Mickelson struggles with driver in ’20 debut
LA QUINTA, Calif. – Phil Mickelson struggled off the tee Thursday in his first round of the year, shooting a 2-under 70 to fall six strokes behind leaders Zac Blair and Murray Grayson at The American Express.
“I didn’t score as I probably could have or wanted to, but I really had a good day,” said Mickelson, the 49-year-old Hall of Famer competing for the first time since early November. “It wasn’t quite as sharp as I wanted it to be, maybe a little bit rusty, but it was a good first day.”
Grayson and Blair shot 64 in sunny and mostly calm conditions. Grayson closed with a bogey on the par-4 ninth on PGA West’s Stadium Course, also the site of the final round in the pro-am event.
“I’ve been here since Dec. 30 working on the game and I feel like I probably am the most prepared of the field for all three courses,” said Grayson, the 2017 Barbasol Championship winner. “Coming off of a long offseason you never expect to come out the gates like I did firing, but I’m comfortable around all three of these courses. … I love it out here in the desert.”
Blair had a bogey-free round at La Quinta Country Club.
“It was perfect today, course was in really good shape,” Blair said. “Drove it really well, made some good putts. But it’s a little easier out here this week right now than it was in Hawaii last week, so it’s nice.”
Rickie Fowler, Scottie Scheffler and Hank Lebioda shot 65. Fowler and Scheffler opened at La Quinta, while Lebioda played PGA West’s Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course.
Mickelson, also the tournament host, birdied the par-5 fifth and sixth holes to get to 3 under, then gave away two strokes on the par-4 eighth when he drove left into the water and hit his third left of the green.
Lefty hit so far left on the par-4 ninth that he was in the rough on the far side of the adjacent first fairway. It wasn’t that bad of a shot, though, because he was trying to hit into the first fairway to give himself a better angle at the back right pin.
The Hall of Famer made a tap-in par there, and birdied the par-5 11th and 13th, holing out from the rough on 13 after failing to reach the green from a left bunker. He made bogey on the par-4 17th, missing a 7-footer after hitting left into a bunker.
Playing partner Tony Finau shot 69. At No. 15 in the world, he’s the topranked player in the field.
LPGA Tour
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – American Danielle Kang stepped to the tee at the treacherous par-3 finishing hole at the LPGA’s season-opening Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions and had a bit of a problem. Standing 204 yards from the flag stick, she told her caddie that she didn’t have a club for the shot.
That’s when she got creative, choosing a 5-wood and hitting a huge cut that traveled perfectly before settling 18 feet below the hole. She missed the putt that had 4 feet of break. But the tee shot summed up just how good her day had gone.
Kang birdied half the holes at Four Seasons Golf and Sports Club, made a single bogey, and her 8-under 63 was enough to carve out a two-shot lead.
Gaby Lopez, Angela Stanford and Inbee Park, recently named the LPGA’s player of the decade, each opened at 65. Lexi Thompson was in a group at 5-under 66.