Mickelson flirts with a 59 at Desert Classic

Phil Mickelson flirted with a 59 in the opening round of the US PGA Tour's Desert Classic on Thursday, eventually settling for a 12-under 60 and a three-shot lead. Mickelson rolled in 10 birdies and an eagle en route to recording the third 60 of his career with the others coming at the Phoenix Open in 2005 and 2013. His 12-under total on the La Quinta Country Club course is Mickelson's lowest round in relation to par in his career. "It was kind of a lucky day for me in the sense that I did not feel sharp heading in," Mickelson said. "I haven’t really had the intense practice sessions that I would like, but I felt that all parts were OK and it just clicked. "Sometimes you have days where it just clicks. Bad shots that I hit, I got away with it. It was a fun day, but I certainly did not expect this to be the case." American Mickelson is three strokes ahead of Adam Long who fired a nine-under 63, while Australia's Curtis Luck is in third with a 64. Trey Mullinax, Adam Hadwin, Wyndham Clark and Martin Laird all shot 65 and are tied for fourth, The only other players to shoot more than one round of 60 or better are Jim Furyk and Zach Johnson. Furyk owns the Tour record with a 58. Mickelson made birdie on his first two holes and then made the turn in six-under 30. After the turn, Mickelson tallied five birdies in his next seven holes. He needed back-to-back birdies on his final two holes to shoot 59 but could only manage a par on the par-four 17th. He closed with another birdie on the par-four 18 to record the 60. Mickelson said he first started thinking about a 59 as he walked off the 16th green. But his approach shot on 17 with a sand wedge left him with a longer putt than he had hoped for. World number one Justin Rose shot a four-under 68 on the more difficult Stadium Course.