Mickelson shoots 68 to take 2-shot lead

Phil Mickelson birdied four of his last five holes Friday in the Desert Classic to take a two-stroke lead into the weekend in his first event of the year.

A day after matching his career-low score with 12-under 60 at La Quinta Country Club in California, the 48-year-old Mickelson had a 68 on PGA West's Nicklaus Tournament Course to reach 16 under.

"I struck the ball every bit as well, I just didn't putt anywhere close to as well as I did yesterday," said Mickelson, the tournament winner in 2002 and 2004.

Lefty will play the final two rounds on PGA West's Stadium Course.

"I'm starting to drive the ball a lot longer and straighter than I have in a while and so that sets up nicely for that course," Mickelson said. "I feel like I can play aggressively with the way I'm hitting it off the tee."

Curtis Luck was second after a 66 on the Nicklaus layout. The 22-year-old Australian rebounded from a bogey on the par-3 eighth with a closing birdie on the par-4 ninth.

"Just like yesterday, very solid, lot of greens, a lot of fairways," said Luck, the 2016 U.S. Amateur champion. "Just missed a couple of short ones today, unfortunately. But putting's been great."

Adam Hadwin and Steve Marino were 13 under, and defending champion Jon Rahm was another stroke back with Wyndham Clark and Joey Garber.

Mickelson birdied the par-4 fifth and sixth holes, the par-5 seventh and closed with another on No. 9 . On his opening nine, he birdied the par-5 11th and par-3 12th , then gave back the strokes with a double bogey after hitting into the water on the par-4 18th.

"It really wasn't as hard a shot as I made it look," Mickelson said about his approach on 18. "I had a decent lie after dropping off the cart path, but I had the ball a little bit below my feet and a slight uphill lie, which the tendency on those shots is to pull it and I just didn't adjust for that very well and I pulled it right in the water."

Mickelson is making his first tour start since early October and first competitive appearance since beating Tiger Woods in Las Vegas in November in a one-day, made-for-TV event. He won the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship last year for his 43rd PGA Tour title and first since the 2013 British Open.

"There's two areas that guys tend to decline when they hit about mid 40s or so forth," Mickelson said. "One is speed and one is putting. The last two years I've done a good job of improving my putting. I've actually putted better the last few years than I ever have in my career. The last thing is speed, because if I have speed with the driver then I can worry more about accuracy."

Hadwin had a 66 at La Quinta, the course where the Canadian shot 59 two years ago.

"I'm playing some extremely good golf again here in the desert and just got to keep moving forward," Hadwin said.

Marino had a hole-in-one on the seventh hole at La Quinta in a 65.

"There was like probably 15 people behind the green, but it was weird, they didn't really go bananas," Marino said. "So we thought it was in, but it wasn't like a hundred percent sure and luckily we went up there and it was in the hole."

Rahm had a 66 on the Nicklaus Course. He also will play the final two days on the Stadium Course.

"It's still a very, very difficult golf course and you have to hit it good," Rahm said. "Hopefully, I just keep the mojo that I had last year going."

Clark shot 67 on the Nicklaus layout, and Garber had a 64 at La Quinta.

Top-ranked Justin Rose was tied for 28th at 8 under after a 68 on the Nicklaus layout. He's the first No. 1 player to play the tournament since the world ranking began in 1986.

Henderson leads LPGA opener in Florida

Brooke Henderson of Canada kept out of trouble and kept bogeys off her card on her way to a 4-under 67 and a two-shot lead in the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions, the winners-only start to the LPGA Tour season.

Henderson had the only bogey-free round at Tranquilo Golf Club at Four Seasons in Lake Buena Vista, Fla

Ariya Jutanugarn, the No. 1 player in women's golf who captured every major award last season, made two bogeys, including the par-3 closing hole. The Thai is not sure how she didn't make more, considering how she hit the ball.

She mixed in six birdies over an 11-hole stretch and it added up to a 67, leaving her two shots back and tied for second along with Lydia Ko (68) and Eun-Hee Ji (67).

"I didn't expect to finish 4 under today at all because I hit everywhere. I keep missing fairways and greens, and I'm at 4 under," Jutanugarn said. "I'm going to say my short game helped me a lot today because I keep missing the green — and I'm not missing by two yards, I'm missing by like 10, 15 yards."

No matter. She was poised going into the weekend to get her encore season off to a big start.

Henderson was at 10-under 132 as the seven-time tour winner tries to match Sandra Post for the most LPGA titles by a Canadian. Henderson has had at least a share of the 36-hole lead in five of her seven victories.

"It's always fun to be in the final group and be in contention," Henderson said. "It's what we play for pretty much every single week. It's nice to be here. It's only the halfway point, but I still need to make a lot of birdies and keep hitting it to win."

She didn't make as many birdies as she wanted in the second round, but it was enough. Henderson began the back nine with two straight birdies, and closed with seven straight pars to stay in the lead.

Stacy Lewis, in her first tournament as a mother, followed her opening 66 with a 74. That dropped her to 17th place in the 26-player field limited only to LPGA Tour winners each of the last two seasons.

The field also has a strong celebrity component, with 49 athletes and entertainers competing in a modified Stableford format for a $500,000 purse. Former tennis player Mardy Fish posted 39 points for the second straight day, but with bogeys over his last two holes, his lead was down to one point over former Atlanta Braves pitcher John Smoltz.

Jutanugarn played the second round with former NBA star Ray Allen, and even though she was hitting shots all over the course, she found plenty of time to talk.

"I asked him how to manage when you're like the best player, like how to manage everything," Jutanugarn said. "We talked all 18 holes, and he helped me a lot with like how to manage, be like a top player. ... It means so much to me. Ray is so nice to me. I kept asking him questions."

Mirim Lee had a 69 and was alone in fifth place, while Lexi Thompson (69) and Marina Alex (67) were another shot behind.

Henderson won two times last year, including her national open. She won the KPMG Women's PGA for her first major the year before. Despite shutting it down for two weeks over the break while in Canada, she likes the mix she had of rest and practice when she got back to the work.

"Overall, I'm really happy to be in double digits after two rounds. That's pretty cool, minus 10," she said. "So I feel like there's not too much wrong, but just maybe a little bit of inconsistency. Some putts, I wasn't hitting them quite as well as I would have liked."

Lowry takes 3-shot lead in Abu Dhabi

Shane Lowry kept up his brilliant scoring on the par-3 holes at the Abu Dhabi Championship in shooting a 5-under 67 in the third round to extend his lead to three strokes.

For the third straight day, the Irishman made birdie on the each of the short Nos. 7, 12, and 15 holes to strengthen his bid for a first victory in 3 1/2 years. His last win was in 2015 at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational.

"I've been hitting some lovely iron shots," said Lowry, who was on 17-under 199 overall. "It just so happens that I've hit them on the par threes."

Richard Sterne of South Africa was the only player within four strokes of Lowry after a round of 69, which included his first and only bogey of the week. Sterne chipped in for eagle at the par-5 10th hole for one of the best shots of a breezy day at Abu Dhabi Golf Club when conditions were the hardest all week.

Sterne has had to wait even longer for a win, with his last of his six overall coming in 2013.

"Maybe there's some magic left in me," Sterne said.

Ian Poulter sent a 3-wood approach to 10 feet and rolled in the putt for eagle at No. 18 for a 69 to lift him into third place outright on 12 under, five shots off the lead. He will play in the next-to-last group with former winner Pablo Larrazabal (68, for 11 under).

Lowry, who tied the course record with a 62 in the first round, tied the best score of the third round and remained on course for a wire-to-wire victory. That would lift him back into the world's top 50 and get him into golf's showpiece events in 2019.

He is back playing on the European Tour after losing his U.S. PGA Tour card last year and slipping to No. 75 in the rankings.

"I'm not going to say I feel invincible because we all know that this game is not easy, and it can jump up and bite you when you least expect it," Lowry said.

In attacking the par 3s, he is 8 under in 12 holes. Nine of his 21 birdies this week have come on the course's four short holes.

His bunker play has also been impressive, no more so than on No. 17 when he chipped out of the sand at the right of the green to within 2 feet to save par — just when Sterne was making a run at the lead.

Moments later, Sterne — who teed off on No. 18 just two shots back — miscued his second shot into a bunker that was left and well short of the green. After chipping onto the green, Sterne saw his birdie putt lip out.

Three-time major champion Brooks Koepka, who has a chance to return to No. 1 in the world this week, mixed five birdies with three bogeys for a 70 and was eight strokes behind alongside Lee Westwood (73).

Dustin Johnson was 13 shots off the lead after a 72.

Another shot back was Tommy Fleetwood (72), whose hopes of a third straight title in Abu Dhabi looked to be over.