Mickelson shoots a 68 in return from surgeries
LA QUINTA, Calif. — Phil Mickelson shot a scrambling 4-under-par 68 in the CareerBuilder Challenge on Thursday, leaving him four strokes back in his return from two sports hernia surgeries.
Mickelson, who opened the three-course event at La Quinta Country Club, hit his opening tee shot so poorly in morning rain and cold that he hit a provisional ball just to get in another swing.
“I struck it horrible, but I scored out of my mind,” Mickelson said. “So, I’m very happy with it. My first round of golf was Saturday, and I’ve been able to work out just the last two weeks.”
Mickelson, 46, had surgery Oct. 19 — three days after tying for eighth in the season-opening Safeway Open — and again Dec. 12.
Tour rookie Dominic Bozzelli shot a 64 on the Stadium Course at PGA West — the most difficult of the courses — to top the leader board. He holed out from 115 yards for eagle on the par-4 14th.
Jhonattan Vegas, the 2011 champion, was a stroke back at 65 along with Harold Varner III, Hudson Swafford and Patton Kizzire. Vegas and Kizzire played PGA West’s Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course, and Varner and Swafford were at La Quinta. In other golf news: • Marco Dawson, Duffy Waldorf and Bernhard Langer each shot 8-under 64 and share the first-round lead at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at KaupulehuKona, Hawaii.
• Henrik Stenson chipped in from 30 yards and had seven more birdies to open the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship with an 8-under 64 in his first competitive round of 2017. Showing no rustiness from an offseason of little practice, the fourth-ranked Stenson led by two strokes midway through the first round.