MIAMI - It took Tiger Woods six months to return to No. 1 in the world.

The hardest part might have been the final two hours on the back nine of the Ford Championship at Doral during a dramatic duel with Phil Mickelson on Sunday.

There was that 3-wood that he caught a little thin, although it still traveled some 290 yards in the air before settling 25 feet behind the hole on the 603-yard 12th hole for an eagle, giving Woods his first lead of the tournament. Then he holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole, and ended an explosive final round with a 6-foot par putt.

It gave Woods a 63-66 weekend, the lowest by a winner in tournament history.

And he needed every shot.

"The whole day, we were going at each other," Woods said. "It was fun to be a part of that."

Better yet were the results.

Woods held off a gritty performance by Mickelson to win the Ford Championship, giving him his second victory of the year, a Ford GT sports car for his caddie and a ranking that means more to others than to him.

"The ranking will take care of itself with wins. I said that from the very beginning," Woods said. "So far, I've gotten two this year, which is a nice start."

Mickelson had a chance to put Woods away until he missed a 10-foot birdie putt on the 15th, and a 5-footer for par on the 16th after Woods already had made bogey.

As usual, Lefty kept everyone in suspense to the very end.

With Woods 6 feet below the cup for par, Mickelson had a 30-foot chip from behind the 18th green. It was so good that even Woods was certain it was going in. Mickelson crouched as the ball got closer, seemingly ready to give another version of his Masters leap when it fell.

Only it didn't.

The ball dipped slightly into the low side of the cup before spinning out, and Mickelson stared in disbelief.

"I knew I was playing well enough to win," Mickelson said. "I believe I should have won, certainly could have won, and I just hope that the next time we get out and play, we both play well again and get in the last group. Because this was fun competing with him."

Woods calmly rapped in his par putt to finish at 24-under 264, breaking by one shot the tournament record previously held by Jim Furyk in 2000 and Greg Norman in 1993.

Vijay Singh closed with a 66 to tie for third with Zach Johnson, meaning the only way Woods could return to No. 1 in the world was by winning.

He had to endure some wild swings in momentum, but wound up a winner.

"What a day," Woods said in utter relief. "It's not like we went out there and slopped it around and shot 73s and 74s. We both played really good golf."

Woods lost his No. 1 ranking in much the same way he got it back.

He went head-to-head with Singh outside Boston on Labor Day, and the big Fijian stared him down to win by three shots and end Woods' five-year reign atop the world ranking.

Woods was in the final group Sunday against Mickelson, who was coming off dominant victories in his last two stroke-play tournaments and had been atop the leaderboard the last 10 rounds.

The atmosphere felt like a major. Woods and Mickelson lived up to the expectations.

They each made a career-high 27 birdies for the week. When they made bogey on the 16th hole, it was the first by either of them in a combined 67 holes on the Blue Monster at Doral.

There was give-and-take from the start. Woods twice missed 8-foot birdie putts early in the round, but he avoided a two-shot swing on the fourth hole when he got up-and-down from the rough and Mickelson missed a 5-foot birdie.

But it was the back nine that kept everyone buzzing.

No one else reached the 12th green in two shots all week. Woods did it twice on the weekend.

His 25-foot eagle putt slipped in the left side, and Woods took two steps to the right and threw a huge uppercut in celebration. Most guys would have buckled having given up a two-shot lead in the final round to a clutch putt like that.

Not Lefty.

"I loved it," Mickelson said. "I think he was playing at his best, and that's what I wanted - a chance to compete against him at his best."

Mickelson offered his best in return. First, he hit a 3-iron from 242 yards into 6 feet on the par-3 13th for birdie, then 7-iron to 6 feet on the next hole for birdie to tie for the lead.

But the putter failed him down the stretch, especially on the 16th when Woods had already made bogey and was fully expecting to go to the 17th tee trailing by one.

Instead, they were tied, and Woods seized control with his 30-foot putt.

It was only the second time they had played against each other from the final group, and Mickelson is now 0-3. He was two shots back and lost at the 2003 Buick Invitational, and he was one shot behind Woods and finished third at the 2001 Masters.

Mickelson anticipates another chance - soon.

"I thought I was playing better than anybody," he said. "And this is a great slap in the face, because I'm going to come out and work harder."