Tiger Woods erased a seven-stroke deficit to grab a share of the lead, but Phil Mickelson hung on to take a four-shot victory in the Buick Invitational at La Jolla in California and snap Woods' historic PGA win streak at six.

Mickelson birdied four of the final six holes after Woods pulled level at 15 under par with five holes remaining. Woods suffered bogies on two of the next three holes after catching Mickelson and could not recover.

Mickelson fired a two-under par 70 to finish 72 holes at 18-under par 270. Woods fired a 68 to finish at 14-under 274, sharing second with Japan's Shigeki Maruyama, who fired a final round 72 at the three million-dollar event.

"More than anything it's just disappointment," Woods said of his feelings. "I was tied for the lead at one point. I just tried to hang in with my short game. I wasn't hitting well enough to win today."

Woods' defeat ended the longest PGA win streak in 52 years. Woods equalled the run of Ben Hogan in 1948 but could not match Byron Nelson's 1945 record of 11 wins in a row.

Mickelson, last year's US Open runner-up, overcame a pair of double bogeys to capture his 14th career PGA victory, his first since August of 1998 at Pebble Beach.

"It's a very good feeling," Mickelson said. It has been a while since I won. I felt like I played against the best head on and I won. Next time I get a large lead I have to work harder, play tougher and make it a double-digit lead."

Asked what he takes away from stopping Woods' win streak and ending his own title slump, Mickelson cited a boost in confidence.

"The confidence I can tackle the best and win and the idea I can get a big lead," Mickelson said. "I have a lot of confidence after this week and although it was up and down the last 18 holes, I picked up a lot of confidence from how I played this week."

Woods, who came from seven strokes back to win last week, made another of his stunning rallies to match Mickelson with a birdie at the 13th hole. But Mickelson responded with birdies on the next two holes as Woods struggled with his swing under pressure.

"It'd be nice if I can get my swing fixed at least," Woods said. "I know I'm not that far off, even though some of the shots didn't look like it. Even though I tried everything I possibly could not to get stuck, I got stuck."

Meanwhile, Keith Nolan finished on 293 having been up against it right from the start of his final round. He double bogeyed his first hole, the 10th, to fall further behind the rest of the field, having started in last place on three over par 219, 14 shots adrift of overnight leader Mickelson.

Nolan made no headway to the turn. After making a birdie at the 14th, his fifth hole, he dropped a shot at the 17th and was unable to make his eight-footer for birdie at the par-five 18th. At the halfway point he was two over for the day and five over for the tournament.

He failed to make any progress over the back nine, making his second double bogey of the day at the seventh, his 16th hole, and in spite of two birdies he finished with a two-over-par 74. "I've spent a long time trying to make the cut on the PGA Tour and now I find myself in the last group on the final day," he had joked, as he went to the driving range yesterday morning.