On the third tee, Mickelson gave away Super Bowl tickets to John Fockler and his young son, Drew.
"I cherish the time I have with each one of my kids," Mickelson said, "and I just thought it would be a cool experience for them."
It was Mickelson's 21st runner-up finish to go with his 32 tour victories.
With the Super Bowl being staged some 30 miles down the highway Sunday, attendance dropped to 71,805 on a chilly, overcast day. That's nearly 100,000 fewer than the record 170,802 who came Saturday for the biggest party day of the boisterous event.
Still, overall attendance for the event was a record 538,356.
Charles Warren finished third, one shot back at 13 under. Five tied at 12 under.
Holmes had gone 23 holes without a bogey when things began to unravel. He bogeyed the seventh, eighth and 10th to fall to 13 under, one shot ahead of four competitors, including Mickelson, who missed a 12-footer for eagle on the par-5 13th but tapped in for birdie to go to 12 under.
On the 15th, Holmes hit his second shot into the water en route to a bogey that put Mickelson into the lead.
"I thought I had a one-shot lead at the time there," Holmes said. "Hindsight is 20-20, but maybe laying up would have been a better option there."
Holmes ran away from the competition in the final round two years ago to win by seven strokes, and he appeared to be doing the same early on Sunday. He fell back, though, and knew somewhere up ahead Mickelson was gaining on him because of roars from the big gallery following the former Scottsdale resident and Arizona State alum.
When Holmes lost the lead, he said, the word "choke" occurred to him.
"It always pops into your mind, but I fought through it," Holmes said. "I hit some bad shots, but it's golf."
Divots: Kevin Stadler withdrew from the tournament, citing a wrist injury, after shooting a 5-over 76 on Saturday. ... Jeff Quinney, who bogeyed the final two holes to fall out of the lead at last year's FBR, chipped in from the sand on the 18th for a 5-under 66 to finish at 9-under 275. ... Briny Baird, playing the back nine first, shot a 7-under 64 to finish in a group at 11 under.
