Phil Mickelson completed a near-flawless final round to secure an emphatic two-stroke victory at the Players Championship.

In just his third tournament since sacking long-time instructor Rick Smith to work solely with Butch Harmon, Californian Mickelson hardly hit a bad shot in a three-under-par 69 in perfect conditions at the Sawgrass TPC.

He took the lead for good at the 10th hole and was never seriously troubled down the stretch, a meaningless bogey at the final hole the only blemish on his card as he finished at 11-under 277.

Mickelson collected $1,620,000 (£816,156) for his first victory at this event, his 31st on the US Tour, and he improved to second on the world rankings behind Tiger Woods.

Third-round leader Sean O'Hair was Mickelson's only challenger, but his hopes drowned at the infamous par-three 17th, where he put two balls into the water surrounding the island green.

He said: "I'm not playing for second. I was in a good spot to win and unfortunately I got kicked in the teeth.

"I had an opportunity and it didn't happen. I'm not going to let this bother me."

O'Hair bogeyed the last to shoot 76 and fall all the way to 11th, as Sergio Garcia claimed second after a sizzling six-under 66, with fellow Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal (67) and American Stewart Cink (66) another shot back in a tie for third.

Garcia was delighted with his finish, which included four successive birdies from the 14th.

"I got really hot," he said after hitting all but one green in regulation.

"I barely missed a fairway, barely missed a green the last two days. I'm very pleased with that. I felt comfortable all week with my swing."

However, he could only rue the double bogey he made to end the third round, wondering what might have been.

Luke Donald, the only British player within striking distance at the start of the day, never got his charge off the launch pad, shooting 74 to finish equal 16th at three-under 285.

Ian Poulter (69) was two shots further back, with Irishman Padraig Harrington (70) equal 52nd on two-over 290.

Mickelson was in fine form early, splitting the fairway with three of his first four drives.

He birdied the first two holes and added further birdies at the par-four seventh and par-five 11th to put a little distance between himself and O'Hair.

Meanwhile, Woods finally produced the sort of form that had eluded him all week, shooting a five-under 67.

It was too little, too late to have any real meaning.

But, to listen to Woods, his long game was in pretty good shape all week, not that he could say the same about his putting.

"I knew I could shoot a round in the 60s if I'd just make a few putts, and today I did," he said after finishing equal 37th, 11 strokes off the pace.

He was in a considerably better mood than after his third round, when he did not stop to talk to the media, or anyone else for that matter.

"I was just tired of hitting good putts and having them all lip out, because I didn't feel like I was playing that poorly," he continued.

"I had eight lip-outs yesterday. I was tired of it. Good putts weren't going in. I was really frustrated."

Woods decided to take less time reading the putts during the final round, and it seemed to pay off as he made as he made five birdies and an eagle.

He added: "Because the greens are new, I'm not used to reading them yet. Today, I just said 'go with your first instinct and hit it and be aggressive'.

"I went for a more aggressive approach and I started making putts."

Woods claimed his long game was better this week than at last week's Wachovia Championship, which he won.

He also revealed his left knee, on which he had surgery more than four years ago, was bothering him, both while walking and during his swing.

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

277 Phil Mickelson 67 72 69 69

279 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 73 73 67 66

280 Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 78 66 69 67, Stewart Cink 74 69 71 66

281 Jose Coceres (Arg) 73 70 68 70

282 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 77 68 71 66, Adam Scott (Aus) 74 71 70 67, Jeff Quinney 71 74 64 73, J.P. Hayes 71 73 68 70, Peter Lonard (Aus) 69 72 68 73

283 Sean O'Hair 72 69 66 76

284 Mathew Goggin (Aus) 72 71 71 70, Chris DiMarco 68 74 69 73, Brandt Snedeker 72 74 68 70, Steve Elkington (Aus) 73 71 70 70

285 Nathan Green (Aus) 71 69 74 71, J.B. Holmes 76 72 69 68, Zach Johnson 73 73 70 69, Ted Purdy 74 73 67 71, Luke Donald (Eng) 74 72 65 74, Jonathan Byrd 74 71 71 69, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 74 71 71 69

286 Kirk Triplett 75 68 73 70, KJ Choi (Kor) 71 74 70 71, Tom Lehman 70 73 73 70, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 72 76 66 72, Jason Gore 70 74 72 70

287 Jerry Kelly 73 73 69 72, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 71 74 71 71, Steve Lowery 78 66 71 72, Cliff Kresge 72 72 69 74, Tom Pernice Jnr. 74 68 72 73, Joe Durant 76 71 69 71, Jim Furyk 71 72 74 70, Ian Poulter (Eng) 75 71 72 69, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 70 71 70 76

288 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 72 72 67 77, Tiger Woods 75 73 73 67, Ernie Els (Rsa) 73 73 72 70, Mike Weir (Can) 75 72 72 69, Ken Duke 76 72 70 70, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 74 71 67 76, Frank Lickliter II 77 72 69 70

289 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 67 79 71 72, Rodney Pampling (Aus) 70 71 80 68, Heath Slocum 78 71 69 71, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 74 71 76 68, Vijay Singh (Fij) 74 71 70 74, Boo Weekley 74 73 71 71, Rocco Mediate 72 71 77 69, Scott Verplank 72 77 68 72

290 Steve Stricker 72 75 70 73, Tim Herron 77 71 73 69, John Senden (Aus) 73 74 71 72, Harrison Frazar 74 71 73 72, Brett Wetterich 74 75 71 70, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 76 70 74 70

291 Kenny Perry 73 75 73 70, Bernhard Langer (Ger) 72 77 73 69, John Rollins 76 71 68 76, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 74 75 69 73, Rich Beem 71 73 74 73, Kevin Sutherland 73 71 74 73

292 Arron Oberholser 73 73 79 67, Paul Azinger 78 71 70 73, David Toms 77 72 73 70, John Mallinger 73 74 72 73

293 Joey Sindelar 74 75 72 72, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 77 71 75 70, Tim Clark (Rsa) 73 72 67 81, Ryan Moore 78 69 75 71

294 Bill Haas 76 73 73 72, Corey Pavin 75 72 71 76, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 75 73 74 72

295 Charley Hoffman 75 69 76 75, Ryan Palmer 77 72 71 75, Davis Love III 77 71 73 74, Todd Hamilton 75 73 76 71

298 Charles Howell III 73 74 75 76