Fowler, two others tied at Phoenix
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Rickie Fowler overcame some bad shots for a share of the lead Thursday in the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Phil Mickelson compounded his mistakes and fell back.
After an hour-long frost delay at chilly TPC Scottsdale, Fowler played the first six holes in 5 under. A group behind, Mickelson took the lead at 5 under with a birdie on his eighth hole.
While Fowler finished with a 6-under 65 to tie Shane Lowry and Hideki Matsuyama for the lead in the suspended first round, Mickelson had a 69 after dropping four strokes in a two-hole stretch.
“I made some good putts to start,” Fowler said. “Just kind of got everything going. Made a couple of bad swings. Cost me a little bit, but other than that, nice way to get off to a good start.”
Trinity High School graduate Steve Wheatcroft shot a 2-under 69 and is tied for 31st, while Brendan Todd, who grew up in McMurray, was tied for 115th place at three-over.
Mickelson bogeyed the par-3 fourth after hitting short and right and failing to reach the green with his second, and unraveled with a triple bogey on the par-4 fifth. He drove out of bounds to the right, hit his second tee shot into the right bunker and three-putted from 50 feet.
“I hit a bad shot at the wrong time,” Mickelson said. “It’s the tightest hole out there. You miss the fairway 5 yards left, you’re in the wash, in the hazard. You miss it right of the bunker, you’re out of bounds. … I’m not going to dwell on the one bad one because there were really a lot of good ones.”
The best one was on the par-5 13th – his fourth hole of the day – when he hit a 252-yard hybrid approach to 2 1/2 feet to set up an eagle.
Winless in 48 events since the 2013 British Open, the 45-year-old former Arizona State player is working with swing coach Andrew Getson after splitting with Butch Harmon. Mickelson tied for third two weeks ago at La Quinta in his season debut and missed the cut last week at Torrey Pines.
LPGA rained out: Lydia Ko played enough golf Thursday to catch up to the lead, but not enough to finish the rain-delayed second round of the Coates Golf Championship.
Ko was 4-under par for the round and had a 15-foot birdie putt on the ninth hole at Golden Ocala when the horn sounded to stop play because of thunderstorms in the area.
Waynesburg’s Rachel Rohanna shot a 2-over 74 in the opening round but did not tee off Thursday.