Fog delayed Phil Mickelson’s start to the 2020-2021 season by one hour.
He needed another two hours to get started once the skies cleared.
Mickelson labored through his first nine holes before finding better form on his inward nine in Thursday’s first round of the Safeway Open at Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa, California, the PGA Tour’s season-opening event.
As was his nemesis last season when he had just three top-10s in 13 starts, Mickelson — who started on the 10th — had trouble finding fairways and rarely put himself in position to score. The member of the World Golf Hall of Fame with 44 Tour titles found just one fairway in regulation on his first nine holes of the North Course and was 1 over when he made the turn.
But Lefty got right with the fairways a bit more often on his next nine holes, making three birdies against a lone bogey to finish his first round of the new season at 1-under-par 71.
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“I let a lot of shots go today, which was disappointing, and I didn’t drive it well on the front nine, for sure. For me to shoot under par, it’s actually a mini victory in that I didn’t shoot myself out of the tournament,” said Mickelson, who hit just five fairways. “I’ve got to go shoot 7-, 8-under par tomorrow to get in it for the weekend, but it’s very doable.
“I’ve actually been playing well enough to do it, but not today. The putter feels good even though I didn’t make some that I could have, but I felt like it was a day that I fought to stay in it when I didn’t have it.”
Among the early finishers, Russell Knox, who finished last season with 10 missed cuts and ties for 25th and 72nd, shot a bogey-free 63 to grab the lead. Knox went birdie-eagle-birdie starting at the fourth and added birdies on holes 9, 10, 12, 16 and 18. Knox was once ranked as high as 18th in the official world rankings but has fallen to 208th.
“Historically, I’ve always been a pretty terrible starter, even in tournaments I’ve done very well in,” said Knox, who is working with a new coach, Mark McCann. “Missing the FedEx Cup Playoffs was extremely disappointing for me. I had a very terrible start from after the quarantine. I deserved to not make it.
“I’ve worked as hard as I ever have the last two weeks before this event. So it’s really nice to see something good happen immediately.”
Brendan Steele, who played with Mickelson, won here in 2017 and 2018 and got off to a great start to win his third title in Napa with a bogey-free 65.
“There was very little stress out there today, which is always good,” Steele said. “I really have a good sense of where you can be aggressive out here, where you need to be conservative, where you can miss it to different pins. I just kind of understood it right away, which is nice.
“And being from California, I’m comfortable on the greens.”
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Mickelson came into the Safeway Open off a win on the PGA Tour Champions. Mickelson, who turned 50 in June, won in his debut on the senior circuit by shooting 61-64-66 to win the Charles Schwab Series at Ozarks National by four strokes.
He’s using this week as his final prep for next week’s U.S. Open at Winged Foot in New York. Mickelson has a record six silver medals in the national championship, the only major he has yet to win among his five.
One of his most devastating defeats in the U.S. Open came in 2006 when he went to the 72nd hole with a 1-shot lead. But his tee shot banged off a hospitality tent, his second shot hit a tree and advanced just 25 yards, his third plugged in a greenside bunker. From there he needed three more shots to hole out, the double-bogey 6 leaving him one shot behind winner Geoff Ogilvy.
Mickelson also finished second in 1999 at Pinehurst No. 2, in 2002 at Bethpage Black, in 2004 at Shinnecock Hills, in 2009 at Bethpage Black and in 2013 at Merion.
“I’ve certainly been thinking about it a lot, but I’ve got to play to play well, right?” Mickelson said. “So I’ve got to play well this week to get a little bit of momentum and confidence heading into next week. The best way to get ready for Winged Foot is to play well here.
“These fairways are tighter and more difficult to hit than what we’ll have next week, but the rough is going to be a lot more penalizing next week, so it’s a great way to work on driving, work on your golf swing. And the greens are very similar grass, so it’s a good chance to kind of see the breaks and so forth. This is a fun golf course to play, but to get ready for next week, I’ve got to play well this week.”
He didn’t play as well as he would have liked, but it was entertaining.
“I played with him a few times this year, and over the years I’ve got to play with him more and I always say he’s one of the guys that I would actually pay to watch because he’s just entertaining and you never know what’s going to come out of him,” said reigning British Open champion Shane Lowry, who was in Mickelson’s group. “So it’s great to be able to play with guys like that.”
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