After three shaky starts and a dismal second half of 2006, Phil Mickelson finally answered the critics to win the £2.8million AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am by five strokes

Mickelson shot a final round six-under-par 66 to finish on 20 under (268) ahead of Kevin Sutherland, with John Mallinger a further shot back.

Mickelson's score tied the tournament record set by Mark O'Meara in 1997.

Getting off to a good start is usually a speciality of Mickelson's but since the debacle at last year's US Open, when he blew a golden chance to win the major championship, he seemed to have lost his touch.

He did not have a top-10 finish during the rest of the year and performed poorly at the Ryder Cup, before taking nearly five months off and struggling on his return.

"I didn't want to think about it," Mickelson said of blowing the U.S. Open. "I looked at it at the end of the year and how I drove the ball so awfully for four days and was still in contention."

Of his final round he added: "I felt very confident in my iron play.

"I really worked on my putting. Dave Pelz came up and looked at my putting and I worked very hard at improving it."

Although he won by five, Mickelson's 30th career victory was not as easy as the score indicated.

Heavy rains overnight and early yesterday morning necessitated lift, clean and place be utilised for the fourth consecutive day, but by the time the leaders went off the skies were clear and the wind was non existent.

Before the final round, Mickelson admitted he had never met fellow San Diego resident Mallinger.

He might want to make an introduction now, although it matters little to Mallinger, who had enough family and friends there to qualify as a small gallery.

"I don't know if he does or doesn't," Mallinger said about Mickelson's knowledge of the tour rookie. "It doesn't mean that much to me. I was just happy with how I played this weekend."

England's Greg Owen made a charge up the leaderboard, shooting a final-round 67 to finish fourth after struggling at the beginning of the year.

"It's just hard work," Owen said. "I worked so hard these last four weeks and it's paying off."

Owen has had back problems but said he is getting back to normal.

"My back is in a position so I can practice," Owen said. "As long as it holds up I'll keep improving."

Collated final-round scores (USA unless stated, par 72):

268 Phil Mickelson 65 67 70 66

273 Kevin Sutherland 72 63 67 71

274 John Mallinger 65 70 68 71

276 Davis Love III 70 67 70 69, Greg Owen (Eng) 68 70 71 67

277 Jim Furyk 67 65 76 69, Corey Pavin 68 72 67 70, Matt Kuchar 72 69 70 66

278 Ryan Armour 68 71 72 67, Ted Purdy 73 70 68 67

279 Daniel Chopra (Swe) 71 70 68 70, Vijay Singh (Fij) 73 66 71 69, Steve Flesch 70 70 68 71, Bo Van Pelt 72 68 71 68, Camilo Villegas (Col) 73 70 69 67

280 Hunter Mahan 69 72 70 69, J.B. Holmes 76 66 68 70, Glen Day 74 69 69 68

281 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 68 71 71 71, Jeff Overton 70 69 69 73, Omar Uresti 70 68 71 72, Tom Watson 70 68 72 71, Craig Kanada 68 69 71 73, Ryan Moore 69 76 70 66

282 Brett Quigley 70 72 70 70, Tim Petrovic 71 73 69 69, Kyle Thompson 68 71 73 70, Garrett Willis 72 68 72 70, Mark Wilson 70 71 72 69

283 Dean Wilson 68 72 73 70, Paul Goydos 68 74 71 70, Bob Heintz 72 71 71 69, Douglas Labelle 70 73 70 70, Alex Cejka (Ger) 75 67 73 68, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 74 72 68 69

284 Arjun Atwal (Ind) 67 75 71 71, Michael Putnam 72 70 73 69, Tom Lehman 69 72 74 69, David Duval 72 68 72 72, Brandt Snedeker 71 69 74 70, Johnson Wagner 74 72 68 70

285 Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 71 70 69 75, Nick Watney 65 75 72 73

286 Brendon De Jonge 68 71 74 73, Craig Barlow 69 73 71 73, Jose Coceres (Arg) 72 69 72 73, Bubba Watson 70 70 75 71, Tom Pernice Jnr. 74 71 70 71, Tommy Armour III 73 67 74 72

287 Tom Johnson 71 71 73 72, Charley Hoffman 70 69 75 73, Duffy Waldorf 74 72 69 72, Tim Herron 73 74 66 74, Mark Hensby (Aus) 69 68 77 73, Paul McGinley (Irl) 69 73 73 72

288 Ricky Barnes 72 74 69 73

289 Charles Warren 68 76 71 74, Pat Perez 72 69 73 75

290 Michael Allen 72 70 72 76, Jim McGovern 75 67 73 75