ORLANDO, Fla., March 17 (UPI) -- Tiger Woods lost his lead Sunday, then regained it and pulled away from a crowd of would-be challengers to win the 30th PGA Tour event of his career, the Bay Hill Invitational.
Woods won the event hosted by Arnold Palmer for the third straight year and has now achieved a three-peat in three different tournaments. No other player in the history of the game has done that.
Of the top-13 finishers, Woods was the only one to break 70 in the final round at the Bay Hill course. His 3-under-par 69 allowed him to post a 72-hole total of 13-under 275.
Woods, 26, also became the first player to win 30 tour titles before his 30th birthday. Jack Nicklaus had 29 before he turned 30.
"Well, as you could see, today was quite a fight out there," said Woods, who won for the first time in 6 1/2 months. "On that board there was a lot of guys who had a chance of winning on that back nine.
"It's certainly a nice by-product of a lot of hard work, there's no doubt about that. I put a lot into it and I've gotten my share of great breaks, there's no doubt about that, in order to get that number that I'm at now."
Woods, who played the third round and front nine Sunday in 2-over, began the day with a one-shot lead and fell a shot behind when Phil Mickelson surged past him.
But Mickelson, who was second to Woods in this event last season, bogeyed the last three holes and tied for third at 280.
"Tiger had such a big lead that it was his tournament to control or not," Mickelson said. "He opened the door for a lot of players and I got really close. I just didn't capitalize or finish it off."
Angel Cabrera of Argentina, a contender at The Masters last season, had a share of the lead through 11 holes and then played the last four in 4-over, including a triple-bogey at No. 18. He tied for eighth.
Rocco Mediate, John Huston and Len Mattiace were among a handful of others in contention Sunday but they all tied Mickelson for third.
Michael Campbell of New Zealand chipped in for birdie at the 18th hole to finish alone in second at 279.
The victory was the first for Woods since last August. A season ago, Woods also went winless for the first 2 ½ months of the season before capturing the Bay Hill Invitational, the Players Championship and the Masters in the span of five weeks.
"This one is great to have," Woods said. "But it's not life or death. I think it's more important for the media than for me."
For a while, it looked like the final round could result in a playoff. When Woods birdied the fourth hole to take a one-shot advantage, 14 players were within four strokes of the lead.
It still was anyone's tournament on the back nine, but it was setting up as another showdown between Woods and Mickelson, who lost by a shot last year.
Mickelson birdied the 12th to go up by a stroke, but began to fall apart at the par-5 16th. After driving under branches to the right of the fairway, he tried hitting between two trees and over water to the green from 180 yards. But the ball did not come close to clearing the water.
"I had to catch it a little thin to keep it underneath the branches, and I caught it a little too thin and it went into the water," Mickelson said. "But I don't feel like the play was bad. I just didn't execute it."
The bogey -- coupled with a birdie by Woods at the 12th -- left Mickelson a stroke back. It also began a string of three straight bogeys and left Mickelson with another near-miss. He won two titles last year but had four runner-up finishes among 13 top-10s.
"I'm not going to use this as a negative," he said. "I felt like I played some good golf today and just didn't finish."
With no one else making a move, Woods pulled away by making mostly pars. He parred Nos. 13-15 before dropping a 15-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole for a three-shot cushion.
