Shane Lowry matched world No 4 Rickie Fowler and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama stride for stride to earn a three-way tie at the top of Waste the Management Phoenix Open leaderboard.
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Matsuyama, who carded eight birdies and two bogies to pull into a three-way tie with Rickie Fowler of the United States and Ireland’s Shane Lowry, was in one of the last groups to finish.
Starting on No. 10, Fowler birdied three of his first four holes, then hit his first of two big shots on the par-5 15th.
Lowry had made it to seven under after 13 holes, but back to back bogeys slowed his momentum.
Anirban Lahiri of India was in the clubhouse on 66, while Bryce Molder was also five-under through 16 holes when play was halted.
Phil Mickelson settled for a 69 after dropping four strokes in a two-hole stretch. But he bogeyed the par-3 fourth, then hit his tee shot way right and out of bounds on par-4 5th and finished with a 7. “It’s the tightest hole out there”.
“I can’t explain it, but I get good scores here”, said Matsuyama, who recalled plummeting from eighth place last Friday.
“We have been on the West Coast, been playing a few months before, so I’m feeling a little more comfortable around the greens”, said Lahiri, who started working with putting coach Dave Stockton Jr. this week. “Let’s hope I keep playing there in 2”. “I grew up around action sports, and this kind of reminds me more of being at an action sports event, and the fans being loud and having fun, so just being around 16, especially come tomorrow afternoon and Saturday, it’s definitely a lot of fun being there….” You miss it right of the bunker, you’re out of bounds. A lot of times now I don’t play more than three weeks in a row. “It’s a bad mistake if you don’t learn from it”. She just didn’t play enough to finish the rain-delayed second round of the LPGA’s Coates Golf Championship in Ocala, Fla.
Bubba Watson opened with a 69, finishing in fading light a day after saying he doesn’t like the renovated course and is only playing the tournament out of loyalty to his sponsors.
Either way, all Fowler wants to do is contend. And here in Phoenix, where 101,021 were on the grounds for the first round, he revels in the atmosphere. The first-round record of 118,461 was set a year ago with Tiger Woods in the field….
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New Zealand’s Danny Lee, England’s Greg Owen, James Hahn, Brooks Koepka and Brandt Snedeker – fresh off a victory at Torrey Pines – were tied on 67.
