Vaughn Taylor wins Pebble Beach for 1st PGA Tour win in 11 years

A week ago, Vaughn Taylor was flying home to the United States from Colombia. He had pulled out of the Web.com Tour event there with the flu. He hadn’t been able to eat in two-and-a-half days.

However, as a past two-time PGA Tour winner, Taylor got into the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. And with a final round of 7-under 65, Taylor gave himself the lead as the final group of Phil Mickelson and Hiroshi Iwata came up the par-5 18th at Pebble Beach.

Mickelson, who had gone sideways through most of the final round, had rallied on the prior two holes, made a clutch par on the 16th and a birdie from just off the green at the par-3 17th to come to the last needing a birdie to force a playoff. He was in the neck leading to the green in two, needing what seemed a fairly routine up-and-down for the overtime-inducing 4. After a sub-standard chip, Mickelson left 5 feet for the tying birdie. Mickelson hit the putt too hard, lipping it out on the left side.

In an instant, Taylor again became a PGA Tour winner. His 17-under total good enough to beat Mickelson by one, Jonas Blixt by two and Freddie Jacobson and Hiroshi Iwata by three.

Taylor shot to the top of the leaderboard with a run of four consecutive birdies from hole Nos. 13-16, finishing off a nine-birdie, two-bogey round with a pair of pars.

For Taylor, it’s his first PGA Tour win since succesfully defending the Reno-Tahoe Open title in 2005 – a stretch of 10 years, 5 months and 24 days. The win gets Taylor, who went to Augusta State University, a return trip to the Masters and a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour.

More PGA Tour video

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Follow @RyanBallengee

LISTEN TO OUR WEEKLY GOLF PODCAST! This week: How will the Big Four adjust to superstardom?

Devil Ball Golf – Golf – Yahoo Sports