Defending champion Phil Mickelson wobbled with five bogeys midway through the final round of the Northern Trust Open, but held his nerve to edge out Steve Stricker by one stroke.
The world number five started the final day with a four-stroke lead, but after carding an eagle at the opening hole for the third straight day, Mickelson shipped five bogeys in 13 holes to open the door for Stricker.
Then, just when it looked as if he might throw the title away, the world's leading left-hander birdied 16 and 17 to stop the rot and overtake Stricker.
His one-over-par 72 was in the end enough to give him his 35th career PGA victory at 15-under.
Stricker signed for six birdies in a four-under 67 to claim second - with Fred Couples (69), South Korea's KJ Choi (69) and Argentina's Andres Romero (70) third at 13 under.
JB Holmes (68), England's Luke Donald (68), Mark Calcavecchia (69) and South Africa's Rory Sabbatini (70) finished tied for sixth at 12 under - with Zimbabwe's Brendon de Jonge (67), Dustin Johnson (70) and Scott McCarron (71) rounding out the top 10.
Mickelson, who last year led by four shots after 36 holes and took a one-stroke lead into the final round before posting a two-stroke victory, picked out his nine-iron approach to five feet on the 16th green as a key moment.
"It was a nine iron from 152 (yards)," Mickelson said. "It was playing 152 with the downhill. I think the actual yardage was a little longer. It was a key shot for me, because I knew I was two back. I knew 18 was a very tough birdie hole, so I had to birdie 16 and 17 to get even with Stricker.
"I birdied 16, and after I hit my best drive of the week on 17, I saw that he had bogeyed 18.
So now birdie on 17 would give me the lead. But it goes back to that birdie putt on 16. Without that, I'm still fighting just for a play-off."
Mickelson then sank a six-foot putt at his penultimate hole of the round to cap the comeback.
For Stricker, the critical hole was the 17th where he missed a birdie chance.
"I didn't like my chances when he birdied 17," said Stricker, who was playing ahead of Mickelson.
"But, for me, the tournament was at 17, really, when I'm looking back at it. Not making birdie there to get to 16. You can almost go down the last with a little bit calmer feeling if I would have made the putt at 17."
Collated scores
(USA unless stated, par 71):
269Phil Mickelson 63 72 62 72
270Steve Stricker 68 66 69 67
271Andres Romero (Arg) 66 70 65 70, KJ Choi (Kor) 66 69 67 69, Fred Couples 67 70 65 69
272Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 68 67 67 70, J.B. Holmes 73 67 64 68, Mark Calcavecchia 70 69 64 69, Luke Donald (Eng) 66 69 69 68
273Dustin Johnson 66 70 67 70, Brendon De Jonge 69 70 67 67, Scott McCarron 64 68 70 71
274Chris DiMarco 68 72 66 68, Rich Beem 68 69 69 68, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 72 68 68 66, Tim Clark (Rsa) 68 72 66 68
276Brian Davis (Eng) 69 69 68 70, Kevin Sutherland 72 67 68 69, Bubba Watson 69 71 68 68, Kenny Perry 70 68 69 69, Hunter Mahan 69 69 68 70, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 70 68 67 71, Robert Allenby (Aus) 70 67 68 71, Dean Wilson 66 72 67 71
277Kevin Na 67 69 72 69, Jeff Quinney 69 71 70 67, Ben Curtis 68 69 69 71, Tommy Armour III 67 67 72 71, Jason Bohn 73 66 68 70
278Charley Hoffman 68 72 70 68, Pat Perez 69 66 75 68, Bill Lunde 69 67 71 71, Woody Austin 68 70 69 71, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 68 67 71 72, Bo Van Pelt 68 71 74 65, Marc Turnesa 69 68 71 70, Briny Baird 67 70 68 73, D.J. Trahan 67 72 72 67
279Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 69 70 71 69, Bob Estes 72 65 73 69
280Brad Adamonis 70 70 72 68, Jerry Kelly 72 68 69 71, Graeme McDowell(NIrl) 70 71 66 73, Soren Hansen (Den) 70 69 72 69, Joe Ogilvie 70 70 69 71, John Mallinger 70 68 73 69, Jeff Klauk 67 72 68 73, Jim Furyk 66 71 75 68, Cameron Beckman 70 71 71 68, Rocco Mediate 70 68 70 72
281Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 71 70 72 68, Kirk Triplett 67 70 73 71, Bart Bryant 74 67 71 69, Ernie Els (Rsa) 71 67 73 70, Brandt Jobe 68 72 70 71, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 68 71 72 70
282Chad Campbell 72 68 69 73, Matt Kuchar 70 68 75 69
283Charlie Wi (Kor) 70 71 74 68, Nick Watney 71 68 73 71, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 67 73 71 72, David Duval 70 69 71 73, Charles Howell III 72 67 75 69
284Michael Letzig 70 71 71 72, John Merrick 66 71 72 75, Scott Verplank 71 70 71 72, Stephen Ames (Can) 71 70 71 72, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 71 68 73 72
285Retief Goosen (Rsa) 68 71 71 75
286Jimmy Walker 69 70 70 77
287Ryan Moore 68 71 77 71
288Daniel Chopra (Swe) 73 67 74 74, Mike Weir (Can) 70 71 70 77
289Jason Gore 69 70 75 75
