How Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson can win

5. 2001 at the invitation of Bay Hill

You may remember the end and the special, but Woods narrowly won after an intense charge from Mickelson.

Woods took a lead of three shots on the back nine, but Lefty quickly made back-to-back birdies at numbers 11 and 12. A Woods bogey in the 11th meant that the whole head was gone.

Mickelson would take the lead with a birdie at number 15, but Woods would bury a 50-foot for a birdie in 14th place to tie it. Mickelson would then birdie 16, and Woods would follow with his. A par in last place's final gave Mickelson a total of under 66 and a total of under 14.

Woods needed a birdie at the 72nd hole to win, a tie forcing streaks. After a wandering left turn, Woods struck a tremendous 15-foot overwater approach and buried the slider from left to right to allow a bird to win and break a so-called "slump" (he had not won for four months). which tells you the standards for Tiger by the time this was considered a disturbing collapse).

It was a brilliant battle, punctuated by some classic heroic tiger.

4. 2000 Buick Invitational

It was a savage.

Mickelson had a six-shot lead over Woods (and a cushion of two shots in total) with the last 18 to play. With someone else half a dozen back, we should have expected Mickelson not to sweat it.

But that was 2000 Tiger Woods trying to track him down. The guy entered this tournament after winning six straight wins on the PGA Tour, the latest being one of a seven-ball deficit with seven holes to play.

Mickelson's worst fears would come true, at least for part of the day.

Despite taking a lead of seven strokes early Sunday, Mickelson was in the line of fire with a pair of double bogeys. Woods jumped and the pair was tied as Mickelson played 13.

But Mickelson crouched to watch numbers 13 and 14 and take command. He was going birding with four of his last six holes en route to a win under 70 and a four-shot win.

It was a rare victory for Mickelson in a duel against Woods in the early years of the rivalry.

3. 2002 U.S. Open

This one gets a lot of points for the atmosphere, the scene and what it represents.

It was a solid duel in itself, of course. Woods opened the final round with a four-inning lead and five-for-five before Mickelson. But Woods started bogey-bogey. It would stabilize from there, but Mickelson passed the numbers 8, 11 and 13 to two. This brief glimpse was broken when Woods distinguished the 13th normal-5 for a bird easy to regain a lead of three strokes. Nobody would dispute the rest of the round before winning a three-shot victory.

Yes, a bit of an anti-climatic most of the day and at the end. But Mickelson briefly hoped for himself and the crowds in New York gave him incredible and eloquent support that day.

It was a day that signaled that Mickelson was the common man of this generation of golf and that the atmosphere was overheated as the crowd tried to push their man to his first major title. And although Lefty failed, he proved that he could scare at least Woods.

No one else apparently could do it at the time, and Mickelson getting up and fighting would pay big dividends in the years to come.

2. 2007 Deutsche Bank Championship

This is without a doubt the most impressive triumph of Mickelson in a duel with Woods.

Mickelson started the last lap with two backs and Woods was three behind. With this two duo and playing well on Monday, it would come back to them eventually.

Lefty had five birdies in the first 10 holes and was so dominant from the start that it seemed like a rout. In fact, Woods was five behind Mickelson with seven to play.

But the pressure would intensify. Mickelson made a botched double bogey in the 12th and Woods buried a 40-foot birdie in the 14th to reduce the lead to two.

The climax came to normal 3 with 16th place, when Woods stepped up and hit his tee shot at 10 feet. Mickelson answered in the cauldron by placing his approach 6 feet under the hole. Woods rolled in his birdie putt, but Mickelson quietly buried his own to keep a big margin to two shots.

It was a great moment for Mickelson – who was going to win by two shots – proving that he could beat Woods as Lefty was in the major victories phase of his career.

1. 2005 Ford Championship at Doral

There really can be no debate here: it's the Tiger-Phil gold-head-to-head.

It did not happen in major, but oh man, there was everything else.

Mickelson started the final round with a two-shot lead over Woods and a duet with the man in Sunday's red. It's pretty intriguing in itself, but remember that at the time, Woods had recently revised his swing and was struggling to recover first place in golf. His biggest opponent on this mission is apparently Mickelson, who had already won twice that year before the March showdown at Doral.

All these background elements added hype, then the piece had exceeded the expected drama.

Woods charged hard with a series of birdies and bound Mickelson with seven holes to play. Woods then made an emphatic eagle in the 12th to take a lead of two strokes. At that time, he was already 6 under the turn.

Lefty was not intimidated, however, the 13 and 14 bird throws to reconnect with a tie. The two made sloppy bogeys at age 16, but Woods brought back the fire when he defeated 28 feet for a birdie at No. 17 to take the lead again. Mickelson nearly landed a birdie at the 72nd hole – his attempt was lapsed – in a last effort and a spectacular effort to force the playoffs. Woods then made a six-foot run for normal to shoot 6 to less than 66 and eventually secure a win in one go.

This triumph took Woods to world No. 1 and helped him to conquer two major tournaments that year and prove once again that he was the dominant force in golf. But he needed to defeat Mickelson in an electric duel to do it. And he did it, but barely.

This Sunday was the highest drama that both have produced on the golf course to date.

Contributing: Golfweek staff.