Seeking his first PGA Tour title in nine events, Tiger Woods finished a flawed three-under-par 69 with a 15-foot birdie putt and won a duel between the two top-ranked players in the world at the Bay Hill Invitational.

Woods began the day with a one-shot edge over 21-year-old Sergio Garcia of Spain but watched Phil Mickelson erase a four-stroke deficit and enter the clubhouse with a share of the lead.

Trying to become just the second player to defend his title at this event, Woods birdied three of the final five holes, sinking a 40-foot putt at the 14th and scrambling for birdies at the 16th and 18th.

Golf's superstar missed the fairway badly with tee shots at the 16th and 18th but used his braun and putting touch to birdie both.

"It was ugly," said Woods, who joined Loren Roberts (1994-1995) as the only consecutive winners at this event.

"That's all I can say about it.

"I didn't really hit the ball that solid and definitely didn't really know where it was going to go but forward."

After rolling in his birdie putt at the 18th for his 17th PGA Tour title since June 1999, Woods gave his caddie an emphatic high-five and a hug.

The celebration was a reaction to his so-called slump, which spanned eight PGA Tour events.

He had not placed better than fourth in five tournaments this year.

"If they (media) believe that's a slump, then they really don't understand," said Woods, whose scoring average is lower than it was at this point last year.

"If you look at the numbers, the numbers aren't that bad."

Mickelson, the 1997 champion, was brilliant in carding a 66 but settled for his third top-three finish of the season.

He won a play-off at the Buick Invitational and tied for third at Pebble Beach.

"I felt like I played a good round today," he said.

"I felt like I did what I needed to do to ultimately win and Tiger did the same. He just did what he needed to do."

Garcia had a share of the lead before triple-bogeying the sixth hole.

He shot a 72 and tied for fourth at nine-under 279 with Masters champion Vijay Singh of Fiji, Australian Greg Norman and Steve Lowery.

Norman, who holds a share of the Bay Hill Club and Lodge course record with a 62 in 1984, was playing his first PGA Tour event of the season.

PGA Tour officials moved up Sunday's tee times to avoid an impending storm and Woods had trouble getting started, bogeying the first hole to fall into a tie with Garcia at 11-under.

But he rebounded with birdies at the fourth and sixth and had a seemingly comfortable three-shot lead over Mickelson and Chris Perry.

Garcia fell apart at the par-five sixth, where his approach shot ended up on rocks that surround a pond.

His triple-bogey dropped him four shots off the lead.

Before two-putting for birdie at the sixth, Woods used a driver off the tee and found only one of seven fairways on the day.

He missed the fairway at the 15th, 16th and 18th but birdied two of them.

"I've missed fairways before and I've hit seven fairways like that, but they were not, obviously, off the planet left or right," said Woods, who claimed the 630,000 US dollars (£440,000) top prize.

Woods hit the fairway with a two-iron at the 438-yard 11th but was short of the green with his approach.

After his flop shot rolled 25 feet past the hole, he two-putted for bogey.

The bogey, coupled with Mickelson's birdies at Nos. 11 and 12, brought the world's top-ranked players into a tie at 12-under.

Mickelson took the lead with a 12-foot birdie putt at the 15th and kept it by two-putting for birdie at the 16th.

Woods had remained within a shot with his long birdie putt at the 14th.

"It was nice to score as well as I did on the back nine, knowing the fact that he's making birdies and I know he's playing well because he had not made a bogey all day," Woods said.

After parring the 15th, Woods hooked his tee shot at the 16th but found the green from 225 yards and two-putted the par-5 for birdie and a share of the lead.

Just as Woods tapped in, Mickelson almost pulled off a miracle, nearly holing a birdie from 207 yards, watching in amazement as it rolled 18 inches past the hole.

He had laid up after burying his tee shot in the rough.

"I thought it had a chance," he said.

"It looked like it might go."

Mickelson tapped in for par and entered the clubhouse with a share of the lead, forcing Woods to birdie one of his final two holes to win.

Woods also parred the 17th but not before falling to all fours when his 35-foot birdie putt burned the right side of the cup.

"I thought I had made that one," he said. "That putt looked good."

He followed that pattern at the 18th, sending his tee shot way left.

But the ball hit a spectator in the head and ended up in the left rough, giving Woods a perfect angle at the green that is bordered by a large pond to the right.

"I heard I smoked somebody over there and some lady picked it up, but they said she dropped it right back where it was," he said.

Woods went for the centre of the green with his 191-yard approach and rolled the ball within 15 feet of the cup before sinking the left-to-right breaker for the title.

"I was very lucky to have the breaks that occurred and executed a couple good shots after that," he said.

Leading scores and totals after the final round of the Bay Hill Invitational, Orlando, Florida (USA unless stated):

273 T Woods 71 67 66 69

274 P Mickelson 66 72 70 66

278 G Waite (Nzl) 66 71 72 69

279 S Lowery 68-70-70-71, V Singh (Fij) 71 70 66 72, G Norman (Aus) 69 71 68 71, S Garcia (Spa) 71 66 68 74

280 D Paulson 66 75 69 70, S Hoch 68 72 69 71, P Goydos 68 68 73 71, J Sluman 67 74 68 71, L Janzen 67 72 69 72, C Perry 71 66 69 74

281 H Frazar 70 70 68 73

282 F Funk 70 72 71 69, P Azinger 71 70 71 70

Selected others:

283 L Westwood (Gbr) 71 72 68 72

284 F Nobilo (Nzl) 72 69 70 73, F Allem (Rsa) 70 67 73 74

286 B Langer (Ger) 72 70 70 74, G Chalmers (Aus) 71 70 73 72, N Faldo (Gbr) 72 72 68 74, R Goosen (Rsa) 72 72 71 71, R Allenby (Aus) 72 72 74 68

287 J Ozaki (Jpn) 74 71 69 73

289 J Van de Velde (Fra) 69 76 72 72

290 KJ Choi (Kor) 71 72 70 77, D Frost (Rsa) 68 70 75 77, G Ogilvy (Aus) 69 72 70 79, C Montgomerie (Gbr) 75 69 75 71

292 E Els (Rsa) 73 70 74 75

293 S Ames (Tri) 74 70 72 77

295 C Parry (Aus) 71 73 72 79