Tiger Woods began his march to the Masters with his first victory of the year, a four-shot margin at the Bay Hill Invitational on Sunday that was secured by Phil Mickelson's blunders on the closing holes.

　　Trailing Mickelson by one stroke at the turn, Woods played mistake-free when the pressure was at its peak and closed with a 3-under 69 to become the first player to win Arnold Palmer's tournament three years in a row.

　　Woods finished at 275 and won for the 30th time in his career. At age 26, he is the youngest player in PGA Tour history to reach that benchmark.He also became the first player to make it three in a row at three PGA Tour events,shavingsalready completed the hat trick at Firestone and the Memorial Tournament.

　　A year ago, Woods ended talk about a slump by firing a 5-ironsintos15 feet for birdie on the final hole to defeat Mickelson by one stroke at Bay Hill.

　　This time, Lefty didn't make him work quite as hard.Mickelson was one stroke behind when he pulled his driversintosthe trees on the par-5 16th hole. Instead of pitching out to the fairway, Mickelson felt his best option was to hit a thin 4-iron under the branches, over the water and toward a brick-hard green with a pin at the front left,swheresany miscue goessintosthe water.

　　It never had a chance, landing in the middle of the pond. Mickelson missed a 4-foot par putt on the 17th, and hitsintosthe rough on No. 18 for a third straight bogey."I would have loved to pitch out, but I didn't have a shot to the fairway," Mickelson said. "The only shot was to go at the green. I don't feel like the play was bad, I just didn't execute it. It wasn't very easy, but it wasn't impossible."

　　Leading by two strokes at one point, Mickelson finished a a 71, in a tie for third, five strokes behind. Michael Campbell of New Zealand holed a 42-foot chip on the 18th for birdie to close with a 71 and finish second at 279, his best finish ever on the PGA Tour.

　　Len Mattiace, who played in the finalsgroupswith Woods, had a 73 and tied for third with Rocco Mediate (70), John Huston (72) and Mickelson.A year ago, Woods rode the momentum of his first victorysintoshistory—The Players Championship the following week, then his second victory in the Masters to become the first player to sweep the four professional majors.