by Jeff Skinner
Still flying high from his win at Pebble Beach Phil Mickelson continued his hot play yesterday as he chipped in for birdie on eighteen for a five under 66 to lead the Northern Trust Open. He leads Hunter Mahan and J.B. Holmes by one stroke as play had to be called due to darkness with 30 players left to finish their first round. High winds played havoc with shots all day and caused afternoon tee times to be pushed back.
Mickelson felt like he stole one on eighteen because he missed some chances out there. “It feels really good to get that one extra shot because I felt like I left one or two out on 16, 17, and you hate to have such a good round and let a few slide late,” said Mickelson. “To make that shot unexpectedly on 18 felt like I got one of those back.”
Mahan who started on the back nine had a great finish with birdies on four of his last five holes. He drained birdie putts of 34, 21, 4 and 12 feet. Holmes who had brain surgery in August is definitely playing his way back in to tour form. He is getting his driver back and averaged 312 yards off the tee and was T3 in Putts per GIR and T4 in GIR.
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Agreed on Mickelson saving one, and that always helps to have the extra stroke in your pocket overnight. He hasn’t had his A game, but Phil’s scoring about as well as possible. Sometimes it takes that to win one. He’s in great shape to pull away again if he keeps up the grinding and hits it a bit better.