Taylor Claims AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

Vaughn Taylor doesn't know how he lost his game. Even more mystifying was the way it returned.

His goal Sunday, when he teed off in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am trailing Phil Mickelson by six shots, was to finish in the top 10 so he wouldn't have to rush down to Los Angeles to try to qualify for the next PGA Tour event.

It had been more than a decade since Taylor had won. It had been three years since he had a full PGA Tour card. Just 10 days ago, Taylor was throwing up in his hotel room in Bogota, Colombia, so sick that he withdrew from a Web.com Tour event and flew to Pebble Beach as an alternate. The one-time Ryder Cup player had only a carry-on bag with him to save money on baggage fees.

Taylor ran off four straight birdies on the back nine at Pebble Beach to close with a 7-under 65, and he wasn't sure it was enough when Mickelson stood over a 5-foot birdie putt to force a playoff.

Then Taylor got one last surprise: Mickelson missed.

"Just absolutely amazing," Taylor said. "Didn't know if it would ever happen again, to be honest. Just lost a lot of confidence, lost a good bit of my game. I just kept working, grinding and kept at it. And I can't believe it actually happened today."

Neither could Mickelson.

Lefty was going for his record-tying fifth victory at Pebble Beach and the 43rd title of his Hall of Fame career. He had a 2-shot lead to start the final round, lost the lead after five holes, rallied with a birdie on the 17th hole and then delivered two good shots to within 60 feet of the hole, just short of the green on the par-5 18th.

"It never crossed my mind that I wouldn't make that one," Mickelson said after his 72.