a run of four consecutive birdies from hole Nos. Justin Rose was among five players to have at least a share of the lead at one point Saturday, reaching 13 under. Shane Lowry finished five-shots further back in a tie for 41st place. Hiroshi Iwata of Japan, who played with Mickelson in the final group, was one shot behind until he missed the 16th green and made bogey. Ecstasy for Taylor, agony for Phil. Instead, he heard groans when Mickelson’s short putt spun out on the left edge of the cup. “I’m thinking about the Masters”. I don’t wanna take the credit. “I just flushed it. It was kind of going in from the start”.

Mickelson, seeking his first PGA Tour victory in almost 31 months, started Sunday’s final round with a two-shot lead.

“It was a great week for the boys with some fantastic golf at a wonderful venue”, said Rae. “It’s pretty cool to win one of these”.

In addition to struggles on the course, he endured a frightening boat accident while fishing on a river near his home in 2014 – one in which he feared he would drown.

“A life-changer”, he said Sunday of the experience. It was pretty scary.

“For a minute I thought I could drown”, he said.

Sort of like his golf career in recent years.

The 42-time PGA Tour winner’s last title came at the 2013 Open Championship. His best finish, ironically, was a tie for 10th at the AT&T. Taylor’s total of 270 was a cumulative 17-under par. He had been playing in South America and on the Web.com Tour and was 447th on the Official World Golf Ranking.

Even for a player blessed with perhaps the best short game of all time, it was simply too much scrambling to manage.