SPRINGFIELD, New Jersey, 16 August 2005 — Phil Mickelson delivered another dramatic finish in a major yesterday, flopping a chip out of deep rough to 2 feet for a birdie on the final hole and a one-shot victory in the PGA Championship.

The putt wasn’t nearly as long as his 18-footer to win the Masters last year, and there was no need to jump for joy this time.

Still, it was a sweet conclusion to a major championship season that had gone sour until he put together his best golf of the summer stretched over five days at Baltusrol by a storm-delayed final round.

It was the first Monday finish at the PGA Championship in 19 years. And not since 1986 at Inverness had a player from the last group won with a birdie on the 72nd hole at the final major.

Bob Tway got his by holing a bunker shot to deny Greg Norman. Mickelson’s chip from about 50 feet wasn’t nearly as dramatic, but it was no less effective.

Steve Elkington, then Thomas Bjorn, came to the 554-yard closing hole with a chance to make birdie. Elkington grazed the left edge of the cup from 10 feet. Bjorn pulled his second shot into the left bunker and blasted to 20 feet, his putt looking good all the way until it caught the inside edge of the cup and spun out.

Mickelson was 247 yards away, some 10 yards behind the plaque in the fairway that commemorated the 1-iron Jack Nicklaus hit to the green in 1967 to win the US Open. He tapped it twice with his 4-wood for luck, but the shot came up short in grass that covered the tops of his shoes.

The flop came out perfect, and Mickelson raised his arms and lightly pumped his fist twice. The final putt was merely a tap-in, giving Lefty another year with a major trophy.

“It was a shot that I struggled with out of the rough this week,” Mickelson said. “I tried to remember some of the shots I hit as a kid in my backyard. I hit it aggressively, and the ball popped up nicely, and it rolled smoothly.”

Mickelson closed with a 2-over 72, playing the final four holes Monday morning at even par. He joined Tiger Woods, Nick Faldo and Curtis Strange as the only players in the last 20 years to win majors in consecutive years.

Mickelson finished at 4-under 276 and earned US$1.17 million (€946,433) for his fourth victory of the year, matching Woods and Vijay Singh for the most on the PGA Tour this year.

Elkington shot 71 and Bjorn had a 72, both leaving Baltusrol haunted by missed chances.

“There’s a lot to be said to be the last guy out there, having the final say,” Elkington said. “Thomas and I both had good chances to birdie 18 and couldn’t do it.”

His par to finish at 3-under 277 meant Woods was free to leave.

Woods finished birdie-birdie Sunday afternoon before thunderstorms arrived and had to wait to make sure the half-dozen guys still on the course and in contention didn’t falter.

He wound up tied with Davis Love for fourth, two shots behind. Woods has to settle for a Masters and British Open this year, missing out on the calendar Grand Slam by a combined four strokes. Bjorn dropped a shot when play resumed by missing a 6-footer on the 15th, got it back with a clutch birdie on the par-5 17th from 12 feet, and was stunned when his birdie putt on the last refused to fall.

Singh had an outside chance to become only the second repeat PGA champion in the stroke-play era, but he missed a 10-foot par putt on the 16th when play resumed, bogeyed the 18th and wound up with a 74 to tie for 10th.

United States Win Walker Cup

In Wheaton, Illinois, Jeff Overton gave the United States its first Walker Cup victory since 1997, beating Nigel Edwards 1-up in the deciding match in the Americans’ 1212-1112 triumph over Britain and Ireland on Sunday at historic Chicago Golf Club.

Overton two-putted from 20 feet on the 18th hole to secure the title after Edwards missed a 25-foot birdie try. Britain and Ireland had won the last three matches in the biennial competition, topping the United States 1212-1112 in 2003 at Ganton Golf Club in England.

Overton, 3-1 in the two-day competition, sealed the victory after Britain halved two matches and won a third at the 18th hole to stay alive.

Oliver Fisher, the youngest player in Walker Cup history at 16, made an 18-foot birdie putt to halve his match with Putnam, and Robert Dinwiddie holed a 25-foot birdie chip to earn another half-point against Matt Every. Lloyd Saltman then made a 20-footer for birdie to beat Kyle Reifers 1-up.

Brian Harman and Lee Williams also won singles matches for the United States. The 18-year-old Harman, the youngest player in US team history, routed Rhys Davies 6 and 5, and Williams beat Gary Lockerbie 4 and 3.

In the other singles matches, six-time Walker Cup player Gary Wolstenholme beat Anthony Kim 1-up, and Matthew Richardson topped John Holmes 5 and 4. The teams split the morning alternate-shot matches.

Kim and Harman beat Saltman and Richie Ramsay 4 and 2, and Holmes and Nicolas Thompson edged Fisher and Richardson 2 and 1.