World number two Phil Mickelson survived a nervous final hole to edge out South Africa's Ernie Els by one shot and win the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions following a thrilling final round in Shanghai.

With Els in the clubhouse following a nine-under-par 63, the third course record of the day, Mickelson survived finding rough twice on his final hole to claim a second HSBC Champions title in three years and second WGC title of his career following March's CA Championship success.

Mickelson signed for a final round score of three under 69 to finish at 17-under-par overall.

Fellow three-time major winner Els will be left to rue his only bogey of the day at the 18th after hitting his approach into the water at the front of the green.

Ryan Moore carded a final round 68 to finish two shots off the pace in third, with Rory McIlroy boosting his Race to Dubai bid after a brilliant 63 earned fourth at 14-under-par.

Nick Watney's final round 71 ensured fifth ahead of another Race to Dubai contender Martin Kaymer (67) and an out-of-sorts Tiger Woods.

The world number one began the final round two shots behind Mickelson in second, but a level par 72 left Woods five adrift and tied for sixth with Kaymer following runner-up finishes on his previous two trips to Shanghai.

On a day Woods uncharacteristically missed several short putts, his round was summed up at the last as he hit through the green and into water to ship a third bogey of the day.

Alvaro Quiros (66) and Race to Dubai leader Lee Westwood (71) shared eighth at 11-under-par to leave the Order of Merit set for a thrilling climax with just two events remaining.

Almost unnoticed with the battle at the top of the leaderboard, Japan's Daisuke Maruyama, playing only his second event on The European Tour, earlier posted the first of the three new course records to claim a tie for 10th alongside Anthony Kim, Retief Goosen, Soren Kjeldsen, Francesco Molinari, Geoff Ogilvy and Pat Perez.

With third round leader Mickelson in the final group and two groups behind, Els tapped home a birdie at the par-three 17th to take the lead by one after beginning the day seven shots off the pace.

But then Els completely mis-hit his second shot into the five-par 18th and dumped his approach into the water at the front of the green.

Mickelson then saved a par at 16 with an 18 foot putt after appearing to be heading for a bogey after duffing his chipped second shot.

With Els eventually shipping a bogey at the last to post the clubhouse lead at 16 under, Mickelson rolled home a six foot birdie putt at the 17th to claim a one shot lead.

But the drama did not stop there as Mickelson hit his final tee shot into the crowd at the side of the fairway and was faced with a buried lie in the trampled rough.

With Els watching on TV, Mickelson could only advance into the rough with his second but held his nerve to find the green and with two putts for the title, rolled his first to within a foot before tapping home.

Collated final round scores & totals in the WGC HSBC Champions, Sheshan International GC, Shanghai, China

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

271 Phil Mickelson (USA) 69 66 67 69

272 Ernie Els (Rsa) 70 71 68 63

273 Ryan Moore (USA) 66 69 70 68

274 Rory McIlroy 73 68 70 63

275 Nick Watney (USA) 64 70 70 71

276 Tiger Woods (USA) 67 67 70 72, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 66 74 69 67

277 Lee Westwood 70 71 65 71, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 69 66 76 66

278 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 73 67 70 68, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 69 72 71 66, Anthony Kim (USA) 67 69 72 70, Pat Perez (USA) 68 69 75 66, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 71 71 68 68, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 72 74 65 67, Daisuke Maruyama (Jpn) 72 69 74 63

279 Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) 72 67 70 70, Koumei Oda (Jpn) 70 69 72 68

280 Alexander Noren (Swe) 70 71 71 68, Matt Kuchar (USA) 68 72 72 68, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 68 70 70 72, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 71 69 70 70

281 Robert Allenby (Aus) 73 69 70 69, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 75 70 69 67

282 Brian Gay (USA) 69 69 72 72, Camilo Villegas (Col) 70 69 73 70, Padraig Harrington 74 69 72 67

283 Ross Fisher 70 70 72 71, Shane Lowry 66 74 71 72, Simon Dyson 72 69 72 70

284 Peter Hanson (Swe) 72 72 75 65, Mark Brown (Nzl) 71 74 71 68

285 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 73 72 70 70, James Kingston (Rsa) 70 70 75 70, Yong-eun Yang (Kor) 72 71 75 67, Scott Strange (Aus) 71 72 74 68, Wen-Tang Lin (Tpe) 67 72 70 76, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 71 74 70 70, Shingo Katayama (Jpn) 75 68 77 65

287 Rodney Pampling (Aus) 69 72 75 71, Garth Mulroy (Rsa) 69 72 76 70, Jason Dufner (USA) 69 71 73 74, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 73 73 73 68, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 69 72 74 72

288 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 74 71 70 73, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 74 68 76 70, Oliver Wilson 71 72 73 72, Ian Poulter 72 69 79 68, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 72 74 73 69, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 73 73 72 70

289 Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 81 69 70 69, Yuta Ikeda (Jpn) 73 73 71 72, Stewart Cink (USA) 71 74 75 69

290 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 73 77 71 69, Jerry Kelly (USA) 71 75 74 70, Martin Laird 72 74 73 71

291 Steve Marino (USA) 77 70 74 70, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 72 74 73 72, Thomas Levet (Fra) 77 77 72 65

292 Chih-bing Lam (Sin) 71 74 75 72, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 74 73 72 73

293 Nathan Green (Aus) 79 77 72 65, Sean O'Hair (USA) 74 71 76 72294 Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 76 72 73 73, Mark Murless (Rsa) 71 76 79 68

295 Danny Lee (Nzl) 74 71 76 74, Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 73 70 80 72

296 Anthony Kang (USA) 75 76 76 69, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 74 78 73 71

298 Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 74 74 74 76, Ashun Wu (Chn) 74 71 83 70, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 77 71 76 74

299 Jean Hugo (Rsa) 78 76 74 71

300 Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 74 76 76 74, Nick Dougherty 68 80 76 76, C Muniyappa (Ind) 74 69 78 79

301 Wei-Huang Wu (Chn) 74 78 75 74

RTD: Paul Casey 67 73 70