I was there: Tiger's win at the 2005 Ford Championship

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For one of the rare times in their careers, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were locked in a back-nine staredown on Sunday.

What's it like to be there in person when Tiger Woods win a PGA TOUR event? As part of our Tiger Woods Victory Room, we asked several members of our PGATOUR.COM team to give us their thoughts on a Tiger win they attended in person. Have you seen a Tiger victory up close? Just click here to e-mail us and we'll post the best ones.

'I was there'

MAGINNES: '96 Las Vegas Inv't
HAUSER: '97 Masters
AUCLAIR: '03 Bay Hill Inv't
DOLCH: '05 Ford Champ.
ROSS: '06 British Open
WACKER: '06 PGA Champ.
AWTREY: '08 Arnold Palmer Inv't
McALLISTER: '08 U.S. Open
Tiger Woods Victory Room

I've had the privilege of covering about half of Tiger Woods' first 66 PGA TOUR titles, but for me one always stands out, even though it wasn't a major.

It was at one of my "local" events, the 2005 Ford Championship at Doral, that produced a memorable day of golf, whether you were watching it as a fan or covering it as a journalist.

That Sunday had everything: Picture-perfect weather, crowds that stretched 5-to-10 people deep at every fairway and something we've been waiting for for more than a decade: A back-nine duel between Woods and Phil Mickelson. This, in fact, marked just the third time they had been paired together in the final round of a TOUR event.

Woods started the day two shots behind Mickelson, but caught him when he almost holed his approach on the fifth hole. From there, things only became more interesting.

Woods carried a 3-wood 290 yards to set up an eagle on the par-5 12th and take the lead for the first time, but Mickelson answered with back-to-back birdies. Woods then drained a 30-foot birdie at the 17th hole to take a one-shot lead to one of the most difficult closing holes on the PGA TOUR.

Woods played it safe, hitting his approach well right of the pin (and the water) and was facing a 6-foot par putt when Mickelson surveyed a 30-foot birdie chip from behind the green. Mickelson's ball looked like it was going into the hole, but the ball spun out of the right edge, allowing Woods to win with his clutch par that left him drained.

"What a day," Woods said. "If you're not nervous on a day like this, you're not alive."

Woods' final-round 66 enabled him to break the tournament scoring record at 24-under 264 and, more importantly, returned him to the No. 1 world ranking.

Mickelson's final round 69 left him frustrated -- and, like the rest of us, wanting more of these kinds of days.

"I'm a little ticked at myself for not getting it done," Mickelson said. "I knew I was playing well enough to win. I believe I should have won, certainly could have won. And I just hope that I have another shot soon. I hope that the next time we play, we both play well again and get in the last group. Because this was fun competing against him."

Almost as much fun as watching it.

Craig Dolch, who writes a weekly column for PGATOUR.COM, is the former golf writer of the Palm Beach Post.