After tricky start, Mickelson pleased with first-round 70
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Other players might have gotten frustrated. They might have let those back-to-back bogeys lead to even more dropped shots.
| Mickelson's first round | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Phil Mickelson, though, responded to bogeys at Nos. 18 and 1 -- his ninth and 10th holes of the day -- with a two-putt birdie at the par-5 second. The defending champion also rolled in a 4-footer for birdie at the ninth to finish off a solid 70 in the first round of THE PLAYERS Championship.
"I certainly let some shots slide in the middle of the round," Mickelson acknowledged. "On (No.) 1, shoot, I had 95 yards with an L wedge and made bogey from the middle of the fairway.
"But what I was most proud of is after I hit those shots, I came back and hit good shots on the next hole for birdie and came in solid here, birdieing the last to shoot 2 under, because I could have let it get to me and affect the rest of the round, but fortunately I didn't."
Mickelson's round of 2 under left him four strokes behind Sergio Garcia, the man he beat a year ago at the TPC Sawgrass. He said he felt like he might have put too much pressure on himself in the past, but last year's win has freed him up.
"I think knowing that I've played well here in the past and that I've won gives me a little bit more confidence playing the golf course and maybe takes a little bit of pressure off because I had been wanting for so long to play well here," Mickelson said.
"I may have even been pressing a little bit trying to get low scores out here. And, consequently, I really haven't had good performances here until last year.
Mickelson only hit eight fairways on Thursday, but he managed to hit 14 of 18 greens in regulation. His putter, which had been a source of comfort last week at the Wachovia Championship, wasn't quite as cooperative, though, as he took 31 putts.
"I'm pleased to have shot under par and pleased to get off to a good, solid start," the lefty said. "I feel as though I'm turning 66s into 70s, and I'm going to have to fix that this weekend. I'm going to have to stop letting those shots slide in the middle of the round that are costing me in the end.
"But I would have taken anything under par starting the day."
One of Mickelson's five birdies came on the 17th hole where he backed off a 9-iron and decided to hit a wedge. The ball settled 4-feet right of the hole.
"The wind was changing a little bit there, and when I first got there, it was into the wind," Mickelson said. "When I was getting ready to hit, it started to just be crosswind, and then I started getting some help. ...
"I got lucky it ended up close. That close, I'm not trying to do anything more than trying to make a 3, and it ended up four feet. That was just kind of a -- I don't want to say fluke -- but it went six, seven yards farther than I was trying to hit it."
All in all, Mickelson was pleased with the 70, which was his fourth subpar effort at THE PLAYERS in his last five rounds. He took advantage of the par 5s, playing them in 2 under with three birdies, including both on the front nine, and one bogey.
"This is a course where you really want to be patient and not try to force birdies but try to take advantage of the birdie holes and the par 5s especially," Mickelson said. "I think that if you make a lot of pars out here, you're not going to be losing much ground, and a birdie here or there scattered in will help make up ground.
"Again, this is a course where nobody is going to go low and take off and run away with the thing."
Get the best deals on the best equipment all at the SHOP.PGATOUR.COM.
FANTASY GOLF
