Mickelson tied for lead at Champions finale
PHOENIX — Phil Mickelson shot a 6under 65 and season points leader Bernhard Langer battled through a balky for a 68 in the opening round of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship on Thursday.
Mickelson had seven birdies and a bogey to match Jim Furyk and Kirk Triplett for the lead in the PGA Tour Champions season finale at Phoenix Country Club.
Langer arrived in the desert as the prohibitive favorite to win his sixth Schwab Cup, joining Furyk, Ernie Els and Miguel Angel Jimenez as the only players with a chance to win the season championship. Langer’s scenarios for winning his fifth Schwab Cup in seven years ranged from winning the Schwab Cup Championship to 35th, depending on how the other contenders finish.
The 64-year-old German star felt tightness in his back during Wednesday’s pro-am and spent a warm Thursday afternoon walking with a slight hunch.
He had to squat to tee his ball up and asked his caddie to take it out of the hole for him over the final 12 holes.
Langer still managed to make three birdies to offset a bogey on the front nine and had two more on the back. He caught a break when his third shot on the par-5 18th hole caught up in the rough before rolling into the water. He then got up-and-down for a par.
PGA Tour
HOUSTON — Marc Leishman, Russell Henley, Talor Gooch and Luke List shared the lead in the suspended first round of the Houston Open, with List still on the course when darkness stopped play. Rain delayed the start for 2 hours, with 0.9 inches falling at Memorial Park. None of the afternoon starters completed play.
Leishman, Henley and Gooch each finished at 5-under 65, while List had three holes left when play was called for the day.
Leishman closed with a bogey on the par-4 18th.
Jason Dufner opened with a 66. Tony Finau, the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 12, had a 69.
Patrick Reed shot a 70. He’s playing for the fifth time in the last six weeks.
Lee Westwood also had a 70 in his
first event since the Ryder Cup.
He’s outside the top 100 in the Race to Dubai and will not be eligible for the season-ending event on the European Tour.
LPGA Tour
BELLEAIR, Fla. — Solheim Cup star Leona Maguire thrived in a star grouping with an 8-under 62 for a two-shot lead over defending champion Sei Young Kim in the Pelican Women’s Championship.
Maguire played alongside Kim and Lexi Thompson. No one in the group made bogey at Pelican Golf Club on a day ideal for scoring. Maguire is best known for going unbeaten in five matches to lead Europe to a Solheim Cup victory two months ago.
Maguire put on a clinic by hitting every fairway and taking only 24 putts.
“It was just really, really solid,” she said. “Hit a lot of greens gave myself a lot of chances and rolled in some nice putts. … Yeah, it’s all just clicking nicely.”
Kim, who won by three shots last year in the inaugural event, opened with three straight birdies until cooling slightly, staying in range of Maguire with an eagle on the par-5 14th.
“I didn’t check the leaderboard so I thought because my group really play well, I expect everyone play good,” Kim said. “I check the leaderboard, and, yeah, our group just really played well. So, yeah we all feed (off) each other really.”
Thompson was in the large group at 65 that included Nelly Korda, who returned to No. 1 in the women’s world ranking this week and is competing on the LPGA Tour for only the second time since a rough Solheim Cup showing.
The group at 65 also included Lauren Coughlin, among the last to get into the field, Nasa Hataoka and former Women’s PGA champion Danielle Kang.
European Tour
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Antoine Rozner got off to a strong start to his title defense at the Dubai Championship, shooting 7-under 65 to trail first-round leader JB Hansen by two strokes.
The French golfer claimed his first European Tour title in this tournament last year, finishing on 25 under par, and a similar winning total might be necessary after a low-scoring first round when 85 players in the 114-man field broke par.
Hansen shot a bogey-free 63 featuring five birdies in six holes from No. 4 and a birdie-birdie finish.
Rozner was tied for second place with Dean Burmester of South Africa and the English pair of Andy Sullivan and Paul Waring.