Mickelson Dazzles, Tiger Struggles

You hear a lot about Phil Mickelson and his short game, which he's able to keep relevant more from muscle memory (the brain is a muscle, right?) than from any recent success he's had. His short game is fabulous, sure, but it seems that people speak more about the crazy shots he has pulled off over his career than the simple ones he's missed of late.

Well, on Thursday at the WGC-CA Championship, Phil's short game was back on, and I mean on. On a day people were focused, once again, on Tiger Woods returning to the golf world, this time in a stroke-play event, Mickelson reminded everyone that he was still around too. Phil went out on his front nine in a mediocre 35, that included a chip-in par on the par-3 4th hole, but went bananas on the back, making six birdies that included consecutive chip-ins to close his round.

The fireworks really started on the driveable par-4 16th, where Phil hit driver (what, was he going to lay up?) short and left of the green, flipped a nice pitch onto the green and let it release to the hole and knocked that in for birdie, the last time he'd pull his putter out all day. A little flipper from off the green at 17 dropped dead center for birdie and a beautifully holed chip on 18 brought a big fist pump from Mickelson and an even bigger grin.

After his round, Mickelson said something pretty scary to The Golf Channel. "My short game has never been this good from 50 yards in."

The birdie-birdie-birdie finish put Phil in the lead with Jeev Milkha Singh, Retief Goosen and Prayad Marksaeng at 7-under, with Padraig Harrington, Nick Watney, Rod Pampling and James Kingston a shot back in the first round.

Someone that isn't close to the lead was Tiger, who shot a 1-under 71 (hey, didn't someone call this?) that can best be described as golf at its frustratingly worst. The Golf Channel put a stat after Woods' round that he had only made 45-feet-0-inches worth of putts in his first round, good for last in the field at Doral. It wasn't for lack of good rolls. Tiger hit putts all day long that rolled lips, caught lips and just trickled by the lips without falling in, making his round similar to a high school freshman -- a lot of lip but not much else.

One more golfer worth talking about is that kid that won't go away, Rory McIlroy. The 19-year-old sensation that continues to play well shot a tidy 4-under 68. This was his fifth stroke play round as a professional on the PGA Tour and he has yet to shoot a round over 71. Maybe he isn't the next Sergio Garcia (who shot even-par, 72).

With high winds expected Friday, the course was set up for the taking on Thursday, and a few of the top-50 in the world took full advantage.