Golf
Mickelson, Harrington tied for lead at Riviera LOS ANGELES (AP) – Phil Mickelson and Padraig Harrington spent Friday afternoon on opposite sides of Riviera as they played vastly different styles. All they had in common when the second round ended was a share of the lead at the Nissan Open.
Mickelson made only one bogey and got hot with his irons on the back nine with back-to-back birdies inside 5 feet and a 3-wood from 287 yards that set up an eagle on the 17th hole, sending him to a 6-under 65 and a chance to win for the second straight week.
Harrington only made two pars on his first 10 holes, a round filled with brilliance and bogeys, until he finally settled down in the twilight hours off Sunset Boulevard to polish off a 68.
They were at 11-under 131, three shots clear of Charles Howell III, who shot 65.
“Anything in the 60s was really the goal today,” said Harrington, playing the Nissan Open for the first time. “I knew going out there I would be a little erratic. I’m still making mental errors here and there, so I put up with that. And I made some birdies to counteract some of the bogeys, which was very nice.”
Mickelson hasn’t played Riviera since 2001, and he only added this tournament to his schedule at the last minute to test the newfound confidence in his driver. Two rounds, he hasn’t found any flaws.
“I like the way I put the ball in play,” Mickelson said. “It feels easy.”
He reached all three par 5s in two, none more impressive than the 17th. Coming off his only bogey of the tournament, when he pulled his tee shot into a back bunker on the par-3 16th, Mickelson hit a bullet of a tee shot down the left side of the fairway some 310 yards. He followed that with a hard 3-wood that drew slightly and found the middle of the green, rolling to 15 feet.
“I was just trying to get down there by the green in two,” Mickelson said. “I still wanted to be left so I would have a good angle to the green, and I just flushed it. It came off perfect.”
It was another command performance, similar to last week at Pebble Beach when he won by five shots. He only missed four fairways, but none of them were off the fairway by much, and he never had a problem going after the flag. The only glitch was a few irons that he pulled, but it only cost him a bogey on the 16th.
Mickelson finished his round with an approach that sailed right of the green, but a flop shot landed softly and trickled 4 feet below the hole, allowing him to save par and go into another weekend in the final group. The next quiz comes on the weekend, for Mickelson has made the cut only five times in nine tries at the Nissan Open, and he has never finished in the top 10.
“It’s a good start for two rounds,” Mickelson said. “But one of the best players in the world, Padraig Harrington, is tied for the lead. The greens are going to be firm. It’s going to be hard to get the ball close to the hole. It’s going to be a challenge.”
Harrington found himself scrambling from the start, three-putting for bogey on No. 10 when he missed a 4-foot putt. But every mistake was followed by birdies on par 3s and good wedge play.
Howell was in the first group off and matched Mickelson for the best score of the day, playing bogey-free for a 65 to finish at 134. Howell made four straight birdies around the turn, two of them par 5s.
Sergio Garcia chipped in for birdie on the 17th on his way to a 68 and was in the group at 135 that included David Howell (68) and Pat Perez (69). Ernie Els didn’t hit a fairway on the back nine until the 18th hole, and missed birdie putts inside 12 feet on his final two holes for a 68 that left him at 5-under 137, along with Jim Furyk (70) and Rich Beem (68).
Champions Tour
LUTZ, Fla. – David Eger shot a 4-under 67 in windy and cold conditions to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am.
Eger, the former PGA Tour and USGA executive who won the last of his two Champions Tour titles in 2005, had six birdies and two bogeys on the TPC Tampa Bay.
Tom Wargo opened with a 68, and Hay Haas, Wayne Levi and John Harris shot 69s on the chilly day when temperatures dipped into the low-40s.
Mark O’Meara had a 74 in his first Champions Tour round.
LPGA
KAHUKU, Hawaii – Morgan Pressel shot a 4-under 68 on for a share of the lead midway through the second round of the LPGA Tour’s season-opening SBS Open.
Sherri Steinhauer (70) matched Pressel at 7-under 135 after the morning session.
Paula Creamer, who shared the first-round lead with Steinhauer and Paige Mackenzie, also was 7 under through the front nine.
Pat Hurst (68) was two strokes off the pace at 5 under, and Karrie Webb shot her second 70 and was 4 under with LPGA player of the year Lorena Ochoa (69).
“I feel really good and I’m happy with my score today,” said Ochoa, who won six events last year. “I think I’m in a good position for (Saturday).”
Pressel, the 2005 U.S. Women’s Open runner-up, used a strong putting performance and made her move in the middle holes, birdieing Nos. 9 and 10 and tapping in for birdie on 12 to tie Steinhauer, her 2002 junior Solheim Cup captain, at 6 under.
Steinhauer, who qualified for the tour in 1985, three years before Pressel was born, birdied Nos. 13 and 14 to regain the outright lead. But she bogeyed the 15th and Pressel birdied the next hole to get to 7 under.
Jacob’s Creek Open
ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) – Australia’s Craig Parry shot an 8-under 64 for a share of the second-round lead in the Jacob’s Creek Open.
Parry matched countryman Brett Rumford (69) at 9-under 135 on the Kooyonga course in the event sanctioned by the Australasian and Nationwide tours.
Indonesian Open
JAKARTA, Indonesia – Australia’s Andrew Tampion shot a 5-under 66 for a share of the second-round lead with Finland’s Mikko Ilonen in the Indonesian Open.
Tampion had an 8-under 134 total in the storm-interrupted event sanctioned by the European and Asian tours. Ilonen was 8 under with one hole to play.