LA QUINTA, California (AP) ― Phil Mickelson got most attention in his return to competition after a four-month break, Blake Adams got a lot more out of his comeback round, and Michael Putnam took the lead in Thursday’s opening round of the Humana Challenge.
Putnam made nine birdies in an 11-hole stretch in his 63. He birdied Nos. 7, 9 and 10 on the Jack Nicklaus Private Course and ran off six in a row on Nos. 12-17.
“The course is in perfect shape,” Putnam said. “Greens are good. ... I made a lot of birdies at the end. Hit a lot of close shots, a lot of 5-, 10-foot putts. I made them all, so I got to be happy about that.”
Mickelson shot a 1-under 71 in his first event since the Ryder Cup, leaving him eight strokes behind Putnam in the three-course event.
“Even though this score is the worst I’ve had in a long time, in months, I’m excited about my game and getting back out tomorrow,” Mickelson said. “I can’t wait to get started again, because I just feel like I played a little tight today, kind of steered it a little bit.”
Adams had a 64 on the Nicklaus course in his return from hip replacement surgery. He last played a PGA Tour event in March and had surgery in July.
“Very, very blessed to be back out here,” Adams said. “It’s been a long road to get back. You never know what you’re going to get when you have total hip replacement.”
The 39-year-old Adams had six straight birdies from No. 14 to No. 1, added three in a row on Nos. 5-7 and closed with a bogey. Playing on a major medical extension, he has 16 events to earn $497,044 to keep his tour card.
“If the putts fall, great, if they don’t, so be it,” Adams said. “I had a great day today. I’m going to go out there tomorrow and do my best and if I shoot 64 again, great. If I shoot 74, so be it.”
Mickelson, playing at La Quinta Country Club, made three birdies between Nos. 3 and 6, but gave all that back by dropping strokes at 12, 14 and 16 before hitting a wedge to 2 feet for birdie on the par-4 17th.
“It was the first round in four months and I’ll loosen up,” Mickelson said. “Hopefully, the way I’m playing will show in the score. But today, it just didn’t.”
The 44-year-old Mickelson, the 2002 and 2004 champion, is winless in 27 PGA Tour starts since the 2013 British Open. He has lost weight and gained strength working with trainer Sean Cochran during the long break from competition.
“My body hasn’t felt this good in years,” Mickelson said.
Mark Wilson, John Peterson, Francesco Molinari and Scott Pinckney matched Adams at 64. Wilson and Peterson played the Nicklaus course, Molinari opened on the Arnold Palmer Private Course and Pinckney was at La Quinta.
The 40-year-old Wilson won the 2012 tournament for the last of his five PGA Tour titles.
“I came in feeling OK, nothing great about the game, but it was ideal today,” Wilson said. “I made some saves when I needed it and capitalized on my good shots.”
Defending champion Patrick Reed had a 65 at La Quinta. He’s coming off a playoff victory over Jimmy Walker two weeks ago in Hawaii in the Tournament of Champions.
“I feel like I left a lot out there, but it’s always good to shoot 7 under,” Reed said. “My confidence is as high as it could be and the main thing is just not getting ahead of myself and not really being over-confident where I take too many unnecessary risks.”
Playing partner Matt Kuchar, the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 11 in the world, also had a 65. He closed with a bogey.
Qatar Masters
DOHA, Qatar (AP) ― Bernd Wiesberger birdied his last hole to join South Africans Branden Grace and George Coetzee on top of the Qatar Masters leaderboard after the second round on Thursday.
Wiesberger’s 6-under-par 66 included four consecutive birdies from his fourth hole, the par-3 No. 13. The Austrian totaled 9-under 135 to share a one-shot lead with Grace (68) and Coetzee (67).
Wiesberger and Coetzee teed off in the morning, while Grace enjoyed near windless conditions in the afternoon, and was surprised at the end of the day that nobody achieved double figures under par.
“I really thought somebody was going to push (10 under),” said Grace, who won his fifth European Tour title last month in South Africa.
“You saw the guys from this morning, there were 6 unders and 5 unders and 7 unders, and nobody really pushed toward the end of the day.”
Grace thought one of the reasons could be that the greens were not that much quicker than he thought.
“They (greens) are still very good. They didn’t spike up at all, so it’s a big surprise nobody really pushed on,” he said.
Scotland’s Marc Warren (65), South Korea’s An Byeong-hun (69), and Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo (69) were one stroke behind at 8 under. Warren shared the day’s best score with England’s Tommy Fleetwood and Sweden’s Johan Carlsson.
